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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 15 



making these Utile pellets of pollen. They 

 are always sweet — decidedly so; and without 

 the honey I can hardly see how the pollen 

 could be made to adhere together in so solid 

 and compact a mass as the bee makes of it. — 

 Ed] 



The advice, not to put hives on a bench 

 much closer than about 6 inches, p. 397, is 

 correct. But tke same number could be on 

 the bench with less danger of bees entering 

 wrong hives by having first space between 

 hives 2 inches, the next space 10 inches, then 

 2 and 10 alternately. [When I visited Dr. 

 Miller two years ago he demonstrated the 

 truth of the statement he has just made. His 

 hives were arranged as he desciibes in this 

 Straw, and yet there was no confusion among 

 the bees. — Ed.] 



Ye editor, it seems to me, is a little too 

 ready to concede to Prof. Cook that the ABC 

 is wrong in calling formic acid a vegetable 

 acid, p. 402. The ABC doesn't call it so, al- 

 though it squints that way. It wonders wheth- 

 er the poison is not similar to formic acid or 

 the same, and says it (the bee poison) is prob- 

 ably a vegetable acid. According to Prof. 

 Langer (p. 382) ii is vegetable, but not an 

 acid, " a vegetable base, an alkaloid." [Then 

 you think Prof. Cook is wrong. Possibly he 

 would modify his opinion if he were referred 

 to your authority. — Ed.] 



The old-comb discussion has crossed the 

 ocean. One writer calls ten-year-old combs a 

 myth. Per contra, Abeille Hongroise reports 

 a hive continuously occupied for 133 years ! 

 The able editor of Le Rucher Beige says a 

 great number of distinguished practicians 

 carefully preserve their old combs, and that 

 the objection to them is nothing but an old 

 prejudice. [Is it not a fact, however, that 

 when the old-comb discussion crossed the 

 ocean it crossed from Europe to America, and 

 not from America to Europe? That is, is it 

 not true that we are reviving an old problem 

 that has long been settled in Europe? — Ed.] 



That dark clothing is decidedly objec- 

 tionable to bees, Editor Gravenhorst thinks 

 proven by the following incident : With three 

 visitors he was in the apiary, when a dog stir- 

 red up a colony. The excited bees pitched 

 upon the lady and gentleman dressed in black, 

 while himself and the lady in white were un- 

 disturbed. [I have seen cases where bees 

 would attack persons with black hats when 

 they would not molest those with light-color- 

 ed head-gear. I have been slow to believe 

 that they recognize color in this way ; but in 

 view of the evidence that has been cropping 

 out here and there for a number of years, I 

 am prepared to believe that black, at least, is 

 at times offensive to bees that are not particu- 

 larly good-natured. — Ed.] 



Something a little out of whack about the 

 advice of Henry Segelken, p. 384. He says 

 it's claimed twice as much extracted as comb 

 can be produced. Expenses for sections, 

 foundation, and shipping-cases far exceed cost 

 of packages for extracted, so a pound of comb 

 costs producer more than twice as much as a 

 pound of extracted. So the New York mar- 



ket for buckwheat comb ought to be more than 

 twice as much as for extracted, but he 

 wants the extracted men to change to comb 

 while the market, p. 375, quotes comb at less 

 than twice as much as extracted. [If it is 

 true that twice as much extracted as comb can 

 be produced, then there would be something 

 wrong about the advice given by Mr. Segel- 

 ken ; but I do not think it is true, and under 

 some circumstances as much comb as extract- 

 ed will be produced. If there is a difference 

 at all, it probably would not exceed a half 

 more, and generally not more than a quarter. 

 Mr. R. C. Aikin once said at a National con- 

 vention that it was not true that more extract- 

 ed could be produced than comb. 



But, look here, doctor ; you are putting the 

 difference of the cost of packages between 

 extracted and comb a little too high. I should 

 say that packages for comb would cost about 

 a half more if we figure in barrels and square 

 cans. You would have to figure in these large 

 packages because the great bulk of honey 

 sent to market is either in barrels or square 

 cans. I think Mr. Segelken's general state- 

 ment is true, that it would be more profitable 

 for many bee-keepers to produce more comb 

 rather than extracted honey. If there is any 

 error in the statement it is the error in the rel- 

 ative cost of comb and extracted honey per 

 pound. — Ed.] 



Mr. Editor, you're another. I don't be- 

 lieve I'm a bit wrong " in assuming that a 

 given number of eggs laid by the queen will 

 give the same number of bees " in the circum- 

 stances under consideration, p. 380. You say 

 when frames well filled with eggs are given to 

 a queenless colony, only about two-thirds of 

 the cells that had those eggs will be continued 

 to sealed brood. Instead of two-thirds, I 

 don't believe the average will be one fourth. 

 I've known cases in which I think 19 out of 

 20 eggs disappeared. Queenless bees do that 

 sort of thing. I don't know why, but they 

 do. But we were not talking about queenless 

 bees. You say, this spring when it was too 

 cold for bees to take care of much brood the 

 queens kept on laying, and the bees reared 

 only what they could cover. Exactly. But 

 we were not talking about a time when it is 

 too cold. We were talking about a time when 

 queens would lay 3400 eggs daily, and I don't 

 believe any queen will do that unless the bees 

 are fully able to care for all of them. She 

 may lay eggs just for the fun of it when only 

 a few hundred are required daily ; but when 

 it comes to thousands, that's business, and 

 she'll lay no more than are needed. You 

 know you can lift out frame after frame even- 

 ly filled and evenly sealed without a vacancy. 

 If some were destroyed the vacancies ought 

 to show. You say we'd be doing well to get 

 half of a hen's eggs hatched into chickens. 

 And you the son of a poultry-fancier ! Better 

 come and take lessons of Mrs. Miller. She 

 thinks she doesn't do well unless she gets at 

 least 10 chickens out of 13 eggs. But we were 

 not talking about poultry, queenless bees, nor 

 weak colonies in cold weather. We were talk- 

 ing about colonies with weather and queens 

 that would allow 3400 eggs daily. Now you 



