D 



C 



LJ 



Pkbrvary, 191.S 



BLIGHTED 

 to know 

 Prof. Jager 

 is safe bacK on 

 this side the 

 water, and I 

 hope he has lost 

 none of his en- 

 thusiasm. 



J. L. Byer discusses interestingly, p. 37. 

 packing front, back, top and sides, but not 

 a word about bottom, in which he does not 

 differ from others. But doesn 't Dr. Phillips 

 claim something like equal importance for 

 packing under the hivef How about it? 

 » * * 



Beeswax painted on foundation prevents 

 sagging, but " beeswax is expensive; and if 

 we can prevent sagging by any scheme of 

 wiring we are that much ahead," p. 12. 

 Vertical wiring will do the trick. I had 

 thousands of frames wired vertically with 

 never a sag. I like foundation-splints still 



better. 



* * * 



J. E. Crane, you say, p. 27, that you did 

 not say ' ' I don 't worry if my bees have 

 sugar and pollen. ' ' You said, p. 771, ' ' and 

 when we have a supply of pollen we do not 

 worry." 1 understand you to convey the 

 idea that when you supplied any lack of 

 honey wdth sugar, you didn't worry if pollen 

 was present. My question is whether the 

 necessary mineral elements in honey and not 

 in sugar, are contained in pollen. If not, 

 then will there not be a loss in vigor of bees 

 if even part sugar is used? Say — are you 

 and ye editor in a conspiracy to make me 

 tear my hair and turn black in the face by 

 admitting that even ' ' possibly ' ' honey is 

 no better than sugar for man or bee? 



* * * 



S. H. S. is advised, p. 40, to use the 

 Alexander treatment for European foul 

 brood, making the colony queenless for 20 

 days and then giving a ripe cell. That 

 makes a break of about 30 days in brood- 

 rearing, in which time there will be quite a 

 slump in numbers. Is there any good reason 

 why he should not cut out 20 of those 30 

 days by using the Alexander-Miller treat- 

 ment? That requires, after seeing that the 

 colony is strengthened if not already strong, 

 that it shall be made queenless for 10 days, 

 at the end of which time the old queen may 

 be allowed to resume laying if she is good 

 and the case mild, or a new laying queen 

 may be given if the case is bad. Or a ripe 

 cell, protected, may be given at the same 

 time the old queen is removed. Is anything 

 gained by having the cessation of egg-laying 



three times as long? 



* * » 



Mrs. Allen having said, December, p. 928. 

 that every spring she had combs so moldy 

 that the bees destroyed them rather than to 

 repair them, P. C. Chadwick says, January, 

 p. 36, that altho he has plenty of moldy 

 combs he has never known the bees to de- 



Gi, eAnings in bee culture 



STRAY STRAWS 



Dr. C. C. Miller 



1 



^^^^^^^^=^ 



TU 



K 



89 



stroy them, ad- 

 ding, ' ' I have 

 never seen the 

 combs too moldy 

 for a new swarm 

 to tackle and 

 clean up in short 

 order." Possi- 

 bly the differ- 

 ence results from 

 Tennessee being further north than Cali- 

 fornia. I'm still further north than Mrs. 

 Allen, and have had many a case in which 

 the combs became so bad that the bees con- 

 sidered them beyond repair and tore them 

 down. Altho Mr. Chadwick may safely hive 

 a swarm on his moldy combs, very likely 

 Mrs. Allen or I could furnish him a set of 

 combs so bad that if he should hive a swarm 

 upon them the bees would promjjtly decamp 

 in a body. 



* * * 



Stancj^ Puerdcu, I agree with your view, 

 p. 30, that honey is better than sugar for our 

 soldiers, altho that exasperating editor may 

 say it's " possibly " no better (and I think 

 the best is none too good for them), and 

 I'm glad to know of the individual bottles 

 for the soldiers; but I wonder whether bot- 

 tles are the best containers. Early in the 

 war, in Europe, they were sending honey to 

 the soldiers in tubes. Instead of the trouble 

 of melting the candied honey in bottles, the 

 skin of the tube could be peeled back. 



By the way, I may as well tell you that I 

 think a good deal of you; but when I talk 

 to my folks about you I don't know what to 

 call you. I could get along with Stancy all 

 right; but I'm trying to learn politeness, 

 and when I call you ' ' Mrs. ' ' I don 't know 

 whether to say Mrs. Pew'er-den, Pew-er'den, 

 Pew er-den ', Pure 'den or what. 



* * * 



Do you know that clover goes to sleep at 

 night? J. J. Kettle says in British Bee Jour- 

 nal, p. 328, that the leaves close up, the two 

 outside ones closing with their upper sur- 

 faces face to face, while the leading, or ter- 

 minal, leaflet turns over the other two and 

 forms a little span roof with the under sur- 

 face up to the heavens. [We have never 



seen it. — Editor.] 



* » * 



A New Yorker wants a dispute settled as 

 to whether the wax is swallowed when comb 

 honey is eaten. I think it's generally this 

 way: When it is eaten alone, the wax is 

 left in the mouth and rejected; but when it 

 is eaten with biscuit or some other food, 

 then the wax is swallowed with the other 

 food. Some have objected to swallowing 

 the wax because it is indigestible — utterly 

 so. But such people fail to understand that, 

 for the sake of good health, it is of great 

 importance that a goodly portion of food be 

 of the indigestible sort so as to facilitate the 

 movement of the contents of the colon. If 

 a man should eat only such food as is per- 

 fectly digestible, he would not be long for 

 this world. 



