''HE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



337 



top ; " facing " barrels of apples with the 

 best apples ; putting the best sections in a 

 case next the glass : etc. In short it is put- 

 ting the best side out, making your wares 

 just as attractive as you possibly can— »)ut- 

 ting the rosy side of the apple up. If you 

 think it is wrong, don't do it. 



A Condensed View of Current 

 Bee Writings. 



E. E. HASTY. 



KND SO honey will soak into an agate 

 ( Review 304. ) No wonder then that it 

 soaks into a barrel stave, making the same 

 shrink, and the barrel leak as disagreeable 

 incidents. 



Doolittle in Progressive 314 notes the two 

 very dififerent stages in the food consump- 

 tion of bees in winter— only a pound a 

 month at first ; but after once becoming 

 uneasy, from five to eight pounds a month. 

 He speaks of this second stage as if the vora- 

 cious appetite was not inevitable, as if the 

 bees could and would restrain themselves if 

 they knew as much about the results as we 

 do. May not this assumption be an impor- 

 tant mistake)? I have some suspicious that 

 it is. Moreover I rather think the deter- 

 mination of the problem worthy of high 

 class experimenters at experiment stations. 

 Do bees in midwinter get stirred up and go 

 to eating ravenously from preventable 

 causes? or is their eating only proportionate 

 to their activity, and their activity an un- 

 avoidable result of what has gone before ? 

 If the former is correct some very little 

 thing, which somebody may discover, may 

 make immense improvement in the condi- 

 tion of our apiaries in spring. If the latter 

 position is the true one we have not much 

 to hope for in this particular direction unless 

 we can change the whole condition and en- 

 vironment of the hive during early winter. 

 It may very probable be that our bees of 

 their own accord prolong their early period 

 of quiet and abstinence just about as long 

 as they possibly can. 



The AviERicAN Bee-Journal. 



One way to bring changes into a distinct 

 light is by comparison. Two years agone 

 the A. B. .J. was half sized, and had twice as 

 many pages as now — and wore an air of 

 trying to make matter cover as much space 

 fts possible, It does nqt look that way at 



present, rather wears the look of trying to 

 crowd in as mnch matter as possible into 

 the available spaco. ( 11 incing through the 

 number for October lH:t4, the editorial de- 

 partment seems the same as now. Dr. 

 Miller's department of (luestions and an- 

 swers seems rather the embryo from which 

 the present one has grown than the same 

 identical thing. Good Dr. Peiro's depart- 

 ment—ah we've missed him this many a 

 day. Wrote the vein out or something. 

 ( Alas for the many who write the vein out, 

 and still don't stop ? ) Close to the Dr. 

 nestled Jennie Atchley— gone also— and her 

 successor in the Southland business is most- 

 ly gone too. Possibly A. B. J. is a little 

 preeminent in the readiness with which its 

 departments kick the bucket and take a 

 downward excursion after McGinty. Three 

 other departments which appear only one 

 year ago are mostly extinct to day. How- 

 ever, the Contiibutoi's and Question-Box 

 and L?tter-Box departments are "allee 

 samee, " and good for another ten years. 

 What's the use of having so many depart- 

 ments anyhow ? Partly, at least, its result 

 is to secure a place for second rate matter 

 which otherwise would be left out. But 

 then I want'era to make a good by speech 

 before dying— sing a dying elegy as it weie 

 ^pull a tombstone over their heads in good 

 form. Why slink away like the backslider, 

 who is never known to say, Good by Lord, 

 when he goes ? The last new department to 

 "enter on life's journey and travel until it 

 stops" is, I believe the botanist's depart- 

 ment of plants to be named. It is conduct- 

 ed by Dr. H. S. Pepoon of Chicago. 



In A. B. .J. .579 Doolittle treats of the 

 amount of stores a colony needs for winter. 

 I want to extend my hand and shake for 

 the firmness with which he treats the 

 " short store " heretics, of whom I happen 

 to be about the most, extreme one. He fig- 

 ures it right down to this : that the ouly 

 reason for giv.ng 20 i)ounds instead of 1.5 is 

 not the danger of starvation, but the cer- 

 tiiiuty that the.\|will retrench in early spring 

 and raise less brood. The fullest possible 

 lot of early brood is greatly important 

 where the harvest is apt to be early, but 

 where the harvest i pretty sure to be late 

 the need of extra efforts towards early brood- 

 ing disappears. The way seems open for 

 Mr. D. to agree with me that there may be 

 localities where bees can breed up for the 

 harvest on the spring poplars apd .viUows 



