THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



279 



feel sure he will excuse me for making it 

 public. It reads as follows: — 



After reading carefully those very valu- 

 able articles in July Review I read your 

 remarks regarding journals. Friend York 

 deserves great success, and 1 hope his de- 

 sires may be more than realized. Surely, 

 any one owning only one colony of bees 

 can afford to pay the price and save 

 money by the expenditure. 



Many years ago I saw that a friend 

 needed a journal for beginners and offered 

 to send him the American and take bees 

 in payment, but he declined, saying he 

 would not give me bees for a journal. 



The next spring he told me that he had 

 employed a carpenter to make him a lot 

 of Langstroth hives. I asked him if he 

 had used one of the hives 1 let him have 

 as a pattern. He stated that the carpen- 

 ter had made an improvement, and had 

 made such and such changes. I told him 

 that 1 would rather have the lumber in 

 those hives standing down in some deep 

 ravine with the bark on than to have the 

 hives painted. 



His eyes stretched at me; but he could 

 not manipulate the hives when the bees 

 had been in them, a month, and he was 

 one dollar wise at an expense of $19.50. 



This class may be reached by the 

 American at the give-away price, and 

 developed into men of judgment. 1 shall 

 try and help friend York out by sending 

 him a lot of such subscribers, and thus 

 benefit our craft. 



But this is not what I started to say: I 

 wished to state that the July Review is 

 worth several years' subscription price to 

 the specialist. This is what we want, 

 and the price cuts no figure with us. We 

 expect to make money by adopting the 

 best methods, practiced by the most suc- 

 cessful specialists who handle large 

 apiaries, and care but little for what the 

 fellow does with half a dozen colonies. 

 Your ship is headed right for this class, 

 so keep her bow so directed. 



All of our journals have their special 

 work to do, and are doing it admirably. 



This subject promises to extend itself 

 into several chapters. After the forego- 

 ing was all nicely in type, along comes 

 the American Bee Journal for September, 

 when, lo and behold I Bro. Vork has 

 jumped the price up to 50 cts. Only three 

 months of experience have proved to him 

 that such a journal as he is making can't 

 be furnished for 25 cts; and very wisely, 

 so it seems to me, he has doubled the 



price in fact, he says that is the only 

 thing he can do. 



Guard Against Fires in Locating an Ajjiary 

 in a New Country. 



Last fall, when we located the apiary 

 shown in last month's frontispiece, we 

 knew we were running a risk from forest 

 fires, and we intended, upon the first op- 

 portunity, to burn the brush and logs sur- 

 rounding it. Other duties pressed, and a 

 fire started by some careless hand did the 

 work for us, and it was almost a miracle 

 that the bees were saved. 



Just at dusk, one evening in June, El- 

 mer saw burnt leaves falling from the 

 sky, and his suspicions were aroused. 

 The next morning he and one of the boys 

 drove over to the Morey yard. Half a mile 

 this side of there he came upon the black- 

 ened trail left by the fire. With his heart 

 in his mouth he drove on; nearer he came 

 to the apiary; turn after turn in the road 

 was made, and still the blackness of des- 

 olation. At last, not ten rods from the 

 apiary, he came upon the fire, still eating 

 its way towards the rows of white hives. 

 How good they did look smiling in the 

 sunshine. 



Elmer sent the boy back home for bed 

 clothes and provisions, and secured a man 

 to help him, and set out to control the fire 

 as it swept down towards the apiary. 

 There is a brook only a few rods from 

 the yard, and barrels and pails were pro- 

 cured, and water brought and stored in 

 the yard. After the fire had burned as 

 near to one side as it was considered safe, 

 it was put on along that edge of the yard. 

 Then it began to eat along down one 

 side, and watch was kept that it did not 

 get too near. In this way it burned its 

 way clear around the yard, and only at 

 one time was the danger so very great, 

 and that was when a great mass of cedar 

 and hemlock tops burned very near the 

 yard, so near that som.e of the hives had 

 to be moved back or they would liave 

 perished. For two or three minu'RS. 

 when this mass of inRamable material 

 first flashed up, Elmer almost de£p.'.irsd 



