1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTQRE 



101 



(yourjlsubscribers), you should certainl y ex - 

 plain, or, rather, let Dr. Salisbury himself ex- 

 plain. 

 St. Petersburg, Fla. 



[I do not have very much faith in looking- 

 glasses in diverting or controlling swarms while 

 in the air; but I am very certain from experi- 

 ence that sprays of water thrown up among 

 the flying bees do have a most decided effect in 

 driving them lii<e sheep, and of causing them to 

 alight when they would not otherwise do so. I 

 have seen a looliing glass used occasionally, 

 but could never discover that it had any in- 

 fluence. 



A good many times we have been asked if 

 there is a way to get bees out of hollow trees 

 without cutting the trees — the owners of the 

 trees in question objecting to having them cut 

 down. The plau proposea by the German bee- 

 keeper, as reported in the Biencnvnter, I think 

 would work. Bees have a great dislike for car- 

 bolic acid. If they were once driven out of the 

 tree they very likely would cluster with a queen 

 caged ou the limb. 



1 have tried carbolic acid in the manner 

 spokes of in the Leipziger Blenenzettung, for 

 allaying robbing. Sometimes I have thought 

 it proved to be of assistance, and at others I 

 have thought it only disconcerted the inmates 

 of the hive and made matters worse. 



I am very glad to see the expressions of 

 opinion in regard to the footnotes from emi- 

 nent bee-keepers across the ocean. Whenever 

 we have asked for an opinion from our own 

 readers their invariable request has been to 

 have them kept going by all means. 



In regard to hot water, perhaps a little ex- 

 planation should be given. I take water just 

 about as hot as the average person takes coffee 

 or tea. Sometimes it is as hot as I can drink it, 

 but more oftpn it is only a little hotter than 

 lukewarm. But hot or cold it will never produce 

 any weakening or debilitating effect. I know 

 of a good many who have used it, and always 

 with beneficial results. The copious drinking 

 of hot water four times a day, an hour and a 

 half before dinner and su[)per, an hour before 

 breakfast, and before going to bed, will very 

 often effect a cure, even when the person con- 

 tinues on his ordinary rations. Warm water — 

 well, perhaps some can drink it; but the lan- 

 guage of the Scripture hits the matter about 

 right where it says, " Because thou art neither 

 hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of my mouth." 

 —Ed. 



TAYLOK'S FOUNDATION TABLE FROM AN- 

 OTHER STANDPOINT. 



THE FIGURE.S KEVIRWED 



By C. P. Dadant. 



Friend Ernest:— At your request I will con- 

 sider and criticise friend Taylor's experiment 

 as given in November Review. 



To my notion, the only thing which that ex- 

 periment clearly shows is what we all knew as 

 soon as we had ever tried foundation, that, in 

 a general way, the heavier the foundation is, 

 the more readily the bees will work upon it, 

 and the thicker the combs will be that are 

 made upon it. From the tone of Mr. Taylor's 

 writings it is evident that he is, or has been, 

 trying his best to show his pet hobby, Given 

 foundation, as superior to other makes; but the 



unevenness of his results on those experiments 

 show rather its inferiority. 



There are many ways of turning this table, 

 and this matter is very much like the reports 

 of the life-insurance companies, which, though 

 always truthfully given, can always be made 

 to show the one company making the report 

 ahead of all others in half a dozen points. This 

 is a thing that has many times puzzled me. I 

 once had an interview with an agent of the 

 Order of Onited Workmen, and he soon con- 

 vinced me that his company, or association, 

 was the best, so I took a policy in this. A few 

 years later an agent of the Mutual Life showed 

 me that their company was ahead of any 

 thing else in the world, and I took an insurance 

 in that. But a little later an agent of the 

 Northwestern showed me, in black and white, 

 that his company was outdoing the Mutual 

 Life in almost every direction, and I had to 

 insure in that too. Well, was that all? No. 

 The Banker's Life, of Des Moines, came for- 

 ward with a still better statement; but I gave 

 it up. I could not stand it, and had to draw 

 the line somewhere. Now, these companies all 

 publish annual reports, and, to my great won- 

 der, they all show the best results. The fact 

 is, so many points have to be considered that 

 one is sure to excel in one or more of them. 

 Let me see if I can't turn that Taylor experi- 

 ment to suit my company: 



There! isn't my crow the whitest? and did 

 you not suspect it all along? Mind, these are 

 Mr. Taylor's figures. 



Friend Taylor speaks of the quality of the 

 wax. Yes, that has something to do with the 

 success, and I will suggest to him that bees are 

 very much like human beings. A man delights 

 in his own productions. So do the bees. Give 

 them beeswax that smells of the hive, and they 

 will delight in working it over. They will dig 

 into it with pleasure, and work it earnestly and 

 thoroughly; but the less the beeswax smells 

 like beeswax, the less they will like it, and the 

 slower they will be in working upon it. That 

 is why wax that has been exposed to the air a 

 long time is so little liked by them. will ven- 

 ture the assertion, however, that wax, appar- 

 ently of different texture, if made on the same 

 machine at the same date, and of the same 

 weight, will be worked alike; and if there Is a 

 difference it will be in favor only of that which 

 was melted the freshest from the combs. For 



