THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



305 



I think not. It could not ^\e all of 

 those little interestinjr and valuable items 

 that can be picked up only by a visit to 

 the apiaries and their owners. These 

 visits, besides furnishing valuable infor- 

 mation for a journal . also most clearly 

 show its editor what is needed by his 

 readers. The closer an editor can get to 

 his readers, the better acquainted he is 

 with them, the more yood can he do them. 

 I have not one word to say against 

 promptness, it is a commendable feature, 

 but it is not so important in a class jour- 

 nal, which is read for the sake of learn- 

 ing how to do certain things, as it is in a 

 newspaper. We read the latter to learn 

 the news, and we wish to read it before it 

 becomes a matter of history. We take 

 the bee-journals for the information they 

 contain, and we prefer to have them come 

 overflowing with good things, even if a 

 few days late, rather than promptly on 

 time but "stale, flat and unprofitable." 



».»U»U»fc"/««^ 



.\ B C OF BEK CULTURE. 

 If there is any book on bee-keeping 

 of which bee-keepers have reason to be 

 proud, it is Root's A B C of Bee Culture. 

 I am reminded of this by the receipt of a 

 copy of the latest edition, which is just 

 out. There is probably no firm in the 

 whole wide world possessing the facilities 

 and advantages of the A. I. Root Co. for 

 getting out a work of this kind. It has 

 plenty of capital and a thoroughly equip- 

 ped printing office. More than this, there 

 is an experience of more than a quarter 

 of a century in actual, practical bee-keep- 

 ing, and in publishing a thoroughly pro- 

 gressive, up to date bee-journal. More 

 than anj one else, an editor has an op- 

 portunity for being fully informed re- 

 garding the actual state of the industry 

 which his journal represents. Thous- 

 ands of letters from all parts of the coun- 

 try pass under his eyes each year. In 

 order that the best possible advantage 

 might betaken of the knowledge thus se- 

 cured, the Root Co. has been to the ex- 

 pense of keeping the book standing in 



type. As often as new discoveries or 

 changes are made, a corresponding change 

 is made in the subject matter of the A B 

 C. By this method the last issue of the 

 book is up to date. It can not be other- 

 wise than that the edition just out is de- 

 cidedly the superior of any previous edi- 

 tions. I might go into details, but the 

 advertisement on the back cover of the 

 Review has saved me that trouble. I can 

 as thoroughh' endorse that advertisement 

 as though I had written it myself as an 

 editorial notice. When a beginner 

 writes and asks me what book he better 

 buy, I unhesitatingly tell him, "Root's 

 A B C of Bee Culture," — and I have a 

 book of my own to sell. 



»^lt»kFU»«-i^*^ 



CLEANING UP UNFINISHED SECTIONS. 



Dr. Miller tells, in Gleanings, how he 

 piled up 46 supers of unfinished sections 

 in his cellar, and then opened the door 

 Oct. I. The supers were piled crosswise 

 so that the bees could gain ready access 

 to them. The weather was fine, and the 

 bees cleaned them out in two days. The 

 combs were gnawed a little, but not ser- 

 iouslj\ The doctor says that he has tried 

 putting unfini.shed sections over colonies 

 of bees to have them carry down the honey, 

 and while he has tried all sorts of induce- 

 ments to get the bees to carry down the 

 honey, he has never succeeded. Editor 

 Root says that he has had success in this 

 line to the extent of getting a super emp- 

 tied in two months. I do not know as I 

 have ever had partly finished sections emp- 

 tied by placing them over colonies of 

 bees, but I have had sections cleaned 

 from which the honey had been extracted. 

 There seems to be a difference, in the 

 estimation of a bee, between honey that 

 has never been capped, and that that has 

 been uncapped by a knife. Sections, or 

 any kind of combs from which the hon- 

 ey has been extracted, are almost surely 

 cleaned by simply setting them over a 

 colony of bees. lulitor Root says that 

 nearly all of the largest comb-honey pro- 

 ducers have their unfinished sections 



