674 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 1. 



the labor of putting on and taking off sections 

 will be very light. If I had such a breed, and 

 it would give an average of 40 pounds per colo- 

 ny, I think I could do better than lo have a 

 swarming breed that would give 100 pounds per 

 colony. The case would be different if I were 

 limited to a certain number of colonies; but 

 with most of us it is a limit of time and labor 

 rather than a limit of numbers. So I say, give 

 me the non-swarming kind, with a small aver- 

 age, rather than the swarmers with a big aver- 

 age. You see, the labor that would take care 

 of 100 colonies of the swarming kind, with an 

 average of 100 pounds, would easily care for 300 

 of the non-swarmers with their average of 40 

 pounds. The former would give me a total 

 crop of 10,000: the latter, l:i,000. The first 

 might give me a bigger name, but the second 

 would put more money into my pocket. 



At this point I think I hear brother Doolittle 

 saying, '• Yes, but all your tinkering to prevent 

 swarming and interfere with nature's plans are, 

 in the main, failures, and involve just as much 

 work as to let the bees have their own way." 

 I hang my head at this, but rally after a min- 

 ute, and say, "But all things in the line of real 

 progress come about generally through a series 

 of efforts and failures, and you mustn't try to 

 discourage us, brother D., while we're trying to 

 work 'along that line.'" In "A Year among 

 the Bees" I said, "The problem which I am 

 most anxious to solve is, how to manage to have 

 no swarms, and still allow the queen to remain 

 laying in the hive all the time. It may never 

 be solved; but it is worth some dreaming over." 

 I am of much the same mind still, only with 

 more hopefulness that the dream will become a 

 reality. With so many all working on the 

 same problem, sooner or later I look for a favor- 

 able solution. Very sensibly, bee-keepers are 

 giving up talking so much about a big yield 

 per colony, and are bending their energies 

 toward linding how to get the biggest yield per 

 man. Some day we'll get there— at least, I 

 hope so. C. C. MiLLEK. 



Marengo, 111. 



DOCTORING WITHOUT MEDICINE. 



AXOTHER CHAPTER. 



We clip the following from thi^ Maytlawer. 

 You may laugh when you read it. but I believe 

 it is true, and I believe the dii't-pile would not 

 only be cheaper tlian doctors" stuff', but ever so 

 much more eflicacious with every baby the 

 world round. Now read it. 



BABY AND THE UIKT-PILE. 



She wa.s puny from her birtli. For tlie first .six- 

 teen niontli.s she required Ciire iiiglit and day. It 

 ■was the young- mother's first baby, and Jiow she 

 longed for a well, happy chill ! An old g-reat-aunt 

 visited lier, wlio had seen ten buys and girls grow 

 up. " What shall I do with her?" said Ijaby's niotlier. 

 "Try the dirt cure," said great aunt. "But slie'll 

 soil lier frock, :ind get herself all dirt." "So she 

 will, dear heart, but it may save her life. ' A blank- 

 et was spread on the ground, and the baby, that 

 could just sit alone, was put on it. She seemed to 

 like it right away, and in a few days could work 

 herself to the edge and take up the soft dirt in her 

 fingers. But what a looking child after an hour or 

 two's play! She was possessed to throw the dirt 

 into h(>r hair, down her dress, and get her shoes and 

 stockings fviU. But mamma was happy to see the 

 little one hungry when brought iiito the house, and 

 glad to drink her milk. After a warm bath she 

 slept soundly, and this she had never done. It was 

 wonderful how the child picked up, and what "dirt 

 cure" did for her. As years went on, her mother 

 bought a set of light garden-tools and encouraged 

 her to have a garden. If from any cause she stayed 

 in the house for several days a severe cold and sick- 

 ness was the result. So she became an outdoor en- 



thusiast. Even when sewing or reading she had 

 her chair on the sliady porch. One day T saw the 

 child setting out plants in the rain. "Won't you 

 take cold?" said I. •'No,' said she, "I shall rub 

 ott and put on dry clothes when I go in, and it is de- 

 lightful to be outdoors when the aii' is so moist." 

 SiSTKu GuACious, Mich. 



That winiling-up part about si'tting plants 

 out in the rain is just exactly according lo my 

 experience. Being out in the rain never hurts 

 me a particle; but. on the contrary, it does me 

 good, providing I do not get the least bit chilly. 



Answers to Questions 



FROM BEGINNERS. 



H. D. P.. of Kansas, inquires whether, if he 

 begins with the pure Italians, they will be like- 

 ly to remain pure. Ans.—They can be kept 

 pure by using perfoi'ated zinc, and destroying 

 the impure drones in the neighborhood. See 

 "Drones." in the ABC book. 



T. B. S., of Arizona, wants to know where 

 the royal jelly comes from fof grafting queen- 

 cells after swarming-time. Aiis. — Usually 

 there will be enough cells from the queenless 

 colonies in the various parts of the apiary, con- 

 taining royal jelly with which to supply graft- 

 ed cells. 



O. A. M., of Ohio, wants to know whether 

 bees can be successfully transferred by the 

 Heddon short way, at this season of the year. 

 ^7is.— They can. In fact, now is a very good 

 time to do it. Any time is good to transfer 

 when the bees are not working heavily in the 

 fields, though perhaps the best time in the year 

 is in the spring. 



T. D., of Michkjan, asks whether the bees 

 would not destroy the queen on the Langdon 

 non-swarming plan. Ans. — Although we have 

 not tested the plan ourselves, if we are correct 

 the bees do not kill the queen. The trouble 

 seems to be. at present, that the bees are apt to 

 die from sutt'ocation: and that the plan, instead 

 of preventing, actually encourages swarming 

 in some cases. 



W. H. S., of New Jersey, has a lot of second 

 swarms, all of them weak, and he wants to 

 know what to do with them. Ans. — We would 

 first see that each has a laying queen; and 

 then by stimulative feeding we would cause 

 them to rear as much brood as possible, so as to 

 be of good strength for winter. If so many col- 

 onies are not desired, tinite them, as given 

 under the head of " Uniting," in the A B C of 

 Bee Culture, which you say you have. 



M. M. B.. of Pennsijlvanla, hsiS some 25 lbs. 

 of last year's foundation. He says it is too old 

 and brittle, and wishes to know if there is any 

 practical way of restoring it to its original con- 

 dition, or a condition soft enough so as to be 

 used over again, .dns.— Some one recommend- 

 ed, some time ago, putting such foundation 

 into a warm tepid bath for a while, and claimed 

 that it would make it so the bees would take to 

 it as readily as any foundation. We have 

 never tried it, and can not speak positively as 

 to whether it would work or not. 



A. B. S., of Ohio, wants to know if there is 

 any law lo protect bees from being trapped 

 and scalded, or poisoned. Ans. — A case of this 

 kind came up some time ago; and, if we re- 

 member correctly, the destroyer of the bees was 

 compelled to pay damages. A good deal hinges 

 on the point as to whether the bees in the first 

 place were trespassing— that is, robbing from 

 broken fruit. This is one of the nice questions. 



