276 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



other occasion, it is best to avoid any re- 

 taliatory movements. The destruction of a 

 bee is certai'i to call one or more to its 

 rescue, and the result will prove an increase 

 of irritable guard.-. 



To return to the method of uniting. Upon 

 bringing the colonies together it is best to 

 have them face the same direction. I now 

 provide a hive with wire cloth division 

 boards, preferably a frame one quarter 

 inch wide with wire cloth tacked on both 

 sides which prevents contact of the bees 

 with those of the adjoining apartment. As 

 I use a closed end frame hive with open 

 side, this arrangement is easily made, and 

 an entrance to eacli compartment in keep- 

 ing with the hives containing colonies to be 

 united. With all in readiness, open the 

 hives, using a little smoke, and transfer the 

 combs and bees to an apartment on their 

 respective sides, giving an entrance to each. 

 The inferior or mismated queen being re- 

 moved will leave one side queenless. In a 

 few days the bees, having become of like 

 scent and acquainted, will gradually leave, 

 finding the entrance of those possessing a 

 queen where they will be recei vedas mem- 

 bers of the same family. 



It being rather more difficult to arrange 

 a tight compartment in the Langstroth hive, 

 a suitable box with rabbits and one or more 

 movable partitions and entrances as des- 

 cribed can be cheaply made and kept for 

 this special purpose. 



Preferably, the work of uniting colonies 

 should be deferred until all breeding is over 

 for the season, otherwise queen cells are 

 likely to be constructed in the queenless 

 compartment. However, should it be de- 

 sireable to unite during the breeding sea- 

 son, the screen partition may be removed at 

 the end of thirty-six hours using a little 

 smoke. During a honey flow, bees unite 

 readily. 



Preparatory to uniting colonies, it is best 

 to ascertain whether any have virgin queens, 

 as such, by the ordinary methods cannot be 

 united with those having a laying queen. 

 The bees of the latter will kill those of the 

 virgin queen colony until the last bee is 

 destroyed. Having learned this by sad ex- 

 perience I have never attempted to unite 

 any by the compartment plan, but hope to 

 experiment somewhat the coming autumn. 



Jackson, Mich. 



Aug. 4, 189G. 



The Late Allen Pringle. 



W. F. OLAKKE. 



WHEN I re- 

 ceived the 

 following postal 

 card from the 

 editor of the Re- 

 view: — " Would 

 you feel like say- 

 ing a few words 

 in the Review 

 about our de- 

 paited friend, 

 Allen Pringle ? 

 If you do I shall 

 be glad to publish them ; " it gave me a 

 mournful pleasure to accept the invitation 

 thus conveyed to me, because it afforded 

 me the opportunity of casting a wreath of 

 respectful remembrance on the premature 

 grave of one whom I esteemed very highly 

 during his life-time. Our homes were 

 widely apart ; we rarely met except on such 

 occasions as bee conventions and agricul- 

 tural exhibitions; we had tht-refore but little 

 chance for forming personal acquaintance 

 and friendship, so that I cannot say much 

 about him excei)t as a public man. Of his 

 qualities as a bee-keeper it is useless for me 

 to speak. His writings are left to speak 

 for him, and they testify that he was an 

 intelligent and skillful manipulator of bees, 

 well up to the times, not carried away with 

 worthless novelities, but still duly apprecia- 

 ting all real improvements, and always 

 standing in the front rank of practical 

 apiculturists. His appointment as Canada's 

 Commissioner to the World's Fair at 

 Chicago, was a well-deserved tribute to his 

 eminence as a bee keeper. Mr. Pringle 

 carried on a farm as well as an apiary and 

 was one of the leading spirits at local and 

 provincial Farmers ' Institutes. 



Our deceased friend was versatile in his 

 studies, was well up in Natural Science, de- 

 voted much attention to political economy, 

 was a zealous free trader, a sworn enemy to 

 protection in every form, and radical in 

 the stand he took on all public questions. I 

 think the last effusion of his pen was a 

 brief letter to the Toronto Globe written on 

 the sick bed from which he never rose, and 

 promising, as soon as his strength would 

 permit, a thorough handling of the silver 

 question, in regard to which he was a pro- 

 nounced bi-metallist. In religion, he was 



