34« 



glf:vnings in bee culture 



June, 1918 



c 



STRAY STRAWS 



Dr. C. C. MiUer 



SELDOM, i f 

 ever, have 

 we had such 

 an adverse 

 spring. A few 

 warm days in- 

 duced me to 

 bring my bees 

 out of cellar 

 March 23, yet 



up to May 1 there lias seldom been a day 

 for them to fly; and I suspect they would 

 have been better off in cellar until now. 



DREAMS OF BOYHOOD. 



Oh, Doctor Miller! 

 If you want a filler 



To tickle your palate again 

 Like the pies of mother, 

 Some corn pone or other. 



I fear that you're longing in vain. 



For the tastes of a boy, 

 "His grief and joy," 



Are born of a growing frame, 

 And never are known 

 When to man he's grown. 



With the same dietetic fame. 



With age on you stealing 



If you ate with siich feeling. 



I would fear for your comfort and lifei; 

 That swift apoplexy 

 Would surely catch you 



And you'd depart this world and its 

 strife. 



So don't scold your wife. 

 Or worry her life. 



With efforts to fill your vamp 

 With cakes and ,iam 

 Like you used to cram 



As a boy in the sugar camp. 



In your changed station. 

 Your daily ration's 



For nourishment not for joy ; 

 So eat at leisure 

 And dream of pleasure 



That once was yours as a boy. 

 — Frank T. Kelsey, Moorhead, Mont. 



Friend Kelsey, T appreciate your interest 

 in my physical welfare, and accept with 

 thanks your advice as to eating with moder- 

 ation, but when you attempt to lull to rest 

 my longings for some of the things I ate as 

 a boy, on the ground that "the tastes of a 

 boy are never known when to a man he 's 

 grown, ' ' and that now my daily ration is 

 only for nourishment and not for joy, I re- 

 fuse to be lulled. 



In Shakespeare's "As You Like It," 80- 

 year-old Adam says: 



" Tho I look old, yet T am strong and lusty : 

 For in my youth I never did apply 

 Hot and rebellious liquors to my blood : 

 Nor did not with unbashful forehead woo 

 The means of weakness and debility; 

 Therefore my agie is as a lusty winter, 

 FVosty, but kindly." 



Same here. Not only have I eschewed al- 

 coholic drink, but that great destroyer of 

 taste, tobacco, as well, as also strong tea 



1 



U 



and coffee, and 

 hot spices. 

 These, and not 

 years, are the 

 things that de- 

 stroy the deli- 

 cate edge of the 

 organs of taste; 

 and having 

 avoided them 

 for nearly 87 years I now eat the modest ra- 

 tion needed for ' ' nourishment ' ' with the 

 same ".joy" as when a barefoot boy, so 

 that if Stancy Pnerden should offer me some 

 of that crisp and toothsome preparation of 

 corn I have not tasted for many a year, I 

 should be very likely to say, ' ' Yum, yum ; 

 tastes like old times. ' ' 



Let me advise my young friends that ab- 

 stinence and moderation in youth pay big 

 dividends in old age. While I eat with the 

 same relish as in boyhood's days, my enjoy- 

 ment of the beautiful in sights and sounds 

 is immensely greater than then, and increas- 

 es from year to year. My dreams of the past 

 are pleasant; bvit my greater joy is in the 

 present and in dreams of the future. With 

 Browning let me say to you: 

 "Grow old along with me! 

 The best is yet to be, 



The last of life, for which the first was 

 ■made ; 

 Our times are in His hand 

 Who saith, " A whole I planned. 

 Youth shows but half; trust God: 

 See all, nor be afraid!" 



* « * 



On page 271 the first illustration shows 

 ' ' Colonies a and b crowded onto as few 

 frames as possible ' ' prej^aratory to unit- 

 ing. That's all right, only I have found it 

 well, in the colony to be moved, to have a 

 sufficient space each side of the combs, so 

 that none of the outside bees will be left 

 clinging to the dummy or side of the hive. 



* * * 



' ' Our experience is that a nucleus will 

 travel safely many hundreds of miles with 

 a loss of less than one per cent, while bees 

 in cages without combs will have a mortality 

 of from .3.S to 50 per cent," page 280. Yet 

 because of the danger of disease it is count- 

 ed better to ship in cages, as bees sent thus 

 have been combless long enough to be safe 

 from disease. A question arises. Why not 

 ship nuclei, and then after they are receiv- 

 ed make them combless long enough to be 

 safe? Would, or would not, the 33 or 50 

 per cent of bees saved pay for the extra ex- 

 pense of the nuclei? [The plan would be all 

 right, if the consignee would do it. — Editor.] 

 » * * 



"But can you recommend putting two 

 weak colonies together with a newspaper be- 

 tween, in early spring? Is it not true that 

 the cluster may be so weak that they will 

 not work thru the paper?" Thus, ye editor, 

 page 282. Yes, that is possible. I have some- 

 times punched a hole thru the paper with a 

 lead pencil, and it seemed to work all right. 



