898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15 



schoolbuilding, of sevoval hundred pupils, dur- 

 ing a whole term, was carried away on a wlieel- 

 harnnv. Tiie watery portion liad been all 

 evaporated by the liot air of the schoolbuilding, 

 aftiT it had ih)n(' its duty in wai'niiug the rooms. 

 Kiglit under the seats of the closets, about two 

 feet from the gi'ound. is a series of iron bars. 

 These bars are far enough apart to catch the 

 ends of dry bricks laid close togiither. Of 

 course, there" is an air-space all around each 

 brick. Well, the hot air. after it has warmed 

 till' schoolrooms, goes under and thi'ough this 

 brick llooi'. keeping the bricks hot and dry. 

 The droppings, both liquid and solid, are evap- 

 orated as they accumulate. If, however, in 

 warm damp weather, when the furnaces do not 

 need to be used, ihe ordinary draft of the shaft 

 is not sufticient todisi)oseof all theli(iuid, a slow 

 tire is nuide to send enough di'y air through the 

 brick tlooi- and up the shaft, to keep the thing 

 sweet and clean. By increasing the heat you 

 may eretimte the entire contents of the vault at 

 any time you wish. A furnace is also put at 

 the base "of the shaft, to be lighted whenever 

 the janitoi' notices, by the action of the smoke 

 from burning paper, that there is not sufficient 

 draft up tlu^ large chimney. In other words, 

 whenever there is a particle of smell to be de- 

 tected by the keenent nostril, a great flood of dry 

 pure air is sent through the whole apparatus 

 until every thing is dry, sweet, and clean. Now, 

 then, has any thing ever been invented to com- 

 pare with such a system of disposing of these 

 waste products as the above '? Of course, ordi- 

 nary homes do not require such an elaborate 

 structure in all its details as the one I have de- 

 scribed; this is specially for schools, factories, 

 court-houses, and such places. The only rival 

 system is the water-closet. But what in the 

 world ai'e you going to do with the sewage in 

 the average country town, school, or factory? 

 Champion Brook runs right through our village 

 of Medina; but the man who would turn the 

 sewage from a water-closet into Champion 

 Brook, above the town, ought to be prosecuted, 

 and doubtless would be. We have read in the 

 papers of the great troubles the managers of 

 the Croton Aqueduct (that supplies the city of 

 New York) have had to keep sewage from being 

 turned into it. There has also been a little 

 breeze through the papers in years ]jast, to the 

 effect that it is not safe to send all our bad 

 smells up a big chimney to fall down on our 

 neighbors after a while. It seems lo me, how- 

 ever, the absurdity of this objection should be 

 apparent at once. All our foul smells arc and 

 always lutve been turned out into the oi)en air. 

 Now. is it any wor.se to turn them loose in the 

 wind at the top of a chimney /orti/.fecf /lig/i, 

 than to turn them loose on a level with the 

 ground? I have not yet been up to the top of 

 our tall chimney to find out what kind of smells 

 are pouring forth; but in any event I would 

 much rather they would pour forth up there 

 than anywhere else. In one of the basements 

 of our establishment we have a kitchen where 

 they cook dinner for the workmen — liolh men 

 and women; and we have always been aniujyed 

 more or less by certain .savory and unsavory 

 odors from the kitchen coming up throiigh into 

 our office and other rooms. It has sometimes 

 seemed as if this always hai)i)ened when dis- 

 tinguished visitoi's happened to be looking over 

 our premis(>s. Well, since this great big chim- 

 ney has been doing duty, our cook can have 

 onions, doughnuts, or whatever she chooses, for 

 dinner, and no one's nose informs liim of the 

 fact before he sits down to the table. 



What has all this long story to do with gar- 

 dening, do you ask? VVhy, simply this: The 

 residue that has hei-etofore been such a tei'rible 

 load to carry out on our fields, and plow under 



(without a moment being lost), is now simply a 

 dry fertilizer like guano or dry ])oultry manure. 

 It may be taken in the hands, or pounded up to 

 be evenly worked into our plant-beds, just as 

 we put in bonedust or phosphate; and the 

 Sniead folks say it is woith just as much in the 

 latter form as il was in the former. I wish 

 Prof. Cook and friend Terry would tell us what 

 thev think about this last idea. 



0a^ QaEgiFi@N-B% 



With Replies from our best Authorities on Bees. 



Question 174. Whot evidence have you had 

 that bees are more likely to supersede a queen 

 thdt is clipped f 



None. 



Wisconsin. S. W. S. I. FitF:KKORN. 



None whatever. 

 Illinois. N. C. 



J. A. Gkeex. 



Not any. I don't think they are. 



New York. C. G. M. Dooijttle. 



Not much when only a part of one wing is 

 clipped. 

 New Y'ork. C. P. H. Elwood. 



There is no evidence, and I do not believe 

 that that tendency exists. 

 Ohio. S. W. C. F. MuTH. 



Not any. I have not the least idea that it is 

 true with me, at least. 

 Michigan. C. A. J. Cook. 



We used to clip the wings of queens long ago, 

 and have never noticed that they were super- 

 seded on that account. 



Illinois. N. W. Dadant & Son. 



I don't believe that a queen will be superseded 

 any quicker on account of having her wing 

 clipped. We clip all of ours. 



Wisconsin. S. W. E. France. 



We have not practiced clipping; but bees 

 have always evinced a disposition to supersede 

 a queen crippled in any way. 



Illinois. N. W. C. Mrs. L. Hakkison. 



The evidence that bees are not satisfied with 

 imperfect, or maimed or crippled queens, as 

 every observing bee-keeper knows. 



Ohio. N. W. H. R. Boardman. 



I have practiced clipping my queens for the 

 past eighteen years, and I rarely have one super- 

 seded. I think there is no foundation for the 

 belief that clipping causes superseding, provid- 

 ing the apiarist is on hand to take care of the 

 clijjped queens when they swarm. 



Vermont. N. W. A. E. Manum. 



I can't say positively; but, not having kept a 

 record, it seems to me that there is more likeli- 

 hood of being sui)erseded when clipped: but I 

 have had but little superseding done to clipped 

 ones; for, unless extra good. I keep none over 

 two years, and they are seldom superseded at 

 that "age. 



Ohio. N. W. A. B. Mason. , 



I have no evidence to that effect. I do not 

 practice clipping queens' wings, though I have 

 done so in times past. When I did clip I was 

 sure they lived to a good old age, and died full 

 of honors. 



New York. E. Rambler. 



