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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Oct. 15 



Stray Straws 



By Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, 111. 



A COLONY on scales weighed 2 lbs. 5 oz. 

 less after its cleansing flight than before it. 

 If I understand it, this did not include weight 

 of dead bees. — Deutsche Imker, 274. 



Pollen in a queen-cell is a sign of queen- 

 lessness; but I supposed it was only in ad- 

 -\'anced stages. The other day I found pol- 

 len in five queen-cells in a strong colony 

 queenless only two days. 



Heartsease was formerly not worth con- 

 sidering here as a honey-plant, because of 

 its scarcity; but of late years it has become 

 plentier, and this year it is worth many a 

 dollar. Same with dandelion. 



Wm. McEvoy is asked, Canadian Bee 

 Journal, p. 242, " Can combs that have had 

 foul-brood matter in them be made safe to 

 use again?" He replies, "No, positively 

 no." Likely that refers to American foul 

 brood. 



Ernest Thompson Seton says, Ladies' 

 Home Journal, p. 6, " (Queens of the honey- 

 bees live one or two years, but some have 

 been kept alive for five years." That's a bit 

 ofT according to my books. For every one 

 superseded at one year, five live to be three. 



Dr. Bruennich, Schiveiz. Bzfg., p. 352, 

 gives a frame-spacer that will appeal to ex- 

 tracting men. Simple and effective while 

 in the hive, when put in the extractor the 

 spacer is quickly turned out of the way on 

 a sort of hinge, and then it's just the. same 

 as if no spacer were present — not expensive, 

 either. 



How thick is worker comb? "An inch 

 thick," says one. "Never more than ^," 

 says another. Neither correct. I suppose 

 it is about y& thick the firsi time brood is 

 reared in it, and each set of brood increases 

 the thickness of the septum, and so the 

 thickness of the comb, until it is an inch 

 thick or thicker. 



Percolation with the Miller feeder is 

 the easiest thing possible. Many a bag of 

 sugar I fed in this way. First I went around 

 and put a feeder on each hive, leaving it 

 uncovered. Then I put sugar in each feed- 

 er, leaving it uncovered. Dry sugar will 

 not start robbing. Then I went around to 

 each feeder, poured in cold water, and cov- 

 ered up. 



W. S. Adkins, if I had that long queen- 

 less hive of yours, p. 598, and didn't break 

 it up, here's what I would do: Exchange 

 three of its combs for three combs with queen 

 and adhering bees of another colony; put 

 these in an upper story over the long queen- 

 less colony w ith newspaper between the two 

 stories, and a few days later put them down 

 in the hive. Introduce a queen to the other 

 colony. 



I've stood it long enough to be in ignor- 

 ance, and now I want to know if Oliver Fos- 

 ter and Wesley are related. If so, neither 

 one need be ashamed of his relative. [Wes- 

 ley speaks of Oliver as "my father." — Ed.] 



Dr. a. F. Bonxey, p. 586, a box-hive may 

 be thoroughly propolized inside; but my old- 

 est movable-frame hives are far from being 

 water-proof inside. I grant you that paint- 

 ed hives are more beautiful; and if my hives 

 were much seen I would paint them; but 

 the cost of painting put into flowers appeals 

 a good deal more strongly to my "bump of 

 beauty-love." 



Dr. Massen threw colonies upon founda- 

 tion that was made of wax from colonies 

 badly infected with foul brood. In every 

 case the colonies on this foundation remain- 

 ed healthy. — Deutsche Imker, 269. [Differ- 

 ent bee-keepers in this country have tried 

 the same experiment with precisely the 

 same result. We do not think there is a 

 particle of danger of transmitting disease 

 through foundation as it is usually made, 

 especially when it is made in a regular foun- 

 dation-factory. — Ed.] 



D. M. MacDonald, British Bee Journal, 

 p. 304, says that "bees like new combs best 

 when the active season opens." and he rath- 

 er conveys the idea that they prefer founda- 

 tion to old combs. I wonder what is really 

 the ivhole truth about that. I have known 

 what seemed to be a preference for founda- 

 tion or new combs, but nearly always my 

 bees show a marked preference for old combs, 

 the blacker the better. A good many times 

 I have known the queen, in extending the 

 brood-nest, to jum]) over a frame of founda- 

 tion, or a drawn comb never bred in to occu- 

 py an old comb beyond. I read this over to 

 my assistant, and she said, "Yes, this sum- 

 mer I saw a case where she jumped over two 

 such frames in the center of the hive." 



I. Hopkins, you say, page 618, that Ohio 

 foul-brood law has the fatal defect of all our . 

 foul-brood acts. Colorado has the same law 

 as Canada, allowing the inspector to com- 

 pel transference from box into frame hives. 

 [We ought to have mentioned, on page 618, 

 in a footnote, that the conditions in Ameri- 

 ca are far different from those in Great Brit- 

 ain. If we are correct, the cottagers of old 

 England, as a general rule, do not use the 

 modern frame hive, while in this country 

 the box hive or any hive that does not have 

 movable combs is getting to be the rare ex- 

 ception. There is, therefore, not the same 

 need of having a law that makes the use of 

 movable frames compulsory. Our Ohio law 

 we consider quite adequate, therefore, be- 

 cause the inspector always has the power to 

 order treatment for colonies, whether in box 

 hives, straw skeps, or w^hat not; and it is up 

 to the bee-keeper himself to transfer unmov- 

 able combs, because that is the only way 

 he can ever eradicate American foul brood, 

 at least. European foul brood could be han- 

 dled by the dequeening process, possibly. — 

 Ed.] 



