THE BEE-KEEPEkS' REVIEW. 



27 



more ready to sport with bees than with 

 many other things, and I am confident that 

 we can combine longevity and prolificuess 

 with less trouble than it took to produce the 

 useless, but beautiful, five golden bands ; 

 but if we can't, let's have longevity first, by 

 all means ; for there is pretty good evidence 

 that the instinct that primarily induces the 

 bee to leave the hive in quest of nectar and 

 pollen, is ecjually strong in all bees, and 

 under similar conditions in the hive nearly 

 all tiie bees would bring in about the same 

 amount of nectar ; and the important factor 

 is, what use will they make of it V " 



In a later issue of the Bee Journal a Mr. 

 VVm. S. Barclay, of Beaver, Pa., in com- 

 menting upon this article says that the de- 

 sired results may be secured by a first cross 

 between the German bee and some variety 

 of yellow bees. I am inclined to think that 

 both of these gentleman are correct. 



A Condensed View of Current 

 Bee Writings. 



E. E. HASTY. 



I see friend Boardman, in Review ?A^, 

 urges a not altogether new but altogether 

 suspicious style of feeding — feeding just be- 

 fore the first surplus is expected. What 

 kind of remarks will our patrons make if 

 they "get onto it?" And what remarks 

 will they be entitled to make? Of course 

 the empty cells of the brood chamber will be 

 filled with this feed. And with continued 

 prosperity the brood nest will next be con- 

 siderably enlarged, the adjacent cells being 

 emptied to make room. In some cases this 

 may be done so gradually that the removed 

 sugar produce is all used as food ; but usual- 

 ly. I take it, part of it is carried above and 

 mixed with the new honey which is coming 

 in. The method in fact brings about a 

 state of things in which no man alive can 

 tell to what extent his honey is a mixture. 

 I like to know, you know. And when I sell 

 a man something which is better than honey 

 I want him to understand it and be duly 

 grateful. Penitent Boardman will wear 

 peas in his shoes one week. And if some of 

 the impenitent boys make sly remarks 

 about Satan reproving sin, we can't help 

 that. 



So 105 degrees is put down as a starter 

 toward establishing our danger limit in 

 heating honey. (R. L. Taylor, Review 3;1G. ) 

 Valuable experiment, although so simple 

 and off hand. Now we want another ex- 



periment, perhaps not quite so simple, to 

 supplement it. (iet a pound or so of many 

 ditferent kinds of honey, good and poor, 

 green and ripe : one strictly floral from each 

 of the leading sources, and some of insect 

 origit), and some, if possible, from stubble 

 and frosted leaves. Keep part of each 

 sample for comparsion. Heat a part to 200° 

 F. Boil the remainder briskly for five 

 minutes. What the result will be I do not 

 know ; but I strongly guess that some will be 

 ruined, and some only moderately damaged. 

 Ijsastwise I know that I have some nice ex- 

 tracted honey that bears five minutes' boil- 

 ing, when mixed half and half with granu- 

 lated sugar, very well. I am addicted to 

 candy, so I know by often experience. 

 The boiling don't spoil it by a good deal ; 

 but the fellow that does the boiling, he 

 spoils some of it soon after. 



So Colorado (according to friend Thomp- 

 son, Review :')40) raises l.'ijOOO acres of alfalfa 

 on 12,r)G<> acres of ground. The boom local- 

 ities in general must wake up or they will be 

 distanced. Across the river from where I 

 live — over in Wood County — the farmers tell 

 about farming both sides of their land, the 

 upper side for wheat and corn and the under 

 side for gas and oil. 'Spects they haven't 

 thought to try alfalfa on the under side yet. 



But I am glad to see, on the same page, 

 that some of our transatlantic brethren are 

 beginning to study the efl'ect of soil on hon- 

 ey secretion. Limestone soil best, they 

 think. Quite likely. My not very close ob- 

 servation is that white clover on clay soil 

 yields better than on sandy soil near by. 

 How is it between clay upland and bottom- 

 land loam when clover is in full bloom on 

 both? 



"Take from the most prosperous colony all its 

 brood, and you at once take away its swarming 

 too. yet such a procedure ouglit to leave the col- 

 ony with a superabunriauce of larval food and 

 nowhere to use it. " R. ('. Aikin, Review 344. 



'Pears like one timber of my swarm theory 

 was in urgent need of propping up. I sup- 

 pose I might say that swarming is not usual- 

 ly a matter of one day or two, and that by 

 the third day all the young bees have left off 

 secreting larval food. Perhaps friend Aikin 

 is right, however ; and the whole matter of 

 swarming originating in a surplus of larval 

 food may be a mistake. 



The Southland Queen. 



This baby in the journalistic ranks will 

 soon be a year old. I find it rather diffi- 



