298 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



Langstroth or Hoffman frame as the case 

 may be. Let these men give their views 

 from both a comb and extracted honey view. 

 Let these articles come from different honey 

 districts, but not be much given to detail 

 that applies only locally. After all, corres- 

 pondence should make us think, it is not 

 simply to be followed blindly. Keep out 

 personalities and interested articles. What 

 I value about the Review is that everything 

 in it is worth reading, and it is so compact 

 that it is easily read through. I say, as 

 some of your other readers have, don't mix 

 in anything on other subjects. — In its field, 

 I think the Review the best journal I read, 

 because of its practical articles on advanced 

 bee culture, and because of its pure, correct 

 English. As to the change you propose, I 

 think it will be a good one. — One thing I 

 wish to call your attention to in particular, 

 and that is, of what use are the experimental 

 stations to bee keepers unless that which is 

 being done is laid before them from month 

 to month, as the work proceeds. Michigan 

 probably has the best station and I would 

 like to have its apiarist tell the readers of the 

 Review each month the progress made — the 

 failures as well as the successes. I suppose 

 these stations are kept up to advance the 

 science, then why not let us know what is 

 going on without waiting for the yearly re- 

 Dorts? I think all would be glad to aid, and 

 would take more interest in the work at the 

 station if they were kept informed of the 

 work as it progresses. If the stations can 

 give any light, let it shine ! — The unvarying 

 special topic rule is a narrow, contracted 

 one, which interferes with a broad, free dis- 

 cussion of the data of advanced bee culture. 

 I believe this is a better reason for making 

 the proposed change than the one you give. 

 True, as you intimate, it is by no means ne- 

 cessary to abandon the special topics alto- 

 gether, only the ride. You have been break- 

 ing into this rule some the past year— that 

 does not look well— better alter the rule. New 

 and living questions will come up to which 

 it will be well to devote an issue exclusively, 

 and old subjects will occasionally need a 

 thorough re-sifting. So you can still keep 

 the topical idea prominent, yet allow your- 

 self a greater freedom in making up the 

 journal. Ever since the discussion of api- 

 cultural journalism I have wished you would 

 take up a companion subject— writing for 

 bee journals, I would call it. Take up the 

 making of bee journals with special refer- 



ence to our end of the double-tree. Who 

 should write, when, why, how, etc. The dif- 

 ferent editors could give us some wholesome 

 lessons on this point. The keeping of apiary 

 records is something that bothers me, and I 

 would like to see the subject thoroughly 

 aired." 



remedies fok pooe seasons. 



For the ten years previous to beginning 

 the pul)lication of the Review, I had never 

 failed to get a fair crop of honey. When 

 raising comb honey I had obtained at least 

 fifty . pounds per colony, usually about 

 seventy-five pounds, and one year more 

 than one hundred pounds. In those years I 

 had trouble in winte'ring my bees ; but if 

 I could only get the bees I could get the 

 honey. Now the conditions seem reversed. 

 I have little trouble in wintering the bees, 

 but can get no honey. The bees come 

 through the winter and spring in splendid 

 condition. At the opening of white clover 

 the hives are literally pacfa'ci with bees, some- 

 times to overflowing, yet the end of the har- 

 vest shows but few finished sections in the 

 supers. In 18S8 the average yield in my api- 

 ary was ten pounds per colony ; in 1889 it 

 was twenty iiounds ; in 1890, not one pound; 

 in 1891, five pounds. 



My wife has several times said : " I guess 

 we commenced publishing a bee journal 

 just in time to keep from starving." She is 

 right. The honey stored in my apiary the 

 past four years would not have kept us in 

 food more than one year. I am forced to 

 believe that hundreds of bee keepers could 

 make a similar rei)ort. The last four years 

 have been, practically, failures in a large 

 share of the apiaries in the Northern States. 

 Every spring there have been prophesies 

 that "//lis year would be a good one ; " but 

 it was not, and some are beginning to ask, 

 in all seriousness, '' will we erer have any 

 more good years?" No, I'm no croaker; 

 any one who kii >ws me knows better than 

 that ; but the first step towards removing a 

 difficulty is to acknowledge its existence. 



Some man in Ohio has several times writ- 

 ter me that we were discussing hives, imple- 

 monts and methods and neglecting a far 

 more important topic, that of why tlie flow- 

 ers fail to secrete honey. I will admit that 

 a good honey flow is of more importance 

 than all else, but right on top of this comes 



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