76 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



bees year after year, we have hardly a right 

 to find fault, even if he does make them i)ut 

 all the honey into the sections. Bees have a 

 great many times wintered hotter on stores of 

 pure sugar than on natural stores, or, to put 

 it even stronger, they have wintered on 

 sugar, while all that had tlieir own stores, in 

 place of sugar, died. In view of this, would 

 it not be best to have a brood-cliamher so 

 small that all the honey go into the sections? 

 Of course, there would be a great many, 

 who, with such hives, would get all the hon- 

 ey, and then neglect the feeding part, or at 

 least put it off until it was too late. If friend 

 Doolittle would get along without the losses 

 he sustains in wintering, so almost invaribly, 

 we should have still more faith in his peculiar 

 plan of managing. It will be- remembered, 

 our friend George Grimm fed his bees last 

 full rather late ; now we want to know if he 

 comes out next spring with his usual good — 

 guess " success " will be a better word to vise 

 than "luck." 



ITALIANS VERSUS KL \CKS FOR WORK- 

 ING CO.IIB FOIJNOAXIOIV. 



EN looking over Gt^eanings I have not as yet seen 

 the subject discussed, which race of bees is the 

 best one to draw out fdn., the Itab'ans or blaclis. 

 I have had a little experience in the matter. I 

 placed 6 sheets in a colony of Italians in the month 

 of June, and in just 10 hours it was all manufactured 

 into beautiful comb. The fdn. was made on the 

 lioot machine. This result pleased me so much 

 that I made upmy mind to always use, in the future, 

 fdn. in all of my young swarms of bees for the 

 brood-nest. Well, I gave my Italians to my wife's 

 mother, as she wished to get some bees very much, 

 to get a start. Well, after a while I got somewhat 

 lonesome, not haviug any of the little pets, so I 

 bought some of the black bees by the pound — 3 

 colonies of blacks, and one hybrid. I tried full 

 sheets of fdn. in each one of those colonies, expect- 

 ing the same results as with the Italians, but I was 

 sadly disappointed; for instead of nice comb, as be- 

 fore, I found, upon examination, that they never 

 drew out the fdn. at all, but built their comb right 

 on it, leaving the fdn. as thick as ever it was in the 

 center of the comb. This fdn. was advertised in 

 Gleanings to be made on the Dunham machine. I 

 purchased the same from Mr. R. Hyde, of AMerly, 

 Wis. Some of this was very nice and light colored, 

 and some was dark, the same running 6 sheets to 

 the pound, the same as that tried by the Italians. 

 Now, the question is this: Is it more natural for the 

 Italians to draw out fdn. than it is for the blacks? 

 Thei-e is one thing I am quite suie of; that is, the 

 Italians are better honey-gatherers than the blacks, 

 and are hardier also, and are more gentle, which 

 makes three strong points in favor of the Italians. 

 I wish to say right here, that I am not interested in 

 any way in any fdn. machine, but suppose there is 

 perhaps some difference in them. G. Phillips. 

 Komeo, Marathon Co., Wis., Jan., 1883. 



I hardly think, friend P., your experi- 

 ment, though a valuable one, settles the 

 question. It settles one point, however, 

 that, while, some stocks of bees thin out 

 the bases of the cells, others only build 

 new comb on the fdn. furnished them, and 



this very point is what caused many unkind 

 words when fdn. lir.st came into use. I am 

 inclined to think it was the difference in the 

 season, and perhaps yield of honey in your 

 case, friend P. Had you taken the same 

 fdn., and put it into hives of both races of 

 bees, at the same time, the case would have 

 been far more correct. Have others had any 

 similar experience with the two races of 

 bees ? 



STARVATION AND DYSENTERY. 



BY .JAMES HEDDON. 



ppj^iHE wintering problem is now not only in our 

 j\[ minds, but on our hands. Some of our folks 

 have noticed signs and symptoms that cause 

 them to think that starvation is a cause, or the cause 

 of the disease. Some of us seem to be a little ol> 

 soure as to what is meant by causes and effects. 

 Some of our writers insist that there is every evi- 

 dunce that dysentery among bees is the effect of 

 varied and numerous causes. I am among those who 

 believe that so general and regular an effect as this 

 dysentery has one direct cause. No doubt it is aid- 

 ed by other indirect causes that work upon this 

 cause rather than the effect direct. To illustrate: 

 What is the cause of diphtheria? Answer: Bacteria. 

 But one says, "Catching cold;" another, "Cold 

 weather;" and another, " Being exposed to the pres- 

 ence of those sick with it," etc. 



These last-named conditions aggravate it, or, as 

 indirect influences, greatly assist the direct cause; 

 yet, literally speaking, they, with their indirect in- 

 fiuences, are not worthy of the title of " the cause." 



I wish to state two pi-opositions that are generally 

 conceded by our leading thinkers, that, if borne in 

 mind by us, will aid us materially in unraveling 

 this, as well as other knotty problems in our sci- 

 ence. 



First, so far"as the mind can conceive, every cause 

 must {of necessity) produce an effect: every effect 

 must become the cause as to some other effect, and 

 so on without end. Consequently, a flrst cause or 

 last effect is unthinkable. 



Second, I notice that some of our writers speak as 

 though all that is natural tends toward success (as 

 viewed from our standpoint); that the true instinct 

 of the being never led it astray from its best inter- 

 ests, or chance of survival. 



In all our debates, let us remember that such are 

 false premises; that instinct is lower than reason, 

 and that both fail totally In many instances, and 

 that we must not be led into errors because some- 

 times the weaker sister. Instinct, directs aright where 

 reason fails. Nature, with her wide-spread arms, 

 embraces all of which the mind can conceive— fail- 

 ure, as well as success. Sickness and death are as 

 jiatitra? as health and life. When wo say, "That is 

 not natural," we use the term in its narrow sense 

 (really a misconstrued sense), and it will not do so to 

 use it when bringing it to bear upon reason, and in- 

 stinct in their higher relations to each other and 

 things. 



From the first proposition, we see that, If heat 

 produces the bacteria that ripens and destroys 

 fruit, we might say, " Heat destroys fruit;" " the 

 sun destroys fruit;" "nature destroys fruit," and 

 so on; and in one sense it would be true; but what 



