THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



269 



The idea of throwing the working force 

 into the supers instead of into another hive 

 is certainly novel, and just how it would 

 work is difficult to foresee. I honestly be- 

 lieve that one thing will lead on to another 

 until the prevention of swarming will even- 

 tually become practical and profitable. 



A Condensed View of Current 

 Bee Writings. 



E. E. HASTY. 



<^ THINK the first honors this month be- 

 ^ long to Willie Atchley, who is not yet 

 «^ seventeen, for an improvement in the 

 queen-rearing process. He changes the 

 Doolittle model on which the queen cups are 

 cast so that his cup represents the base of a 

 queen cell with }g inch of worker cell in the 

 bottom of it. The latter is flared so that a 

 real worker cell will slip in and wedge tight. 

 Now the inside of a cell in which brood has 

 been reared a few times is not wax, but 

 woven silk ; and when the comb is shaved 

 down with a razor as far as it can be without 

 disturbing the little larvae the silken base 

 can be lifted out with fine tweezers, jelly, 

 baby, cradle and all, and put securely into 

 its destined place. Time saved, baby saved 

 from bruises and punches, and the risk of 

 having the bees condemn the job saved to 

 some extent. I may add that it would be a 

 great saving to the operator's nerves, if he 

 were green like me instead of being experi- 

 enced like Willie. Gleanings illustrates his 

 invention on page 600. 



Gleanings. 



This time it is how a great oak has grown 

 and developed, and not the growth of a lit- 

 tle and recently sprouted acorn. A bit ago, 

 but longer ago than these papers. Prof. Cook 

 used to be in every number from once to 

 half a dozen times, with his bugs, and bee 

 plants, and bees, and rattlesnakes, and gen- 

 eral fund of wisdom. We miss him some- 

 what ; yet Gleanings seems well able to en- 

 dure the loss of any one writer. The oak 

 grows on still, though among its branches 

 one 'possum goeth and another 'possum 

 cometh. We also have half lost the " ever- 

 lasting foot-note." As this was Gleanings' 

 most prominent individuality it takes some 

 time to get used to doing without it ; but we 



are coming on, and will accept the occasion- 

 al foot-note in the place of the everlasting 

 one ere long. And for the present we lose 

 the closing chapters of Langstroth's Remin- 

 iscences — unavoidably of course. 



In return for these losses we have several 

 items of gain. The new department of Trade 

 Notes is one. This is designed to give prop- 

 er recognition to new devices which are of- 

 fered for sale. Having such a department 

 will keep the editor on the look-out for 

 something to put in it : and so the new hives 

 and " fixins " will not be so much in danger 

 of being overlooked. Good idea. Then we 

 have .lake Smith. Now Jake is a humorist 

 of considerable ability, and I have no desire 

 to blow cold on him ; but one thing I can't 

 get reconciled to, and that is the idea of 

 having two regular humorists appear in each 

 number of a bee magazine. Too open a 

 confession that apiculture is played out, and 

 that horse-laughs must take its place. I 

 don't believe the allegation, and therefore 

 incline to get a little ferocious toward any 

 editor who gives it countenance. 



The most important of the recent changes 

 is the appearance of Wallace P. Root as a 

 writer. In this world some workers are 

 greatly overpraised, and some are as greatly 

 nnderpraised. Wallace is one of the under- 

 praised ones. Probably not one-half of 

 those who read and love Gleanings have any 

 idea how much the eminence and stability 

 of that paper is owing to Wallace P. Root — 

 its accurate proof reader, its tasteful make- 

 up man, its translator of languages, its sten- 

 ographer, its general utility man and facto- 

 tum. Readers have noted the phrase "our 

 stenographer" perhaps; but whether his 

 name was Adam or Melchizedek they did'nt 

 remember. Possibly my impression may be 

 a little astray, but my idea of the man is that 

 he has for many years been '• singing the 

 whole gamut " — doing, on occasion, pretty 

 much everything from writing editorials to 

 picking up the peanut shells which careless 

 people throw on the floor. Now that he not 

 only writes articles but signs them, we owe 

 him a "howdy" and shake of the hand. 

 And, friend Wallace, seeing you are still half 

 a stranger to many to whom you ought to be 

 as household words, quit that W. P. R. — get 

 out of bare bones, and sit with your alpha- 

 betical flesh on. 



Now as to his present series of articles on 

 the old bee books. Of course we must not 

 expect warm blood out of cold turnips, nor 



