THE BER-KEKPERS» REVIEW. 



237 



Burnett would offer other honey on the 

 condition that, if his directions were fol- 

 lowed, he would be responsible for any 

 damage that might result from the use 

 of American honey. The result was that 

 he invariably won them over to using 

 that from the States. 



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Si'PKRSKDL'RE is the natural end of 

 every queen bee. Occasionally a queen 

 breeder will receive complaints from cus- 

 tomers that some of his queens have been 

 superseded — they knew it "because the 

 queens were clipped." These customers 

 write in a way that shows that they are 

 not pleased, as though something must 

 have been wrong or the queens would not 

 have been superseded. I doubt if queens 

 that have emlured long journeys by mail 

 do live as long as those that have alwajs 

 remained at home. A correspondent of 

 the American Bee Journal writes that of 

 his clippe<l queens fully ten jier cent were 

 superseded, while not one of the undip- 

 ped ones were superseded, so far as he 

 kuew. The weak point in his argument 

 is that it is not easy to say that a queen 

 has been superseded unless there is some 

 distinguishing mark about the queen. It 

 \s possible that clipped queens are super- 

 seded sooner than those that are not clip- 

 ped, but the probability is that some have 

 been led to think that clipping leads to 

 supersedure simply because clipping 

 marks the queen so that they know it 

 when they are superseded. 



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Overstocking is one of those elusive 

 questions upon which it is difficult to put 

 the finger and say "Now I have got you." 

 The .\merican Bee Keeper contains some 

 arguments against the overstocking idea. 

 Changes in the weather (|uickly bring 

 about conditions that cause the flowers 

 to secrete nectar. The bees carry it away, 

 but if the conditions are right, it will be 

 quickly replenished. If honey is not gath- 

 ered one day, it is not left in the blossoms 

 for the next day the same as grass would 

 be left in the fi'ild for the sheep to eat to- 



morrow, if not eaten today. Where the 

 flowers yield plentifully it is almost im- 

 possible to have bees enough to overstock 

 the field. Where 100 colonies would 

 starve, so would one colony. These argu- 

 ments have been advanced before, but the 

 fact remains that the average yield of 

 small apiaries is larger, as a rule, than the 

 average yield of large apiaries. 



t^^f^t^^^'ml^P 



A Reserve, either of strength or capi- 

 tal, is an excellent thing to have. If oc- 

 casion requires, a man can occasionally, 

 for one day, or for several days, work to 

 the limit of his endurance, or he can bor- 

 row money at the bank, but if he does this 

 habitually, day after day, he is soon with- 

 out any reserve, and when an emergency 

 does come he is not equal to it. He has 

 no reserve to draw upon. As a rule, noth- 

 ing is gained by overwork. The tempo- 

 rarj- gain that appears at the outset, is 

 eventuall}' lost. Compelling tired brains 

 or muscles to work against their will is 

 only piling up a debt that must be paid. 

 Then, too, what pleasure is there in such 

 work, compared to that done when mind 

 and body are fresh and rested? In the 

 latter condition, twice as much can be ac- 

 complished in the same length of time. 

 Really, nothing is gained by working or 

 attempting to work when exhausted. 

 When a man works until "all run down," 

 the use of medicine or stinmlants is like 

 putting the whip upon the tired horse's 

 back. When a man is tired, the remedy 

 is to rest. When he is sleepy, to sleep. 



•■n*«*mjr«^»*» 



"Bee Growers," is the name applied 

 to bee keepers quite frequently by the 

 general public. The editor of Gleanings 

 asks what are the objections to the term ? 

 That is, why should it not be used in the 

 bee journals. He thinks it would save 

 the constant repetition of the word "bee 

 keeper." Ves, but, Bro. Root, we would 

 still have to repeat the word "bee." Be- 

 sides this, let me bring up what might be 

 called a "fine point." When we speak 

 of "sheep growers," we mean men who 



