168 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mah. 1. 



says the latest numbers of American bee-jour- 

 nals bring little of interest. [Perhaps to him; 

 but some of our German friends do not agree.— 

 Ed.] 



C. Davenport suggests the idea, in A. B. J., 

 that, while it is a good thing to have an apiary 

 protected from the winds, too much protection 

 by high hills may be worse than none. It's so 

 warm in the immediate vicinity that they fly 

 out, but get chilled when they get out into 

 " the cold, cold world." 



Here Lehzen, editor Centralblatt, powdered 

 the outer bees of a cluster that hung below the 

 combs in winter, and in the course of 12 days all 

 the powdered bees had work< d their way into 

 the cluster; so he concludes bees shift their 

 position, even in severe freezing weather. [A 

 good experiment, and it helps to prove what we 

 have believed.— El).] 



Two QUESTIONS. 1. Of what value is sweet 

 clover as a forage-plant? [Much mon^ value 

 than the average farmer is aware of.— Ed ] 



2. Of what value is alfalfa as a honey-plant 

 east of the Mississippi? [Not nearly so much 

 east as west of the river. On this side, the 

 climate and soil are generally not as favorable. 

 -Ed.] 



A. I. Root, p. 1.50, advises tor the chickens a 

 ragout of cull beans, etc. Nice for the chick- 

 ens, but rough on the people in the house — 

 smells so. I know, you know. [Yes, and the 

 smell comes up from the cook-room in the base- 

 ment clear up into the office on the top floor. 

 Lately they have been cooked outdoors, a 

 steam-pipe connecting- with the cooker.— Ed.] 



The Ger.mans know a lot about bees; but 

 they talk queerly. The queen (der Weisel) is 

 " he," and the drone (die Drone) is " she." [An 

 old Gei man near us, in praising the skill of his 

 frau, used to say, " Mine vife, he makes fine 

 mola*se> — yes, he does." Of course, we bought 

 the molasses. Yes, the grammatical gender in 

 the German language is somewhat mixed, ac- 

 cording to our ways of speaking.— Ed. J 



M. Bertrand, editor of Rcv^ie, says: "We 

 have the conviction that the population of our 

 hives often reaches the number of 70,000 or 

 80,000, and sometimes more. [That would mean 

 fifteen or sixteen pounds in the weight of the 

 bees alone. The largest swarm I ever weighed, 

 and it was a whopper, was seven pounds. Al- 

 lowing three pounds for the bees left at home, 

 this would make the colony ten pounds. Say. 

 friend B., your colonies must be big ones. — Ed.] 



Skylark, p. 133, objects to my using acid to 

 cleanse cold wax. I want to explain here why 

 I said so. Some people wouldn't condescend to 

 explain. They would treat Skylark with silent 

 contempt. I'm not that kind. It's better to 

 have a full explanation. Well, the reason I 

 spoke of using acid with cold wax was simply 



and solely because I didn't know any better. 

 [Would there were more doctors, editors, and 

 laymen who would thus condescend to ex- 

 plain! — Ed.] 



Emptying honey from five-gallon cans into 

 smaller receptacles is thus given by S. E. Miller 

 in Profjrcssive: Set can on table: place a 

 smooth piece of section over the mouth of the 

 can, and hold it tight there; lay the can on one 

 side so it will projf'Ct four or five inchi'S over 

 edge of table; slide section up like a molasses- 

 gate while an assistant holds under a vessel to 

 1 r" filled; then slide back to stop tho flow. 



Thu f \paoity of a hive is measured how? 

 by the niiuiijerof cubic inches contained inside 

 the hive-body, or inside the frames, or by tfie 

 square inches of comb surface? [It is measur- 

 ed all three ways; but the last mentioned is 

 evidently the best for actual comparison. For 

 instance, the cubic capacity of one large hive 

 with one set of brood-frames might be just the 

 same as one having three sets of frames; but, 

 obviously, there would be more comb surface, 

 i. e., breeding-room, in the hive with the single 

 set of frames. — Ei>.] 



price of CALIFORNIA HONEY. 



The American Bee Jour- 

 nal r .'es us this informa- 

 tior by W. D. French, of 

 Foster. Ca .: 



I am now inforined that tlie 

 price of lioneyin San Diogo 

 ii;is doclined. nnd tliey ;ire 

 payiiifi- :i'o cents per pound 

 ill tiii-i)()uiid cans, cased. The 

 reason of tlie recent decline, 

 as stated, was because a cer- 

 trin apiarist had started for town witli his load. 



An ever watchful eye 

 Is kept by tliose who buy; 

 So when a " soup " is sifrhted, 

 They all are much deligrhted— 

 Becau.se they're " in the swim." 



Now, I question this statement — in fact, deny 

 it in toto. I do not question Mr. French's 

 veracity, for he is a Southern Californian; but 

 I question the veracity of his informant, who 

 may be a Lower California greaser for all I 

 know. I also question the good sense of Mr. 

 French in rushing into print and scattering 

 such rumors broadcast over the land. Does he 

 not know that he is depressing the price of 

 honey by his insane charges against the deal- 

 ers ? Does he not know that, as soon as any 

 dealer on this coast sees this statement, he will 

 say, " Honey is only 23.3 cents in San Diego — we 

 can give no more"? When such an article ap- 

 pears in an influential journal, and is read in 

 Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis, New York, 



