666 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



INCOMPLETE 

 sections may 

 be sold to lo- 

 cal customers at 

 a reduced price; 

 page 597, and to 

 this may be ad- 

 ded that some 

 will do well to 

 extract the hon- 

 ey from such sections, using a special frame 

 to hold the sections. 



Each of the three colonies which stored 

 the most for me this year had a queen which 

 was born in 1916. If I should requeen an- 

 nually, I feel sure it would be at a loss. It 

 may not, however, be the same with all 



others. 



« * * 



M. T. Pritchard mentions on page 615 a 

 thing which is not generally known; namely, 

 that it is quite the common thing for bees 

 to start queen-cells upon the introduction of 

 a queen, these cells disappearing after be- 

 ing sealed. 



* * * 



The question is raised on page 555 

 whether bees ever hold eggs for a time and. 

 then hatch them. Dzierzon reported that 

 bees did that very thing, and I remember 

 at least one case in my own experience 

 which I could account for in no other way. 



* 4f * 



"Breed from the best" is a good slogan, 

 and another that might well go with it is 

 this: "Kill all queens that fall below the 

 average." The trouble with some beekeep- 

 ers is that while they breed only from the 

 best, so far as they do any special breeding 

 at all, they are inclined to leave to itself 

 any colony having a laying queen, no matter 

 how poor the work done. A poor queen is 

 working against food conservation, and 

 should be treated as a Hun. 



' ' I think that, if the Lord had intended 

 bees to live in a cellar, he would have made 

 one for them, ' ' says J. C. Mosgrove, page 

 601. The Lord does much of his work thru 

 others. He intended horses should have 

 barns in this region, and he gave man the 

 ability to build the barns. He also gave him 

 ability to make cellars where cellars are 

 needed. Moreover, friend Mosgrove, if, as 

 you say, the Lord gave bees a hollow tree, 

 are you not flying in the face of Providence 

 by using a hive instead of a hollow tree? 

 * * * 



You say, Mr. Editor, page 602, that sky- 

 scraping piles of hives that need stepladders 

 are not so rare as I suppose. But are you 

 playing the game entirely fair when you 

 quote such men as David Eunning to prove 

 your point. Are not David Eunnings of 

 rather rare occurrence? AUee samee, you 

 have a chance to know a lot more about it 

 than I do, and I'm ready to modify my 



November, 1918 



supposition in 

 accord with 

 your observa- 

 tion. Now please 

 tell us, taking 

 all the colonies 

 in the country, 

 in the hands of 

 all kinds of bee- 

 keepers, what 

 per cent of them should you say have such 

 piles over them as are under consideration? 

 If you say it 's more than one in a hundred 

 (I had supposed there wasn't one in 500, but 

 you have somewhat changed my view), I'll 

 climb right down and change my ' ' suppose ' ' 



some more. 



* * * 



Glad to see that picture of Mel Pritchard, 

 page 636. I've always had a good opinion 

 of him, and the picture agrees with that 

 ojiinion. And that reminds me, is there 

 anything in the laws or constitution of Ohio 

 to i^revent the readers of a periodical from 

 knowing what its managing editor looks 

 like? [He'll take a chance on your thinking 

 better of him before than after seeing his 

 picture, — and the constitution of Ohio cer- 

 tainly ought to forbid the publishing of 

 any such picture, whatever. — Mng. Editor.] 



Hamlin B. Miller grows wrathy, page 611, 

 when considering vitriolized corn juice de- 

 vitriolized, and then sold under the claim 

 that it is "as good as honey." Keep your 

 temper, Hamlin ; "all things come to him 

 who waits"; and the public is slowly 

 learning that honey is in a class by itself, 

 and for deliciousness and wholesomeness 

 has no substitute. This year, in this locali- 

 ty, the public is more eager for honey than 

 ever before, altho they are paying more 

 than twice the former price for it. 



* * * 



Mention is made on page 460 of "the 

 fact that the beekeeper can produce a pound 

 of extracted at about half the cost he could 

 jjroduce a pound of comb honey. ' ' I wish I 

 knew whether that ' ' fact ' ' is really a fact. 

 We used to talk about a gain of 50 per 

 cent by extracting; now there is more or 

 less talk about twice that much gain. Has 

 there been any advance in the amount ex- 

 tracted, or has there been new light on 

 what has always been done? Anyway, Mr. 

 Editor, can you tell us why the change in 

 the estimate? 



* * * 



' ' We believe a queen after having had a 

 honey bath is never quite as good as before. ' ' 

 quoth ye editor, page 555. That may be so, 

 but please tell us why. If you should be 

 held under water until an uncomfortable 

 amount of water had got into your lungs, 

 you wouldn't be quite as good as before for 

 a little while, but you would probably be as 

 good as new in a short time. Would it not 

 be the same with a queen if she should in- 



