114 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



came, I thought it a kind of bee-keepers' 

 paradise, and that Cole didn't know when 

 he was well off to leave it. It is in the great 

 basswood belt of ( )hio ; and, as I have devel- 

 oped a little plan of my own for running 

 bees on an intensive system, without in- 

 crease, I expected to get about the biggest 

 crop of honey ever reported from one yard. 

 But I guess I came on a " fool's errand," as 

 the basswood is not budding. It is the "off- 

 est" kind of an "off year." White clover is 

 very abundant, but it has rained every day 

 in June, so far. 



I have not touched bees, personally, for 

 some years, as the sumac pi-opolis poisons 

 my hands. They wrote me there was no su- 

 mac here ; but the first thing I did after I 

 came was to overhaul some sections that had 

 been on the hive last year, and my hands 

 were so poisoned that I was about helpless. 

 Since then I wear gloves, and get on pretty 

 well. 



I like your book and the Review very well. 

 Do you know that your plan of hiving 

 swarms on empty frames used to be treasur- 

 ed among those Eastern New York fellows, 

 twenty years ago, as a of sort valuable secret. 

 They lost lots of bees every winter, but they 

 soon found out that, rather than use the old 

 combs, they had better melt them down, 

 and hive on empty frames. After founda- 

 tion was invented, Betsinger thought he 

 would get ahead of the others, so he went 

 out to A. I. Root's and had him build a foun- 

 dation machine according to his (Betsing- 

 er's) own notions: and, the next season, he 

 hived all his swarms on foundation, and 

 handled his bees the same as lie formerly 

 had with empty frames, and (jot no c/op. 

 He said it was a loss of $1,000 to him in 

 honey. 



Hiving on combs is, without doubt, the 

 correct thing when increase is desired. 



J. Hasbuouck. 



Inferior Looking Queens, When Purely Bred, 

 as Good as the Most Handsome. 



E. B. WILLIAMS. 



"^^ HAVE had six years' experience at 

 yj) queen i-earing. I have some very fine 

 Ji^ looking queens — large and yellow — and 

 some of tliem are good ; while I have 

 killed some of this kind that were not proht- 

 able, I also have some very inferior looking 

 queens that produce excellent workers. I 

 have one stock that is non-swarming. The 

 (pieen is four years old and has never 

 swarmed. She is small, and dark, but very 

 prolific. Her bees are gentle and excellent 

 workers. I have been breeding from her for 

 two years, and almost stocked my entire 

 apiary of 140 colonies with her daughters. 

 Have sold over 100 queens raised from her 

 this si)ring ; and the young (jueens have the 

 same characteristics as their mother. 



So thoroughly am I convinced that the 

 whole thing hinges on the mother, or grand- 

 mother, of a stock, regardless of lool^s, that, 

 for my own use. 1 pay no attention to the 

 appearance of young (jueens. Select the 

 queen producing tlie best honey gatherers, 



and breed from her, and an apiary of honey" 

 gatherers will be the result. 



The handsomest bees and queens I ever 

 saw belonged to a neighbor, and he said they 

 were the most worthless. All handsome 

 bees may not be wortliless ; but all good 

 ones are not handsome. I had a <iueen re- 

 turned because she was small and dark. I 

 kept her for myself, and I would not ask for 

 a better queen nor better bees. A lighter 

 queen was sent the customer. He thought 

 her " rather small," but gave her a trial, 

 when he was fairly enthusiastic over her per- 

 formances and those of her bees. 



Winchester, Tenn. July 1, 1889. 



Bro. W., we have been " through the mill " 

 several times. If we can send a customer a 

 large, bright yellow queen, all is lovely ; if 

 she is small, or dark, there may be some 

 fault finding. Each queen may be equally 

 valuable. Bright yellow be( s appeal to our 

 love of the beautiful, and if we can have this 

 taste gratified without sacrificing any bread 

 and butter interests, well and good : but, in 

 financial bee-keeping, this ought to be the 

 last consideration. 



Many of our corresjiondents have the 

 habit of enclosing a little private note with 

 their contributions. How personality shines 

 in these little notes ; what glimpses they 

 give us of the writers ; how we are some- 

 times tempted lo share these with our 

 readers. Along with the foregoing article 

 came one of these chitty, chatty letters, that 

 make us feel so acquainted with the writer. 

 We must give one little extract. It reads as 

 follows : 



The little photograph on business card en- 

 closed is a good picture of your humble ser- 

 vant. I have one of yours that came in 

 (ile(rnin(is. I live on a farm : own a photo- 

 gi-aph galley in my town, and run it two days 

 in the week : the balance of the time I spend 

 in my apiary, and witli the wild turkey, 

 scjuirrels and deer. I live just at the foot of 

 Cumberland mountain, and if you should 

 ever visit Temiessee, and will spend a week 

 with us, I will insure you a royal time hunt- 

 ing and fishing, if you are fond of such 

 sport. I have finely trained bird dogs, also 

 dogs for deer. I live to enjoy life. 



R. B. Williams. 



Oh , friend W., little do yen know how 

 you tempt us! Do you know that we were 

 brought up in the woods V Father had to 

 cut a road through the woods to reach his 

 " forty." He built a log house right in the 

 iroods. This was when we were four years 

 old; and, as we grew older, we hunted, and 

 fished, and trapped, and gathered butternuts, 

 and went in swimming, coming home some- 

 times so tired that we could scarcely " wig- 

 gle," vowing to never go so far again, but 



