216 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



tion. Oue would thiuk that the more logical 

 way would be to use two terms — exudatiou 

 honey aud iusect honey. But then if the two 

 are so much alike that common folks can- 

 not tell which is which perhaps one term will 

 have to answer for a spell longer. It seems 

 that in the Black Forest and in the Vosges 

 mountains there was an immense yield of 

 honey dew last season — 845 pounds of it ex- 

 tracted from one hive. And by the way I 

 have not yet given sufiBcient credit to the A. 

 B. J. for the solidity and excellence of its 

 German department. It is a notable evidence 

 of its recent growth. ( )ne cannot say that 

 the "Old Reliable" is very badly affected 

 with the pop-gun disease when he considers 

 how much that is thorough its columns con- 

 tain. And June 1st we are reminded 

 that the present hand has held the tiller just 

 one year that day. Honestly a good deal has 

 been well done during that year. 



Turning now to the latest number, Ju')e 

 ir)th, we invoice it as two pages of editorial 

 notes (thirteen of them crowded in) three 

 columns of general queries and answers, 43.2 

 columns biography of Dr. Mason, four col- 

 umns of Jennie Atchley's Southland, a page 

 of Query !S7"), eleven columns of contribu- 

 tors' articles (six articles) and four columns 

 of letter box clippings. 



That was meant for a very fine picture of 

 Mason, but it errs, as his pictures are quite 

 apt to do. in having a too sober aud slightly 

 moribund look, quite foreign to the good Dr. 

 as viewetl when he is alive. The sketch is 

 O. K. — and written by a person \ iiose first 

 object certainly was not to get the job fin- 

 ished and out of mind. 



Sunny Southland is getting Ut strike me as 

 a little too mucli like a journal within a jour- 

 nal. I would not lay much stress on this re- 

 mark, as perhaps it is a mere notion of mine, 

 not shared by the reading public. I cer- 

 tainly do not object to Mrs. A. when she 

 takes the field and says things herself. And 

 as her space in this number is wholly hlled 

 with two of her own best articles lioiled into 

 one, my criticism is a little like complain- 

 ing in dog-days iit an ancient snow storu). 

 Her theme is (pieen-rearing. a sciet)ce of 

 wliich herself and Alley and Doolitfle Mre 

 "professors." Letusdipin. Twenty strong 

 colonies and ten queens — and the queens 

 jumped back and forth every time a batch is 

 finished. And, here's a royal point — extend- 

 ing a favorite breeding aueen's life by con- 

 fining her on three combs, though all the 



time in a powerful colony, kept so by combs 

 of brood from outside sources. The breed- 

 ing drones are localized in one colony, and 

 this kept from swarming by holding it 

 queenless most of the time. (Not so sure of 

 the absolute correctness of that practice.) 

 And so introducing virgins is N. (t. They 

 waste time in the virgin state, while home- 

 born ones get immediately to biz. 



Going to say something naughty aVtout 

 Query 87.5 and a previous one ; but I won't 

 say it now. 



Aud now those six contributors have got 

 to go to bed with a spank apiece. Friend 

 Latham skirmishes uiml)ly over the question 

 of the queen control of the sex of her eggs, 

 but leaves matt( rs on the field about as he 

 found them. Friend Common says 



"I am cfnivinced th.it the bees will give doable 

 the suiplns honey if hived ou drawn combs, if 

 rifjrhtly managed." 



Me too. But the opposite practice no 

 doubt works well good years in first rate lo- 

 cations. 



Montreal thinks winter bee-diarrhea can 

 be cured by a few drops of spirits of pepper- 

 mint spilled underneath them. Well, at 

 least he will not be prosecuted for cruel mal- 

 practice if he doctors thus — and his out 

 door wintering plan is not bad. 



Friend Dayton went to bed in a buggy 

 locality and discovered that fifteen thick- 

 nesses of paper all over and projecting a few- 

 inches all round the bed circumvents the un- 

 circumventable B. B. 



Friend (retaz thinks queen trap practice 

 to control swarming is unsatisfactory to both 

 bees and bee-keepers, and results in the 

 death of queens. Me too. 



Friend S. E. Miller's article was not writ- 

 ten primarily for A. B. J., but is none the 

 worse for that. He seems to " argy " it a 

 critical matter to know just when to put on 

 the supers. I suppose we are to infer that 

 the wise man will hit it, and the blunder- 

 head miss it. 'Spects I'm wise enough to 

 know that I have some that ought to be go- 

 in this minute — and here I am writing. 



The General round Up 



The most important thing since last " sur- 

 round" is doulftless the establishment of the 

 Michigan experimeiii station. We will tol- 

 oralc the Michigan Committee in wearing 

 pretty good sized feathers in hoTior of their 

 diligence and succe^^s. We shall look with 

 much expectation to that new department in 

 the Review. The really good work that is 



