380 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 15. 



Glad to learn B. Taylor's plan, p. 344, of 

 running two stories. I've been trying about 

 the same thing. I gave two stories in August, 

 and reduced to one for winter; gave two again 

 this spring; and when clover blooms, most will 

 be reduced to one story. But what I'm anxious 

 to learn is whether two stories is just as good 

 as the same amount of room in one story. 



Has the tide turned ? After a series of poor 

 years ending up with two successive years of 

 utter failure, the tide seems to have started the 

 other way; for in all my experience I think I 

 never knew things more favorable during the 

 same time of year than they have been for the 

 past eight or nine months, ending with the 

 first week in May. Don't tell me to get into a 

 frame of thankfulness. I'm there now. 



That argument of P. H. Elwood, page 330, 

 that feeding thin syrup wears out bees, sets one 

 to thinking. But, say; if it's done early enough 

 I don't believe it wears out bees any more than 

 gathering thin nectar. In both cases, isn't the 

 wearing out more than made up by new bees? 

 It surely wears out bees to gather nectar, but 

 you don't want the gathering stopped on that 

 account. I suspect the bees cook up the syrup 

 in better shape when it's thin. 



G. B. Replogle wintered 12 colonies facing 

 east, and 36 facing south; .5 of the .36 died, and 

 the weakest of the 12 came out stronger than 

 the average of the 36. He suspects that facing 

 south is bad, as bees would be enticed on cold 

 sunny days to fly, never to return, while those 

 facing east remained quiet in their hives. 

 Worth thinking about. [Looks reasonable, and 

 yet our hives face north, southeast, and west, 

 and the bees in all seem to winter equally well. 

 -Ed.] 



In reply to J. E. Hand, p. 355, I don't know 

 enough from experience to advocate either sin- 

 gle or double walls for outdoor wintering; but 

 I wintered out one single-walled hive last win- 

 ter, and hope to try more next winter. But I 

 had a story filled with rags over, a story of 

 combs under, and an entrance 12x2. [Get a 

 good double-walled hive, and you will get bet- 

 ter results. Our double - walled Dovetailed 

 chaff, of ^i lumber, is preferred by us to the 

 single-walled, in our apiary, it is so conven- 

 ient.— Ed.] 



This time it's yourself, Mr. Editor. You say, 

 p. .3.57, "Almost the only objection against amal- 

 gamation is the idea of making the Union in- 

 ternational." I've knocked that man of straw 

 down several times, but some one keeps setting 

 It up again. Don't you know that the Union 

 has always been international? At the last 

 election, three Canadians got a total of 21 votes. 

 Stop talking about the Union remaining na- 

 tional. [The organization is named the Na- 

 tional Bee-keepers' Union, and is incorporated 

 at Chicago. It is international in its benefits; 



but to my way of thinking it is national in its 

 character and name. — Ed.] 



On page 2.59 W. G. Hewes gives us his ideas 

 as to the causes of the low prices of honey in 

 California. He not only questions Rambler's 

 figures and statements, but actually those of 

 Skylark himself. Mr. Editor, if you permit 

 this to go on unchecked. Skylark's word will 

 soon be no better than that of anybody else. 

 The idea that there is no "water- white" honey! 

 Why, it has been a standard grade of honey 

 here for years, and will continue so for all time 

 to come. 



But here is a huge joke— so high that I can 

 hardly climb over it — a Mason jar to test the 

 color of honey ! Why, even ivater looks green 

 in a Mason jar. But friend Hewes will not 

 get "water white" from his old brood-combs 

 that he asks us to shake to prove there is no 

 such honey. It must come from combs that 

 never hatched a bee, and that were never pol- 

 luted with pollen. The whole aim of the 

 article is to show that J. H. Rambler and Sky- 

 lark have wrecked the California honey mar- 

 ket (which, according to another part of the 

 article, is not wrecked at all); one by over- 

 estimating the crop, and the other by speaking 

 of pure black-sage honey as "water white." 

 Now, that is just my idea. I knew, and Ram- 

 bler knows, that we are both great men; but I 

 didn't know that the whole world knew it. O 

 Rambler, Rambler! our fame is safe — they know 

 it up— away up— at Newhall ! Now we can put 

 up or pull down prices as we please. Rambler 

 cries out, " Honey is selling at 3 cents;" Sky- 

 lar kechoes back, "Water-white!" O Skylark, 

 J. H., and Rambler! you are a reckless trio. 

 You can wreck any thing, from a hairpin to a 

 honey-market, and not half try. 



AN open letter TO DR. MILLER. 



Dear Doctor: — As you seem to be, at the pres- 

 ent time, a sort of target for "open letters," I 

 want to put in my "jaw" and shoot at you too. 

 But indeed and indeed, dear doctor, I will pull 

 the trigger easy, so I will not hurt you. Do 

 you think you will come out victorious in that 

 tilt you are having with Rambler as to who 

 owns Chicago? It is just as much our Chicago 

 as it is yours, and more too. Haven't we built 

 it up with our honey? What! Give up Chicago ? 

 Not for millions. Why, I would abandon my 

 breakfast any day, and never eat anq^ther bite 

 again — never, never (till dinner-time), rather 

 than give up Chicago. 



It is true, as Doolittle tells you (A. B. J., 255), 

 you have helped to build up bee-keeping In 



