476 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jdne 1 



double brush for brushing bees off the combs. 

 It is very unique in principle.; and in prac- 

 tice, from the limited number of tests we have 

 been able to give it this spring, it is all it 

 seems to be in theory. Both sides of the 



comb are cleaned with one or two sweeps. In 

 the average extracting apiary a large number 

 of bees can be driven off the combs by the 

 right use of smoke. Some little time ago I de- 

 scribed how, by the use of a quilt or cloth 

 laid over the top of the frames, one could 



cause the smoke to be sucked down into the 

 brood-nest by an alternate succession of flops 

 of the quilt, producing a suction, such suction 

 causing the smoke to go down into the ex- 

 tracting-combs, driving the bees before it into 

 the brood-nest. In the Coggshall apiaries I 



have seen combs so treated taken out of pop- 

 ulous colonies, almost free of bees. Well, 

 suppose there were quite a number on each 

 side. Just imagine how quickly one could 

 disengage every bee with a double brush like 

 the one shown in the illustration. 



We have been so well pleased with these 

 brushes we have decided to catalog them next 

 year, and in the mean time we will furnish 

 them to those who desire them, at the prices 

 mentioned elsewhere under the head of Spe- 

 cial Notices. 



IS THE TRADE IN LONG TONGUED BEES AI,I, 

 RIGHT? 



In The American Bee Journal iorM&y ^ ap- 

 pears an article written by G. M. Doolittle, 

 with the heading, "Long-tongued Bees — Fad 

 or Fallacy, Which? " which is somewhat of a 

 surprise. Mr. Doolittle says he feels it his 

 duty to call a halt, "that too much money 

 need not be sunk on this latest fad, even if we 

 do not call it a fallacy. " There is some dan- 

 ger that too much may be expected, and that 

 disappointment may result, hence the proprie- 

 ty of some words of warning, or, as Mr. Doo- 

 little expresses it, of calling a halt ; but Mr. 

 Doolittle is in error when he says " no one 

 has seen fit to do this," for such words of 

 warning in very distinct terms have more than 

 once been given in these columns. 



Mr. Doolittle speaks of the search for long 

 tongues as a fad upon which money has been 

 wasted, and he wants to ask about it " before 

 more money is wasted on the fad." The at- 

 tempt to secure in some way the crop of red- 

 clover honey is no new thing. For many 

 years there has been a longing to secure it, 

 either through a change in the bees or in the 

 clover. E. E. Hasty and others have made 

 commendable efforts to obtain a strain of red 

 clover with short tubes. At different times 

 red-clover strains of hive bees have had much 

 said in their favor, and earnest effort has been 

 made, especially by bee-keepers of Mr. Doo- 

 little's own State, to induce government to 

 introduce Apis dorsata for the sake of its 

 longer tongue. Petitions to this effect were 

 printed and circulated. Why did not Mr. 

 Doolittle call a halt while this expenditure of 

 time and money was going on, instead of 

 waiting till the object of search was believed 

 by many to be just within reach ? 



Mr. Doolittle objects to the claim for supe- 

 riority of long-tongued bees in New Mexico 

 and elsewhere where there is no red clover. If 

 such superiority has been observed, why not 

 report it ? Whether it be that other good 

 .qualities are found closely connected with 

 long tongues, or whether it be that there may 

 be other plants from which the nectar can be 

 obtained only by tongues of unusual length, 

 if the fact remains that, in more than one in- 

 stance in regions without red clover, when a 

 colony was found to have distinguished itself 

 in the matter of honey-gathering, measure- 

 ment has shown tongues of unusual length, is 

 there any impropriety in making such fact 

 known ? 



The chief charge seems to be that, when 

 any thing has been said in favor of long 



