1893 



GLEANINGa IN liEE CULTURK. 



901 



Mr. Hasty, in commenting upon Taylor's 

 tabular report showing resnlts of the much or 

 little use of foundation in the brood-chamber 

 (noticed by us on page T'.i.")), says, in the Review, 

 "And. don't you see? the expi>rimenter draws 

 conclusions favorable to foundation, and the 

 editor draws conclusions favorable to starters, 

 from the s(nne big Uiblc." Italics ours. That's 

 the way it struck\is at the time. Bro. Hasty, the 

 best of us are just a leetlc prone to see through 

 our own specs — what, what — we icant to see. 



Bro. York, of the American Dee Journal, re- 

 ferring to the time we sat in the same chair at 

 the ■' Big Convention," and to the hope that we 

 siiortly after expressed on these uages, that 

 tiiese pleasant relations between the editors 

 might never be .s'f?vfi/ic»7. heartily indorses this 

 sentiment, and adds tluit he hopes they will 

 Tiever be worse than strained honey. Dr. Miller 

 also indorses the sentiment, but insists that 

 the.chair upon which we sat was strained. 



We recommend a careful reading of the pro- 

 ceedings of the "Big Convention" at Chicago. 

 President Miller steered the discussion with 

 wisdom and tact; and the result was. that only 

 important questions were brought up and dis- 

 cussed. The fact that these discussions came 

 before the largest and most intelligent body of 

 bee-keepers that ever assembled at one time 

 and place in this country should make the pro- 

 ceedings of more than ordinary value to the 

 reader, even though he has to " see through a 

 glass darkly." 



" WORNOUTNESS " OF AVINTERING. 



Perhaps some may have been wondering 

 why we have had less in Gi-eanings on the 

 subject of wintering of late. In the first place, 

 we knew that our readers of the North were 

 tired of it; in the second place, those in the 

 South and the far West have no interest in it. 

 For these reasons many of the articles on that 

 subject have either been returned or turned 

 over to the so-called "waste-basket." That 

 this lack of interest is shared by some promi- 

 nent writers is evidenced by the following from 

 Mr. Hasty, who has been speaking of the win- 

 tering symposium in a late Review. He says, 

 " No use of trying to deny that there is a cer- 

 tain air of wornontness about the lucubrations 

 on wintering. Although we winter our bees on 

 honey, we winter our readers mainly on chest- 

 ?i?tts [subdued applause]. But. brethren, when 

 we get it all found out we won't give you any 

 thing at all except chestnuts— then what will 

 you do? Better winter on chestnuts, and save 

 the bees, than on paradise nuts and lose 'em." 



We don't mean to carry the impression that 

 we shall reject all articles on wintering, for 

 that would be shutting our eyes to real progress. 

 We shall endeavor to use a wise discrimination. 

 It had been better had we last year discrimi- 

 nated against the sealed-cover idea, or, at least, 

 given only a small dose of it. 



MRS. ATCHLEY'S new HOME. 



Mrs. Atchi.ey has moved from Greenville, 

 in the northern part, to Beeville, in theextreme 

 southern part of Texas. Few of us, when we 

 saw the announcement, realized that she had 

 moved so far south of her old home. Texas is a 

 large State — in fact, the largest in the Union; 

 and to have gone a similar distance in the 

 North would have taken her, not only in most 

 cases out of the State, but into another, and in 

 some cases across three or four others, or as far 

 as from Cleveland to Chicago. Mrs. Atchley is 

 as far south as she can be, and yet be a resident 

 of the United States. A glance at the map 

 shows that she is but a few miles from the 



Gulf, and further South than the generally 

 inhabilf'd portions of Florida. She can rear 

 queens ihe year round; in fact, is better situat- 

 ed than any other qucen-bierder in the United 

 States. She is in the region of orange, ba- 

 nanas, and other tropical fruits, us samples 

 of which she has kindly sent us fully testify. 

 By the way, in tliat basket of fruit was a can of 

 some of the finest honey we ever had in point of 

 color and flavor. It tastes not unlike alfalfa, 

 than which there is no finer honey in the world. 

 Mrs. Atchley and her family are not only the 

 largest queen-breeders in the world, but in the 

 very best portions of it. 



THOSE YEI.I,0W CARNIOLANS, AGAIN. 



And now Mr. Alley has turned his gun from 

 Dr. Miller to us. A short time ago, in answer 

 to a correspondent on page GTH, we said: 



Frank Benton, who lumdled the bees for years iu 

 tljeir native home, says that the typical Carniolan 

 is a dark steel-gray bee. The so-called "golden" 

 Carniolans seem to be nothing' more nor less than 

 Italians with, perliaps, a little Carniolan blood: for 

 Mr. Alley admitted that his golden Carniolan 

 queens were mated in an apiary but a little over a 

 mile from a large apiary of Italians. Plenty of 

 proof has been produced to show that queens will 

 mate, not only a mile from the apiary, but some- 

 times three or four miles. The source of tlie yellow 

 in Mr. Alley's Carniolans is plain. See J. A. Green's 

 article in the American Bee Journal, page 467, vol. 

 xxviii. 



Mr. Alley denies this in toto; and strangely, 

 enough, he proposes to put up money in support 

 of his denial. Seriously, we do not believe in 

 settling things in that way. No, Bro. Alley, to 

 ignore the plain facts of experience— facts sup- 

 ported by all practical bee-keepers— that drones 

 and queens will My over a mile, and o-ften much 

 further at mating times, and to try to bolster 

 up the statement in opposition to it by putting 

 up money — well, let the reader draw his own 

 conclusion. 



Regarding the statement Mr. A. makes, that 

 gray Carniolans will develop into yellow Carni- 

 olans in three or four generations, Mr. Lock- 

 hart, an extensive breeder of the former, says 

 in a letter just received: 



Mr. Alley is away off when he says that he can 

 change the gray Carniolans to a yellow race of 

 bees by breeding them to the fourth generation. I 

 have bred the gray Carniolans long enough to 

 know this; for the past four years I have not seen 

 any yellow-banded bees f I'om any pureli/ mated Car- 

 niolan queen. F. A. Lockhart. 



Lake George, N. Y., Nov. 23. 



This is substantiated by other breeders of 

 Carniolans, and ought to set aside Mr. Alley's 

 position on that point. 



POIXEN NOT THE CAUSE OF DYSENTERY. • 



S. CoRNEii., in the Bee-heepers' Review, says, 

 "Not only is there nothing gained by the ex- 

 clusion of pollen from winter stores, but its 

 presence is essential for the bees," in support of 

 which proposition he gives good substantial 

 proof. Mr. Heddon has been advocating for 

 several years back the entire exclusion of pollen. 

 Commenting upon this, ISIr. Hasty says else- 

 where, " Heddon's no-pollen test, and 72 out of 

 73 O. K. in the same cellar, where two-thirds of 

 those with natural stores died with dysentery, 

 looks like knock-down evidence. It probably is 

 conclusive as to such a wickedly cold cellar;" 

 and he adds, that, even if the temperature of 

 the cellar had been right, there is no proof that 

 the pollen would have done any harm. Cornell 

 and Hasty are probably not far from the truth. 

 In later years we have paid no attention to 

 pollen; and, with the exception of last winter, 

 when we tried the sealed cover with such fatal 

 work, no one can point to better results in win- 



