326 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 15 



A NEW THOUGHT is brought out in British 

 Bee Journal, that is sustained by what seems 

 to be pretty good reasoning. It is, that, for 

 successful wintering, the size of the cluster 

 and the thickness of the combs (consequently 

 the distance in spacing) must increase with 

 the degrees of latitude. [Perhaps ; but I do 

 not believe there can be a mathematical pro- 

 portion, as so much is dependent, not on the 

 latitude, but on other conditions. The Gulf 

 Stream, for instance, that flows around the 

 British Isles, warms up that portion of the 

 globe to a general average temperature above 

 what it would be if there were no Gulf Stream. 

 —Ed.] 



You ARE WISE, Mr. Editor, to sound a note 

 of warning against losing our heads and de- 

 pending entirely upon long tongues. A tall 

 man can reach more apples on a tree than a 

 short one ; but two men of equal height may 

 not be equally industrious at gathering apples. 

 [Yes, and from present indications it may be 

 necessary to continue the note of warning. 

 While I believe in long tongues, and expect 

 great results, yet it is evident that a good 

 many are bound to be disappointed. The fact 

 can not be too strongly emphasized, that 

 daughters from the very best of mothers may 

 prove to be very inferior ; and I am afraid that 

 50 per cent of them may be only medium, or 

 no better than other queens in the yard. — Ed.] 



That cart wheel extractor, p. 289. beats 

 me. When " the end of the axle is planted 

 firmly in the ground," I di n't see how it is 

 possible that "a light pressure in either di- 

 rection moves the extractor and contents in 

 direct range of the sun." If set to face the 

 rising sun, how " under the sun" can any 

 number of revolutions on a fixed axle make 

 it face the setting sun ? [This is a mistake of 

 the engraver, and we did not notice the appar- 

 ent mechanical impossibility until the journal 

 was pretty well printed. The post on which 

 the wheel stands should be perpendicular, so 

 that the wheel will be horizontal. Then the 

 back end of the extractor should be blocked 

 up. As the wheel is revolved, it brings the 

 extractor to the proper angle. — Ed ] 



Doolittle speaks on p. 292 of a bluish- 

 white appearance on the surface of combs, 

 often mistaken for mold. I think I never saw 

 it mentioned in print before, and I'd like very 

 much to know what it is. It is seen chiefly on 

 the cappings of sealed honey, and appears to 

 do no harm ; but after all I suspect it is some- 

 thing very much like mold. [I think I have 

 seen this bluish-white coating on combs that 

 had been stored in our honey-house, such 

 combs not having been in contact with bees 

 during the winter. It may be a very minute 

 fungus or mold ; but, as DDolittle says, it does 

 no harm. But there is a mold, you know, 

 that we sometimes see between the combs 

 when the bees have nearly or all died. This 

 mold is spongelike, often reaching from one 

 comb to the other. — Ed ] 



Of the hives that I have looked into since 

 they came from the cellar, just two showed 

 wet top-bars, and one of them, the worse one 

 of the two, was a painted hive. Did the paint- 



ing have any thing to do with the dampness, 

 or did it just happen so? But Arthur C. Mil- 

 ler, in A>ner. Bee keeper, makes a point by 

 saying that bees thoroughly varnish the inner 

 surface of a hive ; and then how can the in- 

 side moisture pass through? [Your conclu- 

 sion is correct. There is no advantage in an 

 unpainted hive, except, possibly, the saving 

 of paint ; and is it not probably true that more, 

 would be actually saved in painting the hive 

 during a period of ten or twenty years than 

 without paint? I know you paint only the 

 covers. Now, seriously, don't you believe you 

 had better begin painting all your new hive- 

 bodies?— Ed.] 



Sections sold by the piece will give the 

 customer more for his money than when sold 

 by weight, says ye editor, p. 275. I confess I 

 don't see why, although I'd be glad if all 

 could be bought and sold by the piece. And 

 if the customer is the gainer by the piece plan, 

 who is the loser, the producer or the middle- 

 man ? [If any one loses in the deal by selling 

 by the piece it is the middleman, the grocer, 

 and not the producer. I thoroughly believe 

 that the way to sell comb honey is not by 

 weight but by the piece. But such selling 

 would be impracticable unless there is grading 

 as to weights. If one produces non-separa- 

 tored honey, then, of course, it would be im- 

 practicable. I have seen a great deal of fence 

 honey that would vary scarcely half an ounce 

 to the section in the whole crate ; and in a fair 

 year the trick is not so difficult, if I may judge 

 from what I have seen in York State, as it 

 would appear. — Ed ] 



March 25 the roads were muddy and rough. 

 I drove down town, putting in the wagon two 

 empty supers, setting them on one side. The 

 front one ran across the wagon and the other 

 lengthwise. The one running lengthwise fell 

 down. Then I put the front one lengthwise 

 and the other crosswise. As often as they fell 

 I set them up again, constantly changing. 

 Out of 13 times the lengthwise super fell first 

 every time but one. That was going down a 

 hill, but going down the steepest hill the 

 lengthwise super fell and the other stood its 

 ground. If I had been hauling combs on that 

 trip, don't you believe they should have been 

 loaded crosswise ? Now some of 5'ou report 

 how the same thing works on your road. 

 [This is an interesting and valuable experi- 

 ment. It is so easily tried that I wonder none 

 of us had thought of it before. I would sug- 

 gest that those of our readers who have " to 

 drive to town " pretty often over bumpy roads 

 try the same experiment and report. From 

 the results above given it is very clear that the 

 edges uf the combs should point toward the 

 wheels and not toward the horse. — Ed ] 



Seven pages of last Gleanings are devot- 

 ed to giving a black eye to solar extractors. 

 The question is between pressure in and pres- 

 sure out of steam. Gerstung thinks his pres- 

 sure in hot water is ahead of either. I wish I 

 could try one of Gerstung's. [Yes, the solar 

 wax-extractor has its uses ; but in melting up 

 old combs it should not be employed, as it is 

 not adapted to that kind of work, unless, for- 



