620 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. ]5. 



but droams, lilce the oiio, sent out, under gov- 

 ernment authority, as a positive success. [There 

 is a method, and it is practical. See article by 

 James Wood, in this issue.— Ed ] 



No WONDER that poor fellow at the head of 

 '•'Reports Discouraging,"' p. 590, looks discour- 

 aged when you set him on his head. [You were 

 sent the first sheet off the pres.s. The mistake 

 was rectified before many had been run off. 

 That page was all made over after its first 

 reading, and the heading was misplaced by ac- 

 cident.— Ed. J 



The vast distances of this country have 

 always been given as the reason for the small 

 membership of the N. A. B. K. A. Don't be 

 fooled by that any longer. It has to do with 

 ihe attendance but not with the membership. 

 If we were as bright as the stolid Germans we 

 could get members to belong, even if they 

 never attended. [You're right.— Ed.] 



How MANY BEES in a strong colony? J. L. 

 Hyde, p. 58.5, sets it at 25,000; but surely that's 

 very low. A9-lb. swarm contains 27.000; and 

 before the colony swarmed it contained many 

 more. Years ago Donhoflf figured that 63,000 

 was the maximum number in one colony. I 

 suspect it may go beyond that; but I don't 

 know. [I think Hyde is nearer right, because 

 his weights agree with what I secured a 

 number of years ago. Estimates are liable to- 

 be too high, any way.— Ed.] 



OuK AiKUTE STOVE-MATS are losing their 

 power, after long and faithful service. It seems 

 ridiculous to think they can be replaced for five 

 cents each; but they would be replaced, even if 

 they cost ten times that. If your wife has none, 

 surprise her by your thoughtfulness in getting 

 something that will save many an hour of 

 watching and stirring over a hot stove. Tell 

 her she can put a dish of milk or oatmeal on a 

 hot fire for an hour without burning, and she'll 

 not believe you till she tries it. 



Paralysis. Here's a cure given by James 

 Carmac, in Progressive : " Remove several 

 frames from the center of the hive, with the 

 one with the queen (if she is valuable), as a 

 drop kills as if scorched with a hot iron. 

 Sprinkle the bottom-boaM with a tablespoonful 

 of the mixture— equal parts of benzine and 

 turpentine — replace the frames, and close the 

 hive." After this treatment, used three times, 

 his bees recovered; but he is wise enough not to 

 feel sure that it was the treatment that cured. 

 [Bee-paralysis so often goes off of itself with- 

 out treatment that I don't believe the benzine 

 mixture had any thing to do with the matter. — 

 Ed.] • 



A friend is considering the advisability of 

 using chemical fertilizers for strawberry-beds 

 in preference to barnyard manure at 75 cents a 

 load on the ground. He thinks freedom from 

 weed-seeds may make up for difference in cost. 



What does A. I. think? [This has often been 

 suggested; and in the East, on sandy soils, I am 

 told they raise nice strawberries by the aid of 

 chemical fertilizers.' In our locality, however, 

 I have never been able to find any chemical fer- 

 tilizer at any price that would take the place 

 of stable manure at all on strawberries. To 

 tell the truth, they hardly show any results. Of 

 course, guano tells every time; but this can not 

 be called a chemical fertilizer. Application of 

 ashes has also given some excellent results, aft- 

 ter having manured the ground heavily with 

 stable manure previously.— A. I. R.] 



TEMPERAMENT OF BEES. 



HOW FAR SHOULD WE TAKE IT INTO ACCOUNT ? 



Bii S. E. Miller. 



Do we not often make mistakes in managing 

 our bees, in thinking that one colony should act 

 and do just like another colony under the same 

 conditions? Do we make due allowance for the 

 difference in disposition or temperament of our 

 numerous colonies? ' A colony of bees must, to a 

 certain extent, be considered as an individual so 

 far as the mind— or, perhaps, more properly, 

 their instinct — goes. We all know that a col- 

 ony works under a single impulse — that is, 

 what is the motive of a few is the motive of the 

 entire colony; so we must consider a colony as 

 having a single mind. All work together for 

 the common good of the colony. Certainly, 

 when a bee darts from the hive that we are 

 working over, and dips us over the eye, we are 

 glad that theentire colony is not seized with the 

 same impulse at the same moment ; neverthe- 

 less, there is a controlling passion which seems 

 to have the same influence over the entire colo- 

 ny at the same time. 



Let us look for a moment at the higher order 

 of animals and see the difference in dispositions. 

 Take, for an example, man. Among thousands 

 you will not find two exactly alike in tempera- 

 ment. Then take horses, with which some of 

 us are accustomed to work almost every day. 

 One will be wild, vicious, and hard to manage; 

 while another, having the same treatment, may 

 be docile and gentle. 



Let us go still lower in the scale of the animal 

 kingdom, and notice a flock of poultry. Here 

 is a brood of fowls that were hatched out in the 

 field or forest. One hen laid the eggs, hatched 

 them, and reared the chicks up until they were 

 large enough to scratch for themselves. We 

 should suppose that this brood would be very 

 much alike in disposition when they arrive at 

 maturity ; but such is not the case. Some are 

 apt to be shy while others are tame; and in 



