1893 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



433 



along (sisters, too), and not a word do we hear 

 about any disagreement; and it seems he has 

 them named, too. for he calls one Emma, and 

 the other one's name T don't rementber; and if 

 some smart young rambler doesn't come around 

 and transfer one of these queens to another 

 hive, just to pay off the doctor for his licks at 

 the baches, it will be queer, won't it ? 



Say, now. Dr. M., why don'i you make W. F. 

 C. tell why bees don't put a little of that formic 

 acid in honey-dew ? or are they limited in quan- 

 tity, and dai-en't try it, even on a small scale? 



Queenless bees, as a rule, stop work, doctor, 

 as soon as the brood is all hatched out : and 

 while it is hatching out they fill the combs full 

 of pollen; and, if not supplied with a queen, it 

 will remain, there being no brood to consume. 

 Is that one of the things you "'don't know" 

 too? If it is, suppose you make a swarm hope- 

 lessly queenless next June, and let it alone as 

 long as there are bees enough left to keep out 

 robbers and all the " Millers" (except one), and 

 then see how much will be left besides pollen. 



CAN THE QUEEN LAY DRONE OR WORKER EGGS 

 AT WILL? 



I see Dr. Miller is visibly weakening on the 

 compression theory, if he was ever very strong 

 on it; but to help him along a little further, let 

 him out a frame of drone comb in one side of 

 the hive, clear in the back corner, as far as pos- 

 sible from the early brood -nest, then watch and 

 see what the queen will do shortly after a good 

 honey -flow begins; and when she skips two or 

 three frames of worker comb, and goes over to 

 that piece of drone comb, and fills it with eggs, 

 and then goes back to the brood-nest again 

 without laying any worker eggs near the drone 

 eggs. Doesn't it look just as if she knew what 

 she was doing? and then when the queen lays 

 in cells only ^g of an inch deep, where does the 

 compression come in? 



ABSORBING CUSHIONS. 



On page 363 you say that absorbing cushions 

 often become wet and soggy, and, if not dried 

 out during winter, are wor>e than nothing; and 

 you further say it is never the thing to do, to 

 place a telescope cover (without ventilator) over 

 the chaff cushions so tight that there is no es- 

 cape for moisture; and you say such cushions 

 become practically water-soaked. Now, if that 

 is the case with you, it is not with me, for my 

 chaff is always dry; and I never take off the 

 cover during winter to dry the chaff; and my 

 covers are all telescope, and without any venti- 

 lation, and those covers get very frosty in cold 

 weather; but when the sun shines it melts and 

 runs down, not among the bees, but outside of 

 the hive, and the cover then dries by the heat 

 of the sun on top; but the chaff never gets wet, 

 except a little spot right over the cover, and 

 that only on top, for it will be dry and warm, 

 you will f]nd, it you dig into it half an inch. 

 And now I should like to know why you call 

 the cushions " absorbing cushions," for it is not 

 proper. They should, instead, be "escaping 

 cushions," or something of that kind; for if 

 they absorb and retain moisture they are not 

 what they should be, for they should throw off 

 this moisture and retain the heat ; and to do 

 this there must not be any ventilation above 

 the cushion; for if there is, it will make a di- 

 rect draft from the entrance, and will draw out 

 the heat from the hive, and the bees will perish 

 from cold, no matter how dry they are; at least, 

 that is the way mine work. I have killed good 

 strong swarms in just a week, in a chaff hive, 

 with six inches of chaff on top, with an inch 

 hole in each end of the cover, close up to the 

 roof, and the summer entrance open full width. 

 I have used chaff boxes more than ten years. 



without changing the chaff in all that time; 

 and it was clean and bright at the end of the 

 time, which it would not be if it absorbed and 

 held the moisture. Woodchopper. 



[Yes, chaff cushions do in our locality become 

 wet and soggy, if placed under telescope covers, 

 without ventilators near the top at each end. 

 This has happened to be the case so repeatedly 

 with us that we almost regard it as an axiom, 

 and we still think so for our locality. Our win- 

 ters are quite apt to be open, rainy, or misty, a 

 good part of the time; and we find that, where 

 ventilators are used, our cushions keep much 

 dryer. This is another case where practical 

 experience seems to be directly at variance, 

 and for the present we may have to account for 

 the difference by locality. We shall, however, 

 observe the matter more closely during coming 

 winters, and especially note the difference, if 

 any, during dry cold winters and those that are 

 open and more or less moist.] 



BEE JOURNALS AND THE SUPPLY BUSINESS. 



ARE THEY A GOOD COMBINATION ? 



The following is an extract from a well-writ- 

 ten article on the subject, and appears in the 

 last Bee-7feepe7's' Revleiv, p. 143. Coming as it 

 does from Mr. Hutchinson, who 'has as little to 

 do with the supply business as any of the pub- 

 lishers, it has great weight. We never read any 

 tiling on this subject that was more to the point 

 than this. The position taken is a broad and 

 liberal one, and exceedingly fair to rival pub- 

 lishers who are interested in supplies. 



When the Review was first started, Its editor was 

 in the queen-trade, and lie has not yet dropped it. 

 Wlien he g-ave up tlie production of honey as a 

 business, he advertised the fixtures on hand. Sever- 

 al times it has become necessary to take g-oods in 

 payment for adverti-ing, and then it became equal- 

 ly necessary to advertise and sell them. 



From actual experience I have learned that it 

 is very difficult for tlie editor and proprietor of a 

 bee-journal to never offer any thing for sale except 

 his journal; and perhaps there is not so much 

 praisworthp in keeping bee-journalism entirely free 

 from trade as some of us liave imagined. Yes, I 

 know tliat most of us poor mortals are more or less 

 given t(j bias and prejudice in favor of our own 

 wares, and [ would not for a moment ignore this 

 point; but on the other hand, the dealer is more in 

 touch wit li theoconsumer; he knows what practical 

 men are buying and using, and this experience has 

 its influence upon ins journal. If he uses his jour- 

 nal, or. ratlter, //ususes it, to boom his goods at the 

 expense of trutii. or at the expense of space that 

 ouglit to have been used in giving- good valuable 

 reading-matter, there will be a reflex action— it will 

 become a boomermifif. 



Class journals are a little peculiar in this respect. 

 The men who have had experience in some lines of 

 business are the ones in position to make valuable 

 journals pertaining to these kinds of business. A 

 nurseryman can make an excellent horticultural 

 journal; an advertising agent can get up the best 

 journal devoted to advertising; yet he de:ils in ad- 

 vertising, while the other man sells fruit-trees. 



Another point: In making a tinanci.al success of a 

 journal, a dealer or manufacturer can sell iiis jour- 

 nal at a very low price because it advertises his own 

 goods. 



While I have no desire to engage in the supply 

 business, preferring simply the Review and a small 

 apiary, with peace, quietness, happiness, and con- 

 tentment.in place of a largo business with its hurly- 

 burly, even if accomi)anied with greater Jinaiicial 

 success, yet I have iiad no quarrel, and shall have 

 none, with the man who prefers tlie latter; as I ful- 

 ly believe that the brightest journal, tlie one filled 

 with the freshest and most practical ideas, the one 

 with a -'touch of Nature" upon its pages, can be 

 made amid the hum of be(>s and buzz-saws. 



