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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Feb. 15 



Stray Straws 



By Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, III. 



On page 81, third full paragraph last line 

 but three, should it not be " Leave 10 days " 

 instead of "2da\s?" [Yes. you are right. 

 This was a typogriphical error — Ed.] 



If I UNDERSTAND, p. 81, correctly, putting 

 a story filled with European foul brood on 

 top of an excluder over a healthy colony will 

 not infect the latter. Is that pissi )le? [We 

 would doubt the wisdom of placing healthy 

 br'>od over a colony that has disease, al- 

 though perhaps it can be done. — Ed ] 



Mr. Editor, you have expressed page 89, 

 what I have been quietly thinking for some 

 time, and mustering courage- to say — thit 

 whatever extra immunity to foul brood Ital- 

 ians may have, is not because they are Ital- 

 ians, but because of their extra vigor. If you 

 get that same vigor in any other bee you will 

 get the same immunity. 



Amendment to Straw, page 68. Instead of 

 placing hives singly in a row, place them in 

 pairs, as said on p 68 Then to each of these 

 pairs set another pair, the two pairs back to 

 back. That will give you four times as many 

 hives on the same ground as by setting hives 

 singly, with no more danger of bees entering 

 wrong hives in one case than the other. 



George E. Coffin, please accept thanks 

 for that little kink of boiling a lot of splints 

 in advance, to be laid away for another time, 

 p. 92. Simple as it is, I wasn't smart enough 

 to think of it. It's more tnmblesome to boil 

 a few at a time as you use them Now will 

 some one nlpasetell me the best temperature 

 for the splints when being pressed into the 

 foundation? Should they be lifted directly 

 out of the wax boiling hot, nearly cold, or 

 how? 



I'M AFRAID, friend A. I., tuat when Wesley 

 his got clear around that two acres, making 

 the netting tight down into the ground, and 

 banking up besides some of yoir biddies 

 will still come to grief. The varmints will 

 natu^-ally dig down when they come to ob- 

 structions,' and then work under. I'll tell 

 you what to do: Let down the nefting so that 

 it laps over on the ground six inches outside. 

 The varmints don't know enough to start 

 back that far from the fence. 



The thing I always dreaded most about 

 out-apiaries was the hauling, and I thought 

 if I could only haul bees without horses all 

 would be lovely. But that story of R. F. 

 Hol'ermqnn, page 75, shows that horseless 

 hauling has troubles too, and I'm more glad 

 than ever that I'm down to one apiary. [Hol- 

 termann would have got along very nicely 

 with his traction engine had it not been for 

 the deep sand and mud. He planned all 

 right; but no man can tigure on a thunder- 

 shower coming on at any given minute. 

 The troubles of a traction engine in the mud 

 are much the same as we tind with an auto 

 mobile. Just after a good smart shower the 



roads are much more slippery than after an 

 hour or two. Our friend Holtermann was 

 trying to make a trip, rain or shine. — Ed.] 



A. I. Root, some of us may resist all the 

 things you mention, p. 93, and y^-t tr p up on 

 something else For example, some people 

 think it aim -st a joke if they can evade pay- 

 ing on a street car, not realizing that it is 

 just as much ste >ling as if they took 5 cents 

 out of some onn's pocket. I've heard it de- 

 fended by saying, " It s the conductor's busi- 

 ness to ''oll^'Ct it;" but that doesn't lessen 

 your obligation to pay it. I knew a person 

 who was always on the lookout for postage- 

 stamps that had been used and not properly 

 canceled, beheving it all right to use them 

 again, not realizing that to use such a stamp 

 was stealing two cents. 



Wesley Foster, the wind may make a 

 difference by hindering or helping flight, as 

 you say, p. 69 but I suspect it mikes vastly 

 more difference by wafting the fragrance. 

 Ever watch bees workmg on a basswo )d or 

 fruit tree? — always hovering on the leeward, 

 never on the windward side, even in a very 

 gentle breeze which can not affect their 

 Flight. I dont know, but I should think they 

 would work against rather than with the 

 wind; for when working against the wind 

 the fragrance is always toling them further 

 on, while with the wind the frag'-ance is al- 

 ways at their backs. [This is similar to the 

 theory that E. D. Townsend employs in his 

 argument, i age 110 of this issue. You are 

 not talking about the same thing, of course, 

 but your reasoning is the same. We believe 

 you are right, too. — Ed.] 



Ernest, that's a good idea, page 65, to eat 

 your breakfast food and honey cool: but for 

 the sake of accommodating an old friend 

 couldn't you just as well eat it at ihe begin- 

 ning of your breakfast and still have it c -ol- 

 ed? Spread it out on a plate and it soon 

 cools. I'm afraid there is something wrong 

 about this whole dessert business. Gener- 

 ally it means ju«t so much added after a full 

 meal has been taken, and that has shortened 

 m ny a life. I don't want to be lonesome, 

 and I'd like to have you live as long as I do. 

 [It is not the general policy at our house 

 to have dessert after a meal. We cut that 

 out years and years ago. But the cold break- 

 fast food that we were talking about is not 

 strictly a dessert. It is taken as a part of the 

 ration that sustains the natural wear and 

 tear of the body and mind. We have tried 

 cooling off the breakfast food by spreading 

 it out on a plate as you suggest. The plate 

 soon absorbs a part of the heat, and then 

 slowly gives it back to the breakfast food. 

 No, we want our food either hot or cold. We 

 want our breakfast food served cold either 

 at the close or near the close of the meal if 

 we are to have honey in it. By the way, the 

 old-fa hioned cracked wheat (we crack ours 

 in a small hand grinder) cooked in the good 

 old way, and served cold with thick ex- 

 tracted honey, beats any modern breakfast 

 food that was ever pu on the market, and it 

 does not cost a quarter as much. — Ed.] 



