358 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1. 



tame and crude. The scheme of putting a 

 queen or bees, one each, upon the four corners of 

 a bee journal or catalog is an old chestnut. 

 The only real criticism that I think can be 

 made on the design we are now using on our 

 cover is, perhaps, that it is a little overloaded. 

 But this is largely a matter of taste. We have 

 changed the tint of our paper to a light pale 

 blue, as our readers will see, and hence the 

 effect of the design will be much better. 



BEE-KEEPEB FRED ANDERSON. 



Some time ago, when the Rambler articles 

 were discontinued, I promised that the Ramb- 

 ler would furnish us something new, but did 

 not state definitely what it would be. Believ- 

 ing that Mr. Martin had the talent and mate- 



JOHN H. MARTl.N. TKA \ KLER AND AUTHOR. 



rial for a good bee-keeping story. I requested 

 him to turn his attention in that direction. 

 He at first modestly protested, but said he 

 would try, that after he had written the first 

 few chapters, if he did not throw them In the 

 fire, he would submit them to me. It is suffi- 

 cient to say that the story was begun and the 

 first chapters placed in my bauds. 



The plot is laid in California; the hero is a 

 bee-keeper; the writer is the Rambler, and 

 the artist is R. V. Murray, whose inimitable 

 sketches have been admired by all. The story 

 is interesting, thrilling, instructive, and full of 

 droll incidents so characteristic of that Ramb- 

 ler man. Some new phases of Californa life, 

 especially along the line of bee-keeping, are 

 brought out; and while the story is instructive 

 and interesting, a strong moral tone pervades it. 



The first half of the first chapter appears in 

 this number. When our space is a little less 

 crowded we shall put in a whole chapter in 

 each issue; and John H. Martin, the quiet- 

 mannered man, the bee-keeper, traveler, and 

 writer,will be found to be a story-writer of no 

 mean order. 



APICUI.TURAL EXPERIMENTS. 



The Twenty-first Annual Report of the Onta- 

 rio Agricultural College, located at Guelph, On- 

 tario, Can., has been received. But the part 

 that particularly interests bee-keepers is the re- 

 port of the apiculturist, Mr. R. F. Holtermann, 

 covering an interesting series of experiments. 

 Not having space to go over this report in de- 

 tail I shall have to go over most subjects briefly. 



FEEDING THE BEES. 



A number of colonies were fed sugar syrup, 

 with the Boardman entrance-feeder, and the 

 feed was given a little above blood heat. The 

 results are tabulated, and the experimenter ob- 

 serves that " there is a considerable difference 

 between the first weight of the hive, plus the 

 syrup, and the actual weight six days after the 

 last syrup was stored. The dift'erence in weight 

 may be attributed to evaporation, the consump- 

 tion of stores which goes on all the time under 

 natural conditions, and the increased consump- 

 tion likely to go on whenever the bees are un- 

 der the excitement or stimulus of storing." 



The conclusion is thus stated: 



(1) That tlieie is a greater difference between the 

 weight of stores supplied to the bees in the feeders, 

 and the Increase in the weiglit of the hive. There 

 is a loss which can not be explained in any satisfac- 

 tory way. 



(3) That it will not pay to extract the honey with a 

 view to making- a profit, and supply the bees with 

 sugar syrup for winter. 



(3) That, wlien feeding has to be resorted to, the 

 strong colonies should be given sufiicient comb and 

 stores to cover their own wants, and, in addition, 

 supply the weaker colonies with combs of sealed 

 stores. 



SEALED COVERS OR UPWARD VENTILATION. 



I haven't the space to go into details; but the 

 experiment of wintering two sets of colonies of 

 ten each in clamps showed that the set having 

 sealed covers did not winter nearly as well as 

 those having upward ventilation. This agrees 

 with the reports of two years ago. 



COMB FOUNDATION. 



Under this heading the experimenter gives 

 some interesting results; and, so far as I know, 

 he proceeds upon methods new and original. I 

 can do no better than to quote nearly all he has 

 to say on this subject: 



Tlie use of comb foundation has become general; 

 in fact, few, if any, keeping bees in the movable- 

 frame hive, attempt to do without it. At present, 

 coml) honey, owing to the quality of tiie comb foun- 

 dation, is not generally of a kind satisfactory to the 

 consumer. Although it is desirable to get a founda- 

 tion which, when utilized and added to by tlie bees, 

 gives a comb as thin as tlie natural one, many claim 

 that comb a trifle heavier is not noticed by consum- 

 ers. When, however, the base and bottoms of side 

 walls are materialise thickened, and the comb has 

 an artifl<'ial appearance, and the wax does not crum- 

 ble when the comb is broken, the result is that the 

 consuuK r objects, and the objection is intensified by 

 the comparatively liarmless nature of the change. 

 Again, comb foundation and wax are wasted in the 

 extra thickness; and this is no small item, as it is 

 generally worth fifty to sixty cents per pound. 



In our experiuents, observations were taken along 

 various iiwes— first, ;is to what extent, if any. the 

 bees thin the base and side wall of tlie various 

 thicknesses and kinds of comb foundation. Mea- 

 surements were made, whenever possible, of the 

 weiglit of foundation compared with the number of 

 square feet, and the thickness of the base of foun- 



