270 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1. 



they can have. I shall expect that, in a series 

 of years, comparative tests will show that such 

 feed is far preferable— that is, that thin syrup 

 is much better than thick feed, either early or 

 late. 



THE HIGGINSVILLE AND GABLE COVER MIXED. 



It appears that some of the correspondents 

 of our exchanges, in criticising the Higginsville 

 gable cover and the ventilated gable cover, 

 have got the two mixed. It is perfectly evident 

 that they have not studied carefully the en- 

 gravings and descriptive matter of each cover; 

 otherwise they would not make such blunders 

 in their criticisms. The ventilated cover is 

 intended primarily for the South, and all cli- 

 mates where the sun pours down hot. It is not 

 a cover that I would personally use, as I prefer 

 a single-thickness cover, flat on the under side; 

 but as all people can not be made to think 

 alike, and as climates vary greatly from each 

 other, manufacturers try to make covers that 

 will suit all classes and conditions. Why one 

 should condemn one style and praise another, I 

 can not understand. ' One might as well con- 

 demn climate. 



DO BEES TKANSPOBT EGGS? 



Considerable speculation is now being in- 

 dulged in as to whether bees ever transport 

 eggs in their hive. Most authorities in this 

 country seem to agree that they do. So far as 

 I am concerned I know that they do, for I have 

 seen them carry eggs— not once, but a number 

 of times, and I do not understand why our good 

 friends the Germans have not seen a similar 

 thing. Mr. Hasty, in commenting in the Re- 

 view on the fact of my having witnessed the 

 transportation of the egg, says I " neglected to 

 follow on and see whether the egg was used for 

 lunch or queen-rearing, or what." This is true; 

 but I was not then particularly interested in 

 the point, because I assumed that the mere 

 fact that they carried them at all was evidence 

 that they intended to use them in some queen- 

 cell. This they may have done, but I feel tol- 

 erably sure that bees do at times use them for 

 "lunch," for I have repeatedly noticed, as have 

 others, that, when I have put a frame of eggs 

 into a colony, for the purpose of obtaining 

 queen-cells, two or three days afterward a large 

 portion of the eggs would have disappeared. 



HASTY ON GLEANINGS. 



The following very kind notice is from one of 

 our old correspondents— Mr. E. E. Hasty: 



Let me see; what kind of paint did I put on 

 Gleanings the last time she was in dry dock ? 

 Whatever coating' got put on for some of the prom- 

 ising writers seems to have peeled off since. I was 

 going to name Jolin Smith as a "peel-offer;" but 

 Jake, after sleeping in his bunk for many months, 

 has been on deck quite recently. But if tliere is a 

 little peeling off occasionally. Gleanings is the 

 same nice ship— same assortment of captains and 



pilots, and same boa's'n. And ?he rides the waves 

 of tlie hard-times cyclones a little easier than any 

 other craft. No other seems to t)e saying, "Eight 

 pages extra this time." The editori il work in the 

 line of travel notes and interviews keeps well up, 

 if not expanding a little in space. Friend Norman 

 seems to be the nvw " middy," with more frequent 

 hearings from friends France and Dayton. Portrait- 

 publishing, which had declined a little, is being 

 revived. The opening number of the year has two 

 excellent portraits; and the persons are people of 

 general interest whose pictures have not been 

 trotted around much it' at all. Tliey are John T. 

 Calvert, of the A. I. Root Co., and N. E. France, of 

 E. France & Son. And putting footnotes of the 

 Gleanings variety on the Straws gives an added 

 vivacity to the first page of late. 



Coming from such a source, it is highly ap- 

 preciated, and we tender friend Hasty our sin- 

 cere " thank you." 



AVINTER LOSSES. 



Our wintering loss up to the 20th of March 

 was only 2 per cent, out of a total number of 

 over 200 colonies. Three of the colonies were 

 made up of a number of small queen-rearing 

 nuclei, united late in the season. Such made-up 

 stocks are liable to succumb any way, so we al- 

 ways take our chances on them. The other col- 

 ony was one of those handsome five-banders. 



Winter losses among careful and expert bee- 

 keepers this winter will be comparatively light; 

 but among the slovenly and slipshod it will be 

 heavy. It seems to be a fact that cold winters 

 (that is, continuously cold), where the bee- 

 keepers are of the class first mentioned, are 

 favorable. The bees do very little brood-rear- 

 ing, and the spring usually comes on quick, and 

 opens up warm and balmy. As I have often 

 remarked, it is not as difficult to winter bees as 

 it is to spr-hig them. Well, then, if the winter 

 suddenly turns into good warm spring, as we 

 hope it will do this spring, and as it generally 

 does do after such a cold winter, this spring 

 will be comparatively easy on the bees. There! 

 I am afraid I am counting the chickens before 

 they are hatched. 



NON-SWARMING DEVICES AND FIVE-BANDERS. 



Experimenter Taylor, in the Review, in 

 referring to non-swarming devices, says, "One 

 can hardly avoid the suspicion that the Lang- 

 don device and the Conser hive depend for their 

 success upon principles which the bees are by 

 no means uniformly careful to observe." From 

 all I know regarding these non-swarmers, I 

 think Mr. Taylor is about right. Further on, 

 referring to the five- banded bees and his ex- 

 perience with them, he says: 



Though called "golden Italians," I should have 

 pronounced them any thing but Italians, judging 

 from the disposition they exhibited. While they 

 are not the most irascible of bees, they are yet very 

 nervous, and quick to manifest a recognition of 

 intrusion, from which characteristics I should have 



