196 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



D. W. Heise found bees in elm hives damp 

 at mid winter, while those in similar hives 

 of pine were dry. 227. As more than a 

 hundred hives are made of pine to each one 

 of elm, this find is in line with the general 

 practice. 



In trying to get an article from Capt. 

 Hetherington the Canadian got a long pri- 

 vate letter which serves the turn quite as 

 well as an article would — and thereby 

 "scoops" its cotemporaries. The letter 

 contains some striking sentences as below ; 



" Experimenting on a large scale in former 

 years cost me more money than my business 

 could furnish. " 



Pretty strong argument for experiment 

 stations. It is somewhat in the nature of 

 a surprise to be assured that the greatest of 

 eastern honey harvesters has even yet no 

 settled system of honey taking, but still 

 changes from year to year. 



"I aim to change my queens one half each 

 season." 



As most of us have backslidden into let- 

 ting the bees take care of that matter (lazi- 

 ness hath many awfully easy ways) perhaps 

 this line of the Captain's is the most timely 

 thing he has sent us from his retirement. 



" I am now making over 150,000 sections for my 

 own use, and shall put full sized sheets in every 

 section. Shall use Van Deusen flat-bottomed 

 foundation 14 feet to the pound." Canadian, 

 227. 



Bug in the ear of those of us who don't use 

 foundation at all, save the tiniest little bit 

 for a starter. 



But when Mr. H. says he has had all the 

 conceit taken out of him, and never expects 

 to have any more, our faith wavers and 

 kicks a lofty bucket. A man without any 

 conceit in him ! Would not all the human 

 race want to go and gaze, and his house re- 

 semble Washington with all the Coxey 

 armies allowed to get there a-la-program ? 



Friend Elwood, while vigorously kicking 

 the sleeping mad dog of sugar honey, gives 

 us this remarkable fact, if fact it is — 



" Likewise cane sugar and gum arable have 

 the common formula C 12 H22 Oil. Canadian, 

 231. 



Assuredly we should at times " look a lit- 

 tle out " for chemistry. 



On page 227 Mrs. Atchley affirms her faith 

 in her son Willie's way of queen rearing 

 (shaving down cells and lifting the silken 

 cell bottom with tweezers) and thinks her 

 system a combined Doolittle- Alley- Atchley 

 way. But she don't raise queens on a stick. 



She dips the cell bases extra solid, and pokes 

 them aslant right into the combs. 



On page 224 Doolittle says that a drone 

 rearing colony, if as many as three drone 

 combs are used in it, will rarely furnish any 

 surplus — all goes down the throats of " ye 

 gentlemen." Years ago this fact puzzled 

 me a little, and made me think I had made 

 a poor choice for a drone mother. 



The June number is lavishly pictorial, and 

 specially interesting on account of the por- 

 traits of the editor's family. 



The Oxford Convention gives the five- 

 banded bees a very black eye. (Page 247.) 

 Yet on page 25.5 they find a defender in the 

 person of friend Wilkins the OUa Podrida 

 man. Same chap wants me to economize 

 the alphabet, and call this department Hasty 

 Pudding. Don't believe he cares anything 

 about the economy — any more than my 

 schoolmates did when they called me my 

 full name and more too, Emerson Eat'n 

 Hasty Pudd'n. 



When a clipped queen and a little ball of 

 bees is found on the ground in the apiary 

 this is the way Doolittle manages the "kit- 

 tle " job of finding where she came from. 

 (248.) First wait till the bees have nearly 

 ceased flying at eve. Smoke a little. A poke 

 or two with a straw — pick up — queen in 

 cage— cage in pocket. Then a deluge of 

 smoke, making them all fly at once ; and as 

 they cannot find their mother they will go 

 home and /a?i in the entrance. 



THE GENERAL ROUND - UP 



Mrs. Atchley has 10 choice queens that 

 have been 20 times caged when at the max- 

 ium of laying, and they seem none the worse 

 for it. Pretty strong proof that a queen can 

 cast off eggs without harm to body or mind. 

 But this does not cover the case of a queen 

 immediately shipped when heavy with eggs. 

 A.B.J., 492. 



Canada's Practical Bee-Keeper has become 

 a monthly " like other folks ;" and since 

 the change stems to be evoluting in other 

 respects — coming on quite hopefully — less of 

 long and weighty foreign translations, and 

 evident effort to get suitable corespondence 

 near home. 



Here's the bee-keeping donkey as drawn by 



.J. P. H. Brown. 



" Sometimes the consignee (of an almost ex- 

 hausted queen) is not ready to introduce— lays it 

 asi<le for a time, but every now and then gives 

 the cage a violent shake to wee if there is any 

 life in it." A. B. J., 529. 



