THE BEE-KEEPERS' J REVIEW. 



43 



step the Caruiolans, claiming to possess all of 

 the good qualities of both the blacks and Ital- 

 ians, with one or two additional virtues tlirown 

 ^u. It is asserted that they are the most gentle 

 bees known: that they remain quietly on the 

 combs when handled, but are caftih/ sJuikcu off: 

 that they are industrious; good com!) builders, 

 capping the honey very white, and using but 

 little propolis; that they are hardy; i^rolific: 

 and just perfection itself. But we must not 

 forget the disposition to praise neic things. 

 The Carniolans have been here only a few 

 years; still, it is a significant fact, that al] 

 who have tried them are pleased with them. 

 So far, no word of fault has been uttered 

 against them. But we are by no means ready 

 to advise every bee-keeper to immediately 

 discard his Italians or Germans, or their 

 crosses, for Carniolans. We have done our 

 level best in securing testimony upon this 

 subject, and we take pleasure in laying it 

 before our readers, but, at the same time, we 

 advise caution, investigation, and the laying 

 aside of all prejudice. 



'PRACTICAL BEE-KEEPING. 



(('ontinued from Feb. No. I 

 Mr. Jones favors the traffic in virgin 

 queens. That they can be furnished very 

 cheaply there is no question, but that they 

 are difficult to introduce we know from expe- 

 rience. A newly hatched queen is easily in- 

 troduced. As the hours go by the probabili- 

 ties of acceptance are lessened. With us, 

 the percentage of loss has been great when 

 the queens were three or four days old. 

 Then there is the risk of loss in mating; and, 

 unless the locality of the i)urchaser can fur- 

 nish excellent drones, the queens will find 

 undesirable mates; and, as pre-potency is on 

 the side of the male, there will be little 

 "value received." — After much experiment- 

 ing, Mr. Jones concludes that old bees build 

 more perfect cells than do the young bees. — 

 Of the various methods of cleansing wax, 

 he knows of no better plan than melting it 

 over water, and then keei)ing it in a place 

 sufficiently warm to prevent solidifying for 

 at least twelve hours. This allows all pro- 

 polis, pollen and dirt to settle to the bottom. 

 For rendering wax he prefers steam; but the 

 steam must not be allowed to play directly 

 upon the wax or it will be injured. — To de- 

 tect adulteration in wax. draw the thumb 

 nail over the surface. If genuine, the nail 

 sticks slightly. If adulterated, the wax be- 



comes slippery and gives out the smell of> 

 tallow or other adulterant. — The directions 

 for making foundation are very full. Pref- 

 erence is given to the Vandervort mill. 

 Soap suds made from good white soap has 

 proved the best lubricant. ( )ld foundation 

 should be dipped in warm water (about 120° ) 

 before using. This restores it to its original 

 softness. There is no necessity for drone 

 foundation.— Mr. Jones favors the Parker 

 machine for fastening foundation into sec- 

 tions. — Considerable space is given to the 

 description of sections with grooves upon 

 the inside for holding the foundation in 

 place. We do not believe such sections will 

 ever come into favor in this country. As 

 Mr. Pringle says, we desire something bet- 

 ter. — We are astonished to see that Mr. 

 Jones objects to apicultural patents. We 

 supposed he willingly accorded to mental 

 labor a legal right to its own.— (Jn one other 

 point we are compelled to differ. He say^ that 

 in reality there is not much difference in hives 

 except in the variation of the size of brood 

 chambers. This is only otw way in which 

 hives differ, while there are several important 

 variations that may be mentioned. For in- 

 stance, there is the difference in shape as 

 well as in size; hives may be single-walled 

 or double-walled; with fast bottom boards 

 or loose ones: the brood chamber may be all 

 in one body or it may be divisible; the hive 

 may be invertible or it may not; may be ar- 

 ranged for side storing or adapted to tiering 

 up: the frames may be of the hanging style 

 or they may be of the standing variety ; then 

 there are the so-called minor points, that 

 are often of importance, such as square or 

 bevel corners; telescopic or square joints; 

 hives arranged for a simple, flat, board 

 cover, or those having ' a quilt over the 

 frames, and over this a costly, raised cover. 

 ^Vhy, Bro. .Jones, we don't see how you ever 

 came to make such an assertion. 

 (To be continued.) 



ARE THERE TOO MANY BEE- JOURNALS? 



Recently, in noticing the advent of a new 

 bee paper in Switzerland, Bro. Newman of 

 the A. B. J., remarks as follows: — 



"This makes the third periodical on bee- 

 keeping now being published in our small 

 sister Republic, where one is ' an abundance.' 



It seems a strange infatuation, that leads 

 to such a multiplication of bee-i)eriodicals. 

 Where one good bee paper could live and be 

 a real benefit to the pursuit, two or three 

 will spring up and none of them be able to 



