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TBE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



it had the sanction of the State. I have 

 thought of that same thing myself, but if 

 our Minnesota friend could only have a few 

 hundred dollars from the State it would en- 

 able himi to devote more time to these experi- 

 ments, conducting more of them. I know 

 of no better man in Minnesota for this posi- 

 tion, and if the bee-keepers of that State 

 would only bestir themselves in that direc- 

 tion they could have the benefit of his best 

 work in that direction — I think. 



Hasty is right when he says we must be 

 careful that no mediocrities are appointed as 

 apiarists, or more harm than good will 

 come. 



M. H. Dewitt, of Sang Run, Maryland, is 

 an undesirable customer for queen breeders. 

 He buys queens and pays for them mostly 

 with fair promises. He owed Mrs. Atchley 

 more than a year and she finally brought 

 him to time only by threatening to expose 

 him. She says that she gets a great many 

 complaints against him from queen breed- 

 ers. He made arrangements last spring 

 with J. B. Case, of Port Orange, Florida, to 

 buy queens of him and pay for them in 

 monthly settlements. No remittances have 

 been made since May, but orders have con- 

 tinued to come accompanied by plausible ex- 

 cuses for non-payment. Mr. Case has re- 

 ceived numerous complaints against him. 

 He promised to pay me an advertising bill 

 last May. A part of it was paid in July and 

 now he answers no inquiries. The man may 

 not be dishonest, but he is certainly an un- 

 desirable customer. So far as I am con- 

 cerned personally, I would allow the matter 

 to pass unnoticed, but such exposures some- 

 times become an unpleasant, editorial duty. 



VENTILATION AND MOISTURE. 



The articles of Messrs. Aikin, Elwood, 

 Dayton and Cornell again bring up the ques- 

 tions of ventilation and moisture. Several 

 times it has been decided that ventilation 

 had a bearing only as it afifected tempera- 

 ture. It must be admitted that bees have 

 sometimes wintered well when there was but 

 little ventilation and an abundance of moist- 

 ure, but in these cases the food may have 

 been of the best. I am becoming more and 

 more convinced that we cannot put our fin- 

 ger on any one thing and say " This causes 



bee diarrhoea." Or, to be more exact, oth- 

 er favorable circumstances may be such as 

 to overcome the objectionable features of 

 some factor that under other conditions 

 might prove disastrous. For instance, a 

 warm, dry atmosphere may enable the bees 

 to overcome the troubles arising from a poor 

 diet and vice versa. Now that Mr. Cornell 

 calls my attention to it I must admit that 

 when I have had bees perish from diarrhoea 

 the fteces have somethnes been watery as well 

 as composed of pollen ; in fact, they might 

 be described as consisting of water and pol- 

 len mixed. It is probable that a warm, dry 

 atmosphere would enable the bees to get rid 

 of this excess of water and it is possible that 

 they would then be able to manage the pol- 

 len. It is the double load that breaks them 

 down. Too many of us do not know whether 

 the air of our cellars is damp or not. A man 

 reports that the temperature is thus and so. 

 Upon another point equally as vital he is un- 

 informed. He knows nothing in regard to 

 the degree of saturation or moisture. The 

 Review has several times explained how easy 

 it is to ascertain in regard to this point by 

 means of the wet and dry bulb thermometer. 

 This is a matter for our experiment station 

 to take hold of. Bro. Taylor, will you try and 

 produce bee diarrhoea by means of a cold, 

 damp atmosphere ? All along we have been 

 trying to prevent bee diarrhoea, now let us 

 try solving this problem by working at it 

 from the opposite direction. Let us try and 

 prod ice it at will. If we can succeed in this 

 the results may be helpful. 



the honey - SHOW AT THE WOBLD's FAIB. 



Considering the amount of money appro- 

 priated by the different States for making 

 an apiarian show at the Columbian Exposi- 

 tion, and the late day at which some of it 

 was allotted to this purpose, the display was 

 very good. As the show lasted several 

 months, the exhibition of the honey under 

 glass became a necessity. This greatly 

 hampered the exhibitors as it prevented them 

 from getting up large and striking displays. 

 The exhibits were made in large show cases, 

 each case being five feet wide, about ten feet 

 high and perhaps twenty-five or thirty feet 

 in length. 



First came New York. This State had two 

 of these large cases, besides two smaller ones 

 about eight feet long that fitted in nicely in 

 filling up a corner. The smaller cases were 



