THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



woods have been cut away and white clover 

 pastures have given way to the corn field or 

 potato hill. No wonder their nopes are 

 blasted. The few poor years that we have 

 been having of late cannot be wholly attrib- 

 uted to civilization, as the supply was cat off 

 too squarely. The results of civilization 

 come about gradually. The man who has had 

 good crops for many years in succession, 

 with perhaps an occasional failure, up to 

 five ye rs ago, and has not had a good one 

 since, cannot ascribe his failure to civiliza- 

 tion, unless some radical changes have been 

 made in his vicinity during that time. 



The man who is trying to make a succ.ess 

 of bee-keeping as a specialty in an old set- 

 tled country where nearly all of the woods 

 b.iive been cut away, and the country almost 

 wholly given up to cultivated crops, with no 

 swamps, no river bottoms, no mountains 

 ( that cannot be plowed up ) near, is soon des- 

 tined to reach that point where, as friend 

 Hasty puts it, something ''desperate" must 

 he done. I do not wonder that the fertile 

 brain of Bro. Hasty suggested the raising of 

 " sugar-honey." 



Bees at the World's Fair. 



Bro. Hill of the (iuidc makes some very 

 sensible suggestion^ as to how bees ought to 

 be exhibited at the World's fair. Among 

 other things he says:— 



"It is our opinion tiiat the only way to ex- 

 hibit bees and make it at all convenient and 

 educational is to use single comb observa- 

 tory hives, confining the bees as long as they 

 are bright and healthy and then change for a 

 fresh comb and bees. Possibly wire 

 cloth would he better ihan glass, or perhaps 

 ula-is on one side with wire cloth ou i he other 

 would be advisable during hot weather. The 

 people could tlien see the cjueen, drones and 

 workers, brood in all stages, eggs and polleu, 

 while the experts accustomed to these sights 

 could judge of quality l)y comparing the con- 

 tents of different hives. A good light will be 

 of the greatest importance. A lot of large 

 observatory hives, arrauyed along the wall 

 of a building in such a manner that the bees 

 could pass through the wall and fiy out over 

 the heads of the people would hardly be sat- 

 isfactory or safe. A colony of bees can ea- 

 sily and safely be taken away from their na- 

 tural stands, away from home, and be open- 

 ed up and exhibited in a crowd of people. 

 But to place a lot of bees permanently and 

 bring the people up near or under them would 

 certainly he quite risky. Each colony would 

 probable contain 40. 000 workers and there 

 would be a number of colonies. Enough 

 bees, if they got mad. and wanted to do it, 

 to take j>o-session of the whole fair and run 

 it to suit themselves. When a bee is mad and 

 at home or defending its home, it is not at all 



particular about distance, and might go a 

 number of rods to sting some one. The safe 

 way is to confine all the bees. To show the 

 quality and beauty of the light colored bees 

 it would be nice to have the specimens con- 

 fined between wire cloth and glass with no 

 comb at all. By looking through the cages 

 towards the light the best kind of a view and 

 test of color and markings could be had. No 

 doubt all the queen breeders in the United 

 States, who breed especially good stock, 

 would be glad to furnish a fresh sample by 

 mail every ten days, or as often as it would 

 be necessary to keep them bright and fresh, if 

 some one was engaged to receive exhibits 

 uuderthe owner's name and care for the bees. 

 Such a plan would be without expense to 

 the fair association." 



Advantages of Shallow Sections. 

 Bee-keepers have pretty generally settled 

 down to the use of the 4I4 x 4I4 section. Is 

 this the best size? It was first used that eight 

 sections might exactly fill a wide frame of 

 the Lani/stroth size, but that method of use- 

 iug them is now but little used, and the only 

 reason for continuing that size is for the sake 

 of uniformity. Are there enough advanta- 

 ges in some other form or size to warrant a 

 change? Bro. Hill of the Guide has been 

 using a long, shallow section, and here is his 

 opinion:-- 



''We have been experimenting the past 

 season and have all our honey in sections o^^s 

 deep by 6I4 inches wide and we find so many 

 advantages with this shape over the square 

 414x414 section that we have gotten clear off 

 the track both in regard to shape and width. 

 We favor the narrow section without separa- 

 tors. The three inch deep pound section 

 has the advantages over the four inch in the 

 following particulars: It is longer on top 

 and gives more support to the foundation 

 starters. A 2}., inch piece of thin foundation 

 stays belter tiian a 'Mo inch piece. It makes 

 one less division in the surplus department. 

 When tiered up a three inch lift is better 

 than a four iucli because four inches all over 

 the top of the hive is too much space to give 

 a working colony at one time. The three 

 inch section is finished and capped over 

 quicker, can be taken off quicker and this 

 insures nicer and whiter honey. The three 

 inch section has such a long firm hold on the 

 top and being more shallow stands shipping 

 better. Customers seem to choose the long 

 section in perference to the square one when 

 buying honey. We are so well pleased with 

 this shape and its advantages are so 

 great that we would not use a 4I4X4I4 inch 

 section in our apiary if some one would do- 

 nate them free. It would be more profita- 

 ble to pay for the three inch ones. The 

 above facts seems too bad, just as we have 

 established the 41,4 X4I4 section as the stan- 

 ard shape and only propose to discuss the 

 width. It may be best to consider the whole 

 question." 



