226 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIE 



readers as the bee articles do. Dr. Peiro, 

 of Chicago, is the department conductor. 



Not to be outdone the Progressive replies 

 to A. B. J.'s medical department with a 

 legal department, and proceeds to tell those 

 of us who " want to know, you know " how 

 to legally " mind our p's and q's." The 

 lawyer is Wm. C. Sprague, and his work 

 opens out fairly. 



And for another poUywog experience, be- 

 hold Mrs. HoUeubeck turns up in possession 

 of Will Ward Mitchell's shoes, as poet of 

 the Progressive. Seems to fill them quite 

 fairly, besides knowing bees, which the for- 

 mer owner of the shoes presumably did not. 

 Here is a specimen of her work. 

 " The bees hanging out on the trees in great 



clusters 

 Are swarming (with sections just fairly begun ;) 

 Or loafing around like the commonweal army, 

 And holding conventions on hive fronts for 

 fun." 

 The next citation deals with the case where 

 several young queens are out, and yet the 

 bees do not want to swarm. 



•• The queens sometimes fight it out; but most 

 freiiuently the bees select the queen they want, 

 and begin to abuse the others by biting and pull- 

 ing at tliem until they run out of the hive." (t. 

 L. Tinker. A. B. J., 753. 



This is in line with my own observations, 

 and I think it is correct. Or perhaps the 

 superfluous ones are held in the cells until 

 the decision to attack them is made, when 

 they are let out and immediately worried. 

 The biting and pulling would naturally pre- 

 vent royal combats. I have found a consid- 

 erable number of young queens at one time 

 crawled away about a hive, evidently having 

 escaped from popular wrath. 



John M'Arthur, of Toronto, joins his tes- 

 timony to the few who have found sweet 

 clover to yield an actual surplus. A. B. J., 

 654. 



'• See that water on the sealed brood there ? 

 That is to keep it cool. But the bees sometimes 

 fail to keep the temperature down with water ; 

 and then we have some scalded brood." Mrs. 

 Atchley. A. B. J., 15. 



Seems to me this is the first time I have 

 ever seen the idea in print that bees in hot 

 climates carry water to keep down heat, 

 placing it around in little droplets. An im- 

 portant item to keep in mind, if correct. At 

 any rate Mrs. Atchley herself makes large 

 use of the water-sprinkling tactics. 



" I fail to see any good reason why some of 

 our best apiarists are recommending tlie super- 

 sedure of all queens the second year." Doolit- 

 tle in A. B. J., 17. 



Taking this in connection with what was 

 quoted from Capt. Hetherington last month 

 we have a good case of " the bane and the 



anti-goat." Mr. Doolittle is strongly im- 

 pressed with the idea that folks are just 

 theorizing (as they so very often do) and 

 that they don't theorize correctly. The 

 theory in this case is that no ordinary queen 

 will lay much over 2(X>,000 eggs in a lifetime. 

 That excessive laying shortens the life of 

 queens, seems to be well founded in experi- 

 ence ; but I think Mr. D. is entirely right in 

 attacking boldy the 200,000 limit. He gives 

 a case where a queen in her third year (not 

 the whole of the year either) laid over 250,000 

 eggs. Probably the theory and practice in 

 regard to the laying of poultry reflects upon 

 the bees, and helps produce the Hethering- 

 ton view. Hardly safe to reason from birds 

 to insects much— and even in regard to hens, 

 I remember we had on our place once a hen 

 whose great age, and great number of eggs 

 laid rather " knocked silly " the theory about 

 the limit to the number of ovules in the 

 hen's ovary. The explanation evidently was, 

 in her case, that she had to hoe her way in 

 life with a great deal more of muscular ef- 

 fort than most hens put forth— had one leg 

 cut off by a mowing machine while she was 

 yet a young biddy. Now don't you'uns go 

 to cutting the hens' legs off to make them 

 lay. Better chase them around with a stick, 

 or put them on a patent tread mill. 



At Beeville, Texas, it seems, a new species 

 of flea and a new political party accidentally 

 arrived about the same time. With that 

 Yankee alertness (beg pardon, Southern 

 alertness) which is characteristic of Ameri- 

 can people everywhere, the " hunkers " 

 scored a point on the new party ; and the 

 midnight disturber of their peace is the 

 " third party flea " henceforth. A. B. J., 78. 



The American Bee Journal doctor says, 

 mix castor oil and honey equal parts and the 

 horrible adulteration can hardly be detected. 

 A million thanks from the little folks Dr. if 

 that proves "honest Injun;" but they are 

 used to professional assertions that disgust- 

 ing dopes taste good. If this is only " an- 

 other crow of the same nest " they ought to 

 be allowed to pull your hair. A, B.J., 7G. 



Mrs. Atchley has not found Eden (more 

 like the place where Eden's serpent ought to 

 have been.) What with superlative ants, 

 and third party fleas, and winter ice, and 

 now and then a hot blast that runs up the 

 thermometer to 114 Fah. in spite of spraying 

 water in doors and out, and kill off all weak 

 colonies of bees— well, some of us will con- 

 sent to live up north a spell longer yet. 



