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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Nov. l") 



Sittings 



By J. E. Crane, Middlebury, Vt. 



That is a good hive-cover as described by 

 Wesley Foster, page 583, for a dry cUmate 

 or wet one either. 



The convention at Albany was a great 

 success. The city hall was crowded almost 

 from start to finish with a large number of 

 intelligent bee-keepers. 



■4rr 



(iuite right you are, ^^r. Editor, when you 

 say, page 543, that the shaking method of 

 treating foul brood is the orthodox method, 

 especially for the American kind. 



That is a nice point gained for the bees by 

 G. M. Doolittle, page 581, that be^s can tear 

 down only such fabrics as contain fiber, and 

 neither the skins of grapes or other fruits 

 are fibrous. 



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Louis H. Scholl still believes in bulk hon- 

 ey, and it may be all right for the South; 

 but I fear our' Northern honey would gran- 

 ulate quite too soon to make this method a 

 success in this latitude. 



That discussion of the uncapping-machine 

 is decidedly interesting, page 576. 577; but if 

 I can have all the well-filled combs I can 

 uncap with a steam-heated honey-knife I'll 

 try and not grumble. 



On page 546 Mrs. Acklin tells how " to set- 

 tle the whole problem of swarming at one 

 stroke when the first swarm issue's " by tak- 

 ing away the combs, etc. ^say! why not set- 

 tle the whole problem a few days earlier by 

 taking away their brood and not have them 

 swarm at all? I like this way better. 



Mr. Root speaks of a settling-tank instead 

 of a strainer, as used by E. D. Townsend. 

 That is a capital idea. We have tried the 

 Alexander strainer, but it works quite too 

 slow or not at all when the honey is thor- 

 oughly ripened, and we have been compel- 

 led to skim the cappings from the top of 

 large cans, this being the most feasible way 

 to separate the bits of wax from the honey. 



It must be a comfort to use a capping- 

 melter and have it work as nicely as de- 

 scribed by H. H. Root, page 555; but, "c//-- 

 eumstances alter cases.''' I tried to use a 

 capping-melter last year, and it worked first 

 rate for fifteen or twenty minutes, may be 

 half an hour; but after a little the propolis 

 that the bees had stuck to their cappings 

 stuck to the bottom of the melter, and so 

 impe led the How of wax and honey that I 

 had to give it up. [We have never had any 

 thing like this hapjien with the Petersen 

 outfit. — Ed.] 



I was interested, Mr. Editor, in what you 

 say, page 541, about extractors. We have 

 been disappointed in using the four-comb 

 reversible extractor, as we have not been 

 able to extract more honey with it than with 

 the old four-comb non-reversible extractor 

 that I macie some thirty years ago. The re- 

 versing saves time; but it turns so much 

 harder that we ha\ e been unable to make a 

 better record than with the old one. 



Our friend Holtermann sounds a doleful 

 note on page 548 in regard to the raising of 

 alfalfa in Ontario, as likely to lessen the 

 honey crop. Cheer up, my brother. Don't 

 you know alfalfa enriches the soil? and it is 

 the plants on rich soil that give us honey. 

 Who knows but that, some day, when the 

 soil becomes filled with bacteria, alfalfa will 

 yield honey here? You say that it yielded 

 honey in Ontario this year, and the reason 

 was because there was so much moisture in 

 the soil. Well, we usually have more mois- 

 ture than they have in the arid West. 



Mr. AVesley Foster inquires, page 547, 

 "How many damage claims do you know of 

 that tlie express companies have paid?" 

 Wfll, I knowof two that they couldn't dodge 

 — honey shipments, too. You see it is this 

 way: Wlien honey is given them to ship, 

 the agent writes down in one corner of the 

 receipt, "At owner's risk," or something of 

 that s^ort, or the initials of the words so as to 

 protect them from damage; but we have 

 sometimes turned our express over to the 

 one who delivers, and he forgot to put in the 

 extras, and we were able to collect. But, 

 shame on the companies that report to such 

 devices tosh eld themselves from their duty. 

 The original i 'ea of express was to carry val- 

 uable articles promptly and safely. 



In your footnote to a Straw, page 545, you 

 say that "there can be no question that 

 bees are much more inclined to sting dark 

 garments tlian light-colored ones:" and, 

 again, referring to your experience at Mr. 

 Townsends, you say, "We had on a dark 

 suit and Mr. Townsend a light one. The 

 bees attacked us more furiously than they 

 did him." I don't doubt it: but when you 

 say " the observation was made at the time 

 that it was the dark clothing that attracted 

 the bees, " I doubt if the observation was 

 wholly correct. Had Mr. Townsend been in 

 the habit of wearing a dark suit among his 

 bees, and a stranger had come in in a light 

 suit, I should not have been surprised if he 

 received more than his share of attention. 



In ISSo J had a hired man who spent most 

 of his time in one yard of bees while I spent 

 most of mine in another; and I noticed when 

 I went into his yard toassist him I got more 

 than my share of stings; but when he came 

 to my yard to assist me he was the target, 

 and i felt sorry for him. Bees can be edu- 

 cated, you see. 



