80 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb, 1 



snow as being very favorable to the growth of 

 white clover. A severe winter, with little or 

 no snow, and with very little rain, is apt to be 

 followed by a season of little or no clover ; 

 but, like every thing else in beedom, there are 

 a good many exceptions to general rules. — 

 Ed] 



We may safely say that not more than 

 one comb in 500,000 will be 25 years old, say 

 you, Mr. Editor, p. 44. Been at the saloon 

 again, eh ? Wait somewhere from two to five 

 years and you'll find that many right here in 

 Marengo, if the number of combs in the 

 country doesn't exceed a billion. [Yes, but 

 you are one in ten thousand. In all my trav- 

 els all over the country, doctor, I never ran 

 across a man who had as many old combs as 

 you have. The combs are not usually discard- 

 ed because of age, but because of being either 

 naturally built and so many drone cells, or be- 

 cause the frames have gone out of date, and 

 their owners want newer fixtures. No, sir ; I 

 will stick to my original statement, that not 

 more than one comb in half a million will be 

 25 years old. Of course, I have to except 

 from this box hives and every thing that does 

 not make use of movable frames. — Ed.] 



A. Charton, who invented the Charton 

 glossometer in 1892, gives in Revue Eclectique 

 some figures that seem to indicate that bees 

 store in proportion to the length of tongue. 

 In 1897, 6 colonies, during 37 days, made the 

 following gains, weights being given in kilo- 

 grams, and measurements in millimeters. A 

 colony with tongues measuring 

 7.4mm weighing 12k gained 0.0 

 7.9inm " 11.5k " 5k 



8.1mm " 13k " 0.5k 



9 2mm " 12 5k " 0.5k 

 9 4mm " 11.5k " 5.5k 



9.5mm " 12k " 6 0k. 

 In 1900, two swarms of same date were com- 

 pared. With tongues 9.5mm one swarm gain- 

 ed 47.3 lbs.; with tongues 7.3mm one swarm 

 gained 33 7 lbs. And yet the short-tougued 

 was a tenth heavier at the start than the oth- 

 er. [See answer to Prof. Rankin, in this is- 

 sue, on the relation of the length of tongues 

 to the amount of yield. — Ed] 



Sugar as a ration for soldiers has had quite 

 a boom in Germany. J Crepieux-Jamin re- 

 ports in Revue Internationale that he has giv- 

 en it a trial on a cycling-trip and finds it good 

 to fill in between the morning and the even- 

 ing meal, but finds honey still better. With 

 honey there is less thirst and clamminess in 

 the mouth. After using sugar on the wheel 

 Aug. 11 and 12, here's his dietary for Aug. 13: 

 "Usual breakfast at 8. At 10:30, 60 gr. 

 (about 2 1 oz. ) honey. At noon, 70 gr. honey. 

 At 2, 60 gr. At 4, 60 gr., and, having slight 

 thirst, a cup of tea. Supper at 7.30. Excel- 

 lent condition, good appetite, clear head." 

 [In all my cycling experience, and it has 

 been quite an extended one, I never made a 

 test of any form of sweet, much less one with 

 honey. In preparing for a long run I have 

 made it my rule to eat in the morning, on 

 starting out, a generous quantity of oatmeal 

 and milk ; at noon a good ration of beefsteak 



and other solid food ; and at night every thing 

 I could find on the table that was good. If I 

 could finish my ride with a strong appetite, I 

 was all right ; but in some of my later experi- 

 ences my longest rides were completed with 

 little or no appetite, and that was followed by 

 a breakdown. While I believe most emphat- 

 ically in honey, yet I think a cyclist needs 

 something that is far stronger as a food. — Ed.] 



Sylviac, in Revue Eclectique, scouts the 

 idea of a bee carrying a load weighing more 

 than its own body. He says it can not carry 

 more than its honey sac will hold, and gives 

 figures to show that its heaviest load of nectar 

 can not exceed one fifth the weight of its body 

 in its normal condition. [I suppose Sylviac 

 never saw a bee carry away one of its fellows 

 that had outlived its usefulness. The wing 

 power of a bee is certainly great enough to 

 carry its own weight of honey ; but I think 

 myself it is doubtful whether they ever carry 

 more than half their weight in nectar. Prof. 

 B. F. Koons, of the Connecticut Agricultural 

 College, found, by numerous measurements 

 that he had made, that bees could carry half 

 their own weight in nectar ; but ordinarily 

 the average load is about one-fourth their 

 weight. If I mistake not, these results were 

 corroborated very closely by Prof. Gillette and 

 Prof. Lazenby, the former of the Colorado Ex- 

 periment Station, and the latter of the Ohio 

 Experiment Station. — Ed.] 



Let up, Mr. Editor, and I'll take back what I 

 said, p. 44, and say 1^ is the right distance 

 for spacing. Yes, for Hoffmans, \% ox less. 

 Of course, I might reply to Weyprecht's 

 measurements that Doolittle measured the 

 same way and got 1 )4 ; but I don't want to 

 have any words with you about it. I'm will- 

 ing to say to A. J. Fisher that, when his combs 

 get to be 25 years old, he can increase the 

 spacing ; but as to saying that ^\ is space 

 enough — I draw the line right there. I won't 

 say that for you or any other man. Why, ^ 

 is the spacing between combs of honey, even 

 when crowded. Would you ask the bees to 

 do with less room between combs of brood ? 

 [Don't you remember the time, doctor, when 

 I was measuring spaces between comb sur- 

 faces, and how I found in very many instances 

 the space was only ^\ ? It seemed to me as 

 if half the measurements were of this spacing. 

 Why, yes, if the bees are content with j-'g, why 

 not let them have it under certain peculiar 

 conditions ? — Ed.] 



I should like to ask Mr. Bonney or any oth- 

 er person who has tried his method of intro- 

 ducing queens if he has ever had any trouble 

 from the queen killing the bees that are put 

 in the cage with her. I tried that plan sever- 

 al years ago, and the queen made a vicious 



