206 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



Perhaps nothing would be gained by an 

 attractive display of wax, as we are not 

 catering to the public taste as regards wax, 

 as we are honey. — We are not yet quite ready 

 to lay the black bee on the shelf. — Judges 

 must never be asked to give the premiums 

 to a man because he saya the honey is his 

 own production. — We have no desire to force 

 a list upon anyone who does not wish it; 

 and hope no bee-keepers will allow us to 

 thus get the start of them. — It is quite likely 

 that honey vinegar can be "doctored," and 

 we would take it from the list; or else add 

 "pastry" and "candies" and put the pre- 

 miums so low that it would scarcely be 

 worth while to "doctor." The exhibition of 

 these articles simply calls attention to the 

 different uses to which honey may be put. 



We had no intention of omitting honey 

 plants from the original list. It was simply 

 an oversight. Instead of offering a premium 

 upon the largest number of plants, which 

 brings out dozens of plants that bees never 

 even smell of, we would restrict the number. 

 This would bring out the idea: ivJiieh are 

 the best honey priHhtcing vlantsi' We would 

 word the matter something as follows: "The 

 Best Specimens of the Best Honey Produc- 

 ing Plants, Pressed and Mounted, not to ex- 

 ceed fifty varities, 1st premium, !{;l.5.(J0; 2d, 

 $8.00. " Possibly we have placed the number 

 of varieties too high. 



WHAT WILL BEST COMBINE WITH BEE-KEEPING? 



It is evident that no cut and dried, cast 

 iron rules can be laid down upon this sub- 

 ject. The best that can be said is that a 

 man must most thoroughly study himself, 

 his surroundings, and the conditions of his 

 particular case. Most thoroughly have our 

 correspondents gone over the ground, point- 

 ing out what pursuits must be avoided, 

 which may be chosen, and giving a vast 

 amount of general information upon the 

 subject. At the International convention, 

 over at Brantford, Mr. R. L. Taylor, after 

 enumerating the avocations that might be 

 combined with bee-keeping, exclaimed: 

 "After all, if l)ee-keeping is so profitable, I 

 can't help thinking, why not keep more 

 bees? If it isn't profitable, why keep them 

 at all?" Byron Walker, of Capac, he of 

 "migratory bee-keeping" fame, passed a 

 few hours at the "home of the Review" a 

 few days ago, and in the course of conversa- 

 tion he said he believed that he had lost 



more bees than any man in Michigan. He 

 had been compelled sometimes to borrow 

 money to buy more bees, but he had no 

 thoughts of abandoning the pursuit, or of 

 combining anything with it. By the way, he 

 has this year secured 19,000 pounds of honey; 

 one-half comb. But we must not forget 

 that all men are not constituted like Mr. 

 Walker. Failure does not stimulate every- 

 one to greater effort, — to the borrowing of 

 money and the extending of business. Some 

 prefer less brilliant success and a lessening 

 of the chances for complete failure. Others, 

 agair, actually pcp/er to sacrifice their love 

 of financial gain to the pleasure of being 

 engaged in more than one pursuit. As we 

 said at the outset, men and conditions differ, 

 and it is well they do, and when they are 

 such as to call for a combination of bee- 

 keeping with some other pursuit, we feel 

 that the present discussion need not be pe- 

 rused in vain. 



HONEY BOARDS, WHY AND WHEN THEY ABE 

 NEEDED. 



Years ago, honey boards y?ere used to 

 support the honey boxes. Now, honey 

 boxes are no more and the modern section 

 box is supported by the super in which it is 

 placed. The modern honey board is not, 

 perhaps, a honey board, strictly speaking, 

 but it is doubtful if a change in name would 

 be advisable, even if a more appropriate 

 name were found. Certain it is, that its 

 construction, characteristics and require- 

 ments are different from those of former 

 years. It seems to be the instinct of the bee 

 to build and attach brace combs to whatever 

 comes ne.rt to the top of its brood-nest. At 

 least, such is the case with ordinary top-bars; 

 those that are 's wide by % deep. If the 

 sections come next to the brood-nest, they 

 are connected to it by the brace combs, and 

 when they are removed, either to tier them 

 up or because they are comi)leted, a dauby, 

 mussy mess is the result — every experienced 

 bee-keeper understands this. To prevent 

 this, Mr. HeddoD devised the slatted, break- 

 joint, bee-space, honey board. When placed 

 over the brood-nest, the bees fill with brace 

 combs the bee space between the honey 

 board and the brood-nest, but leave the 

 upper bee-space — that between the honey 

 board and the sections — free from brace 

 combs. Only those who have tried it can 



