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DR. MILLER S 



open, onl}' close enough so they will hold the cases, the object be- 

 ing not so much to cover the cases as to prevent rough handling. 

 If cases ?re shipped without being in carriers, railroad hands are 

 likely to throw them as so many bricks, putting them in the car in 

 any sort of position. Years ago I shipped some cases loose in a 

 car, to go a pretty long distance, and when they were transferred 

 to another car some of the cases were on their sides, and, of 

 course, badly smashed sections of honey was the result. A car- 

 rier is generally made to contain eight 24-section cases, or sixteen 

 12-section cases, and provided with handles. Being so heavy, they 

 are necessarily handled with less roughness than would be the 

 loose cases. Load in car so sections run parallel with the rails. 

 If sections are sent in cases, unprotected, they take a higher 

 freight rate than if packed properly with a layer of straw on the 

 bottom. 



Shook Swarming. — Q. What do you call "shook swarming?" 

 A. "Shook swarming" is bad English that has, I am sorry to 

 say, grown into quite common use in place of "shaken swarms," 

 or "shake-swarming." Perhaps a more appropriate name would 

 be one used in Germany, "anticipatory- swarming." (See Shake- 

 swarming.) 



Smartweed. — Q. Will honey gathered from smartweed be 

 strong in taste like pepper? Last year the honey gathered in the 

 fall was so strong after being swallowed that it would burn the 

 throat for two or three liours. Smartweed was plentiful. 



A. The general run of what is called smartweed honey will 

 not smart your mouth at all. But the plant from whicli it is 

 gathered hardly ought to be called smartweed, for if you chew 

 the leaves it will not smart your mouth any more than to chew 

 so much lettuce. It also goes by the name of heartsease — the 

 better name, the botanical name being Persicaria. Persicaria 

 punctatum is the real smartweed, and if you chew a leaf of that 

 you'll wish you had let it alone. I don't know about the honey 

 from this, whether it is acrid or not, but it is possible. 



Smoke.— Q. When is tlte best time to blow smoke in at the en- 

 trance when opening a hive, on a cloudy day, or sunshiny day, or 

 both ? 



A. The time to blow smoke into the entrance is just before 

 you take off the cover, no matter what kind of a day. 



Q. How long can you keep the hive open when handling bees 

 without smoke? When they come to the top of the frames do 

 you smoke them back? 



