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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1. 



EUKOPEAN AND OTHER MATTERS. 



DRIVING BEES OUT OF HOLLOW TREES. 

 By CharJss Norman. 



Quite a novel way— novel to me at any rate— 

 of driving bees out of a hollow tree lias been 

 given by a French priest, father Metais {Revue). 

 Rewrites: "Visiting a village of my parish 

 one day I met a man who was going to take 

 out of the hole of a tree a swarm which had en- 

 tered there the previous day. He begged me 

 to do the work for him, for he was badly equip- 

 ped and feared a little the stings of the bees. 

 I accepted with the same zeal that J always 

 feel for any thing connected with bees. Hav- 

 ing provided myself with a mirror I let the 

 man fetch me a lot of large ants with their eggs, 

 and threw two handf uls of them into the hole of 

 the trf'e upon the bees. Almost at once the 

 poor ih^octs, forced by the ants, rose in confu- 

 sion and flew off. I ran before them with my 

 mirror, and in consequence of this they settled 

 on the branch of a tree near by. Not having a 

 smoker I placed the hive above the swarm and 

 set to tapping the branch on which the bees 

 were suspended. They were not slow in 

 ascending, and had, after a few minutes, enter- 

 ed the hive." For the information of some of 

 your readers I remark that in Europe, to make 

 a swarm cluster, instead of using the fountain- 

 pump, the rays of the sun are directed on the 

 bees by means of a mirror. 



A German bee-keeper uses another method of 

 getting the bees out. He reports to the Bienen- 

 vater: "A swarm had settled in a hollow tree. 

 The hole extended both upward and down- 

 ward from the entrance. The bees were in the 

 upper part of the hollow. I took a swarm- hiv- 

 ing box and put in it an empty comb on which 

 I had placed a queen-cage with a reserve- 

 queen. The box I fastened above the opening 

 of the hollow tree. Then I poured a little car- 

 bolic acid in. I was astonished at the effect. 

 After a few moments the bees came out like a 

 natural swarm. After about ten minutes all 

 were out, marched into the box, and half an 

 hour later they were already gathering nectar." 



CARBOLIC ACID FOR STOPPING ROBBING. 



Concerning carbolic acid, Mr. A. Lenk re- 

 ports to the Leipziger Bienenzeitung how he 

 stopped robbing. He leaned a little piece of 

 board over the entrance of the hive, and poured 

 a few drops of carbolic acid on it. All robbing 

 was over at once. To be sure, though, he wet 

 another small piece of board with carbolic 

 acid, and then laid it on the entrance board. 

 He says he always succeeded with the remedy. 



yet the board must not be planed, as a planed 

 one does not take the acid readily. 



THOSE FOOTNOTES. AND HOW THEY ARE RE- 

 GARDED BY EUROPEAN WRITERS. 



A month or two ago I again noticed that, re- 

 ferring to Gleanings, somebody pointed at 

 " that everlasting footnote, as some have called 

 it." Now, is it really worth while to find fault 

 with such a trival thing? Mr. Hutchinson, for 

 instance, in his splendid monthly, the Review, 

 says whatever he has to say in his Editorial De- 

 partment while you speak out editorially< in 

 footnotes. But either of you— as well as other 

 editors — speak out! Well, then, is not the 

 whole difference merely an external one? In 

 my opinion, the question is not w/iere the speak- 

 ing is done, but whether it is done right. If 

 what you say is wrong, then let them go for 

 you— sharp, if needs be— but if it is right, then 

 they must let you alone. Perhaps it is a little 

 satisfaction to you to understand that Mr. 

 Baldensperger (I need not introduce him to the 

 readers of Gleanings), in the Revue, after say- 

 ing that your footnotes give a " veritable va- 

 leur" (genuine value) to your journal, contin- 

 ues: "These remarks below the articles have 

 ' une^ note'gaie' (a lively tone), and the writer 

 knows what to ' hold to,' as we say in French, 

 but, to speak in more colloquial English, he 

 knows how to maintain his position, and to 

 rectify possible errors in the writings of others. 

 I state with pleasure that you (Mr. Bertrand) 

 also give your approbation, and this is in- 

 dispensable, it seems to me." Mr. Bertrand, 

 in a' footnote, s&ys: "I imitate Bro. Root be- 

 cause I have been requested to do so." When 

 a' writer of Mr. Berirand's good taste (those 

 Frenchmen, you know) follows your precedence 

 you can not^be much out of the way, Mr. Edi- 

 tor. 



HOT WATER— WILL it NOT PRODUCE WEAKNESS? 



biill another remark. CiYou always speak of 

 hot water. Now, I dare not pretend that the 

 same is not useful in certain instances; it stim- 

 ulates, no doubt, and may do some good when 

 taken !once or. perhaps, even now and then. 

 But to think that a person, day after day, pours 

 down into his or her stomach a pint of hot 

 water four times a day— is this not atrocious? 

 Must it not finally produce a weakening, de- 

 bilitating effect, like some medicine that seem- 

 ingly cures, but leads to diseases which show 

 later on? Therefore I ask, would not, as a rule, 

 warm water be very much more preferable? 

 In fact, are you sure that Dr. Salisbury himself 

 recommends hot water in the way you are us- 

 ing it? On page 787 he says in regard to the 

 hot water, " Take water at a temperature most 

 comfortable to the individual, but not cold," 



This does not sound very hot; it just sounds 

 warm, not more nor less than warm! As you 

 have brought the subject before your readers, 

 and, I trust, do not want to injure or kill them 



