198 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REV-'^^.l-^ 



ting as well as for looking at where they 

 grow ; ( 4 ) That they be of easy culture, and 

 not ruined too easily by disease or enemies. 

 Our list of flowers filling these four simple 

 requirements is aivfuUy short. The Perpet- 

 ual Roses, the Geraniums, the Phlox, and 

 the Carnations, — and that's about the end of 

 it. Even to this short list there might be a 

 demurrer or two. Many find the roses too 

 hard to raise. And the point we are just 

 now making for is that not one of the flowers 

 named above is a first rate nectar producer. 

 I want to digress a little here. I sit look- 

 ing down the center space of my apiary 

 which is ablaze with phloxes, and has been 

 for a long time. I want to inquire if most 

 lovers of flowers are not half asleep as to the 

 merits of the Phlox Drummondii. Ur has 

 the flower a consciousness, and so great 

 pleasure in finding one appreciative lovf r 

 that it doe. for me what it does for nobody 

 else ? With me it comes up in the fall as 

 the pansies do. These young plants ( more 

 or less of them ) winter over, and go into 

 business early in the s[)ring, long before the 

 perennial pholoxes tlimk of such a thing as 

 showing a flower. 



THE GENERAL ROUND-LJP, 



Bisulphide of carbon vapor for keeping 

 combs ! Who knows but that may be a win- 

 ning idea ? It is given by E. B. Mann, in 

 Gleanings H5(>. The weak point is likely to 

 be the rapidity with which it gets away and 

 leaves no trace. Witii a crack anywhere the 

 moth might " try, try again." What may 

 be the most valuable point of all was not 

 mentioned. Full grown larv» are very hard 

 to kill with sulphur, and the bisulphide is 

 likely to "go to the spot" more reliably. 

 At any rate we'll hope so till some one re- 

 ports the contrary. 



Miss Wilson says that at Dr. Miller's they 

 often find a full winged queen in the hive, at 

 the first spring examination, when the record 

 says, clipped queen. This shows how often 

 supersession takes place " unbeknownst us. " 

 Gleanings 2r>7. 



C. Davenport in Gleanings 258 says he 

 sometimes makes introducing safer by mak- 

 ing the colony broodless as well asqneenless, 

 bringing back the brood from the place 

 where it has temporarily been placed when 

 the queen is well established. 



Ernest says thumbs up— right thumb up 

 against the V-edge — and be sure you nail 

 your Hoffman frames so you can do so. 



Davenport says about as many apiaries have 

 them the opposite way as the orthodox way, 

 and that if an orthodox man should buy un- 

 orthodox hives they would not mix well at 

 all. Gleanings 258. 



Frank Mc. Nay presents an improvement 

 on the entrance guard in Glemiu^js 261, 

 The idea is to keep the guard on all sum- 

 mer, and open or shut it with a simple slide 

 according as there may or may not be need 

 of it. I wonder why all guards were not 

 made with slides long ago. 



Doolittie says that in delayed after swarms 

 the young queen occasionally mates during 

 the swarming flight. Gleanings 2(58. I 

 should think that such a thing would usually 

 result in the bees going back to the old hive. 



Mrs. Axtell in the American Bee Journal 

 258, strikes an importani subject in regard 

 to keeping dead bees cleared up in the cel- 

 lar when there are human beings trying to 

 live above. Otherwise the corpse like smell 

 of dead bees can be noticed in the family 

 rooms when one first comes in from pure 

 out-door air. In one such case of dead-bee- 

 smelling rooms which she personally notic- 

 ed both man and wife were in poor health, 

 and the wife did not live long. A word such 

 as this to the wise certainly ought to be suf- 

 ficient. 



In A. B J. 268 William Webb kindly offers 

 to send "pizen" honey to any one who is 

 skeptically anxious to eat it and throw up 

 his socks. Quite a bit of evidence on honey 

 poisoning is given on the same and adjacent 

 pages. 



Not to be recommended, but still interest- 

 ing, is C. Davenport's experience given A. 

 B. J. 28.'). He had a lot of nice section honey 

 turned very green by a very green assistant, 

 who sulphured it in his absence. Soaked it 

 in two waters for some 12 hours. This re- 

 moved the color, but resulted in some dam- 

 age by the wood swelling. The soaked 

 sections were then temporarily put on hives, 

 with the result that ihe bad scrape was got 

 out of without much loss. Why would not 

 bisulphide of carbon vapor be very much 

 safer than sulphur for comb honey ? 



Let me see, isn't that all? Ah, no. Last 

 month in a certain journal called the Keview, 

 and in the writings of one Hasty, there were 

 an extra swarm of petty typograhpical er- 

 rors, besides a misplaced line, and an " out " 

 whereby Dr. Miller got oft" with half the 

 pelting that was intended for him. 



RicuAUDS, Ohio ; May 28, 18!)G. 



