GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 1. 



to popularize the use of Briii'sh honoy " as an 

 essential article of the household dietary." 

 Might do that here, but who would be the 

 Lady Mayoress ? If she of New York were se- 

 lected, there might be trouble with Mrs. Swift, 

 of Chicago. 



Chuckling the little bee said. 

 All tucked away snug in its baid, 

 " The people will all think I'm daid, 



Never again to arise." 

 Just wait till old winter has flaid. 

 And skies are again warm and raid, 

 Out pops the little bee's haid, 



And away to the meadow she flise. 



Thk problem of unfinished sections troubles 

 a good many; but for the past two years I've 

 had no unfinished sections whatever. I might 

 take this occasion to remark, however, that the 

 number of finished sections has been the same. * 

 [I suppose you mean this for another "Big 

 Joke" — on you. Well, you can't feel so very 

 badly, for hundreds of others are in the same 

 boat. Come to think of it, no one of late has 

 written on the subject of unfinished sections. 

 Is it because they have had none?— Ed.] 



Ca.M'V for winter feed. Here's a recipe given 

 in L'AbeiUe de VAube. Dissolve 8 lbs. of 

 sugar in a pint of water; bring to a boil, add 

 2 lbs of honey, and stir well; add 13^ lbs. rye 

 Hour; heat an instant, and mix; let cool a 

 little, and pour on greased paper; then cut, 

 and place in hives. [Ifs too much trouble to 

 make this. Powdered sugar and honey knead- 

 ed into a stiff dough is much easier to make, 

 and why not just as good? Rye flour? I'd 

 rather have it left out for a winter food.— Ed.] 



" I HAVE OFTEN SEEN, in observatory hives, 

 when there was plenty of room, and the queen 

 did not have to hunt about for cells, a queen 

 lay six eggs in a minute," says Charles Dadant, 

 in American Bee Journal. He reasons from 

 this that, if a queen lays only -^ of the time 

 she'll lay 3780 eggs every 24 hours, requiring 

 ten Simplicity frames for eggs alone, and two 

 or three more for honey and pollen, to say 

 nothing about drone comb. [But queens very 

 seldom lay 3000 eggs in 24 hours. They simply 

 couldn't stand it; 1000 eggs in 24 hours during 

 the busy season is a big average, I think. — Ed ] 



Hasty, commenting in Review on the nota- 

 ble article of Prof. Koons, Gleanings, p. 699, 

 thinks that we should not put more than 4600 

 or 4700 bees to the pound until further corrob- 

 oration. He strongly objects to 20,0(<0 as the 

 aiiernge number of bee-laads to the pound. He 

 says, "The best result, a pound of honey to 

 10,154 loads, is well worthy of a place in our 

 memories and record-books; but the other ex- 

 treme, a pound of honey to 4.5,642 loads, is mere 

 smoke in one's eyes." The last, because bees 

 are coming in empty, From exercise, with water, 

 with propolis, etc., that ought not to be count- 

 ed. 



STRAWS OR STOVEWOOD FROM DR. MILLER. 



I often wondered why 

 Dr. Miller kept throwing 

 "Straws" at people. Is 

 there no timber near you, 

 doctor? Why don't you 

 '■pitch into them '"with 

 ■^^^^^ stovewood? You would 

 \l not have to throw nearly 

 as often. But, hold! I 

 mean your own stovewood, mind you. 



Is the doctor going crazy? On page 618, ^. 

 B. J., he actually directs his correspondents 

 who send him questions, not to inclose stamps, 

 as he will answer through the bee-journals. 

 Now, I hereby give notice that I am not so 

 high-strung as that. Send on your stamps and 

 questions lo me, gentlemen, and I will answer 

 through the bee-paper.^^. and keep the stamps. 

 I don't propose to repudiate any of Uncle Sam's 

 paper. 



Now. doctor, here is a first-class, fine large 

 fat crow to pick: On page 638.^. B. /., you 

 knocked down one S. N. by striking him square 

 between the eyes with a billet of wood — yf^s, 

 sir, with a billet of wood, for asking, 'Can 

 empty kerosene-cans be used as a suitable pack- 

 age for honey?" You must have been out of 

 reach of your "straw " pile, or a good deal too 

 near some neighbor's woodshed, or you would 

 not have hit him so hard. Did the agony of 

 poor S. N. turn your heart to old oil-cans? 

 Verily it looks much like it. I find, page 701, 

 A. B. J., you transfer from Gleanings the 

 pernicious (and, I was going to say. nefarious) 

 advice of S. S. Butler to use old oil-c;ins for 

 extracted honey. Y^ou do this without a single 

 word of condemnation, thtis giving it your in- 

 dorsement in the eyes of all your readers. You 

 know — yes, you know — that the use of such oil- 

 cans is calctilated to sink lower and lower the 

 price of all extracted honey. But perhaps it 

 did not strike you in that light at the time. 

 Now, doctor, toe the mark. A few words of 

 explanation are now in order, and for that pur- 

 pose I yield the floor. But. hold! One word 

 more. This is the age of advancement and not 

 retreat. Old oil-can« have been condemned, 

 rejected, and abandoned. 



While oil cnns lived 



They li vi d in clovei'; 

 But u hen they nied 



Tliey died ail over. 



Dnn"t try to resurrect them, doctor. Tliey 

 are far too dead for that. 



W^hen a fellow gets a new idea — gets it just 

 by the tail.yi'U know— Gleanings jumps up 

 and " hollers" out. " That is an old tale — that 



