As soon as we received the order to remove the bees we requested a stay of proceedings, which was granted, and in the mean time we called on Mr. Loft. He was obdurate. He would listen to no suggestions to the effect that we would screen the windows at our own cost, and would guarantee he would have no further trouble from our bees, nor any other bees, in fact. In vain we protested that the bees were a necessary part of our business. When we told him we would screen the windows he said it could not be done short of a thousand dollars; but we estimated it would not be over a hundred. It did not make any difference. We had to get the bees off that roof instanter. He kept at the Board of Health, and we in the mean time kept getting a stay of proceedings. We finally agreed to remove them within a week. In the mean time Mr. Loft insisted that the Board of Health demand the immediate removal of the bees. This it finally did, and the bees were removed.

Mr. Loft's candy-building is not shown in the accompanying illustration. If the picture could show it, it would be seen at the upper left-hand corner overlooking our roof; and right here was where the trouble was. So long as our bees were in sight they were blamed for all the alleged annoyance. As a matter of fact there were other bees almost as near, and they probably were just as much in evidence as were ours. If Mr. Loft were to insist that the Board of Health order all the bees out of New York, including those in the parks belonging to the city, he

would run up against a proposition. Instead of getting a few bees after his girls he would have all the bee-keepers in the city buzzing after him in particular. The National Bee-keepers' Association, as well as the Honey-producers' League, and the New York State Association of Bee-keepers' Societies, would probably take a hand in the matter.

We may make a test case of this next summer, as there are other bee-keepers who have certain interests in this matter. At the present time we have not decided just what course we shall pursue. We know this, that Mr. F. H. Farmer, of Boston, who is a candy-man, and candy is his principal business, keeps some 25 or 30 colonies right in front of his windows; but they are screened. There are other candy-makers in the city, but they have never entered any complaint regarding the Farmer bees. There have been bees in the city of New York for the last fifteen years, on several of the roofs; but there has never been any complaint lodged against them, to our knowledge. In Philadelphia, on the roof of its office, the A. I. Root Co. has been keeping bees for several years, and there are candy-factories and stores all round. Yet there has been no complaint.

Mr. Weber, of Cincinnati, as well as Mr. Muth, of that city, for many years prior to his time, kept bees on his roof, and has been keeping them there for many years. If Mr. Loft had been disposed to be at all reasonable, we would have seen to it that he

was put to no inconvenience; and without cost to him we would have screened his windows from flies and other insects as well as bees. He has now put himself in a position where other bees can visit his premises, and he is not nearly as well off as he would have been if he had listened to our suggestion.

We asked the girls in the other buildings, that show just beyond, if they had had any trouble from the bees, and they answered in the negative. So did all the others in the immediate vicinity.

Whether or not Mr. Loft stirred this matter up in order to get newspaper advertising for his business we can not say. At all events, the Root Co. estimates that its office and business in the great metropolis have secured a publicity throughout the city, and the country as well, that would have cost us in actual advertising thousands of dollars. Most of the news items were favorable and sympathetic to the bees, while a few, and a very few, averred that we put the bees on the roof for the very purpose of letting them feed on Mr. Loft's candy.

The whole affair was not without its humorous side. The newspapers for weeks fairly teemed with cartoons and funny write-ups.

The photo was taken by me when in New York, about a month or so before this case came up, at that time little dreaming that this lot of bees would receive the publicity it did throughout the great newspaper world. Historically it is now of more than ordinary interest. There are many buildings that are

higher, round about, and the bees were in plain sight of a good many operatives, especially working-girls.

BLACK BROOD CURED AT E. W. ALEXANDER'S.

In our issue for Nov. 1, p. 1125, it will be remembered Mr. Alexander described his cure for black brood. When Dr. Lyon and myself were visiting at his apiary the former took a photo of a frame of brood which, a few months before, was about as rotten and bad a specimen as one would often see, according to the testimony of Mr. Alexander and his help; but at the time of my visit the comb was clean and sweet, and as healthy as one could wish to see. A photo was taken, and a section of it is reproduced on the next page. The colony had been cured some four or five months; and the condition of this comb, and the brood in particular, speaks for itself. One can readily see how nicely marked are Mr. Alexander's bees, for they are all three-banded Italians, mainly Alexander's honey strain.

When one sees brood as shown in the photo, with an even homogeneous appearance, without flattened or sunken cells, he can generally conclude it is healthy; but there may be only here and there a cell, all the rest of the brood looking good; so, be careful. In hunting for the evidence of brood diseases it is very important to cast the eye on every square inch of surface to be able to catch the early stages. When there are only two or three diseased cells in the whole hive, with foul or black brood, it makes the

[The presence of drones late in the season may be due to a drone-laying or a failing queen. A queenless colony or one with a laying worker would explain the same phenomenon. In any case the condition is abnormal, and a good queen should replace whatever is responsible for the excess of drones. -- ED.]

A COMB CURED OF BLACK BROOD. A specimen comb and brood from the Alexander yard that was, early this season, rotten with black brood, but at the time the snap-shot was taken was entirely cured.

problem of cure comparatively simple. But when either one gets the start, so there is scarcely a healthy cell of brood, then the situation is not so easily handled; and especially is this true of foul brood. At the present time, however, we have a hope that the Alexander cure will take care of black brood either in the early or last stages; but it is better, of course, not to take any risks.

Heads of Grain
from different le

DRONES LATE IN THE YEAR.

Why is it that one of my colonies is producing drones so late in the season? While looking at my bees yesterday I noticed one colony flying drones as though it were June or July. They were abundant. I have been keeping a few colonies the past ten years, but this is the latest I have ever seen drones in any hive. JOHN KLINGLER.

Lykens, Pa., Nov. 6.

HOW TEMPERATURE AFFECTS THE SALE OF HONEY; CAUCASIAN BEES.

In regard to the article on page 1124, I beg to differ with Mr. Boyden where he says he doubts the temperature having any thing to do with the demand for honey. I think the temperature has all to do with it. It is generally conceded that, as the cool weather begins, our systems call for more heat-producing foods, and honey is one of them, the same as the buckwheat cakes, corn bread, and fat meats, on the same principle as the consumption of honey by bees wintered outdoors as compared with those wintered in cellars.

In regard to Caucasian bees, I will say that I have one colony. I procured the queen too late to form any opinion as to their merits, further than that they seem to have a very mild disposition, and, so far as flying in cool weather is concerned, and the taking of food, they seem to show as much energy as the Italians or blacks, so far as I can see now, and I am feeding them and some others yet. They all had a gala day today. Should I succeed in wintering these Caucasians I may have more to say with reference to them. The worst I can say of them now is, they resemble the blacks too much. ELIAS FOX.

Hillsboro, Wis., Nov. 12.

CAUCASIANS TAKE FEED READILY. Just a word in connection with the editor's remark on page 1124 about Caucasians. I don't know what Mr. Pritchard calls a "common feeder," but I have a Caucasian colony which took 20 lbs. of syrup from a Miller feeder in 12 hours. Again, yesterday morning at sunrise the thermometer here registered 40°. All my bees flew freely throughout the day, and the Caucasians seemed to come out just as soon and as numerously as the others. I presume we can charge this to the old standby-locality.

I agree thoroughly with the rest of the article, however. I can take the cover off my hive, blow in among the bees, pound on the tops of the frames, etc., with no smoke about whatever, and they don't stir up a bit. Our government people here tell me that they have very good reports, from a honeygathering standpoint, from some of the queens they sent out early last spring. J. A. PHILLIPS.

Washington, D. C., Nov. 13, 1905.

[We are very glad to get this testimony, for the truth is what we want. So far, re

ports generally agree in stating that the Caucasians are gentle. - ED.]

EXTRACTED HONEY BRINGS BEST PRICE LATE IN FALL.

I just finished extracting, using a new 15 Cowan, two-frame, for the first this year. I had used a Novice for 15 years, and apparently it was good for a longer time yet. But I was surprised to see the improvement Imade in the construction of the new over the old. It is worth more than the difference in cost. I am sorry to say that the editor's advice in GLEANINGS, to sell honey early, is no good for extracted-honey men, For several years I have had my honey ready early, but never could get an offer worth considering till late fall. Early prices are unsettled, and it seems buyers are afraid. Last year, while large dealers were offering me 5 to 6, by advertising I sold my honey for 7 to 7, and no freight to pay.

Forest, O., Aug. 11.

C. G. LUFT.

[You probably do not quite understand what we meant by "early.' New honey, just off the hives, during the fore or latter part of July, usually has a good demand. During September there may be a lull, and this lull may continue until cool weather sets in. This is something, however, that varies according to the locality, But we have yet to find a case where it is advisable to wait until after the holidays before marketing of northern or eastern honey. So many beekeepers are penny wise and pound foolish that they leave their marketing until a time when they can get around to it."-ED.]

66

ture we can not afford to sacrifice. Your frame would be far better, in my opinion, if you would use the spacing-button (same as you have at the bottom) at the top also. Such a frame would not be a bad one to handle. This exact form of a frame was made the subject of a patent a number of years ago, but I believe the patent has run out.

There is another objection to your notched rabbet that occurs to me; and that is, in moving bees your frames would be liable to hop out of the notches, making very unequal spacing at the top. When the spacers are on the end-bars or top-bars the frames always have to be just so far apart. - ED.]

When the flood approaches, send the negroes, who, he says, are afraid of the bees, to the windlass and wind up the hives to an elevation above the danger-line, and replace pin H to hold the hives in an elevated position until after the abatement; then let them down again, and the bees go on as if nothing had occurred. G. B. HERBERT.

Corydon, Iowa, July 28.

[Your elevator hive-stand is all right, but altogether too expensive for the purpose. There is not enough profit in bee-keeping to have cogwheels, pulleys, and ropes, and we must reduce every thing down to the simplest point possible. If the locality is liable to be inundated, better by far make hive-stands sufficiently large to carry fifteen or twenty hives with a platform elevated_above_highwater mark the year round. I found such hive-stands in California, some of them six or eight feet high. They were cheaply constructed out of fence-posts, with cross-bars suitably braced. Each stand would hold from 25 to 50 colonies, placed in two rows, with an alleyway between for the apiarist to Illustrations of this are found in the back part of our A B C of Bee Culture. - ED.]

use.

QUESTIONS CONCERNING FEEDING BEES. Assuming that a hive of bees contained no honey, how many pounds of granulated sugar would be necessary to feed an averagesized colony to insure ample stores for outdoor wintering in New England?

Does syrup made by dissolving one part