598 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jui,Y 15 



There is one very small one that reaches clear 

 to the end of the tongue ; but this tube is so 

 minute that the process of taking honey 

 through it is very slow. But your point, that 

 bees bend the tongues when taking honey 

 rapidly, is true, and therefore long tongues 

 would be an advantage, even with white clo- 

 ver. — Ed ] 



SHORTER STINGS V. IvONGER TONGUES. 



So much has been said recently about long- 

 tongued queens that I feel that there is an- 

 other "burning" question that should be 

 brought, more or less, before the public ; viz., 

 produce bees with short stings. Every time I 

 get this " pointer " I come to the hasty con- 

 clusion that the barbed-wire injector is about 

 two feet long. That's an objectionable 

 "point," eh? It is indeed an "intricate 

 point" to overcome; but she (the workers) 

 should have more tongue and less sting. I'm 

 not pugnaciously inclined, as I would not 

 walk across the street to witness a so-called 

 prize-fight ; but I might believe in the plan to 

 catch the drones and attach eight-ounce gloves 

 to their fore hoofs so that, during the virgin's 

 flight, she would be so frightened by the 

 " sporty " costume of her male attendant that 

 her offspring would be birth-marked, and 

 known thereafter as "boxer" bees. If some 

 inventive genius can not find a means to " cur- 

 tail" this "intricate point," why, I will 

 think seriously of running opposition to our 

 hot-air and steam-heater establishments. 

 What is the use of going to the expense of 

 purchasing coal to heat our dwellings when 

 you can run an apiary to supply the heat ? If 

 it's extremely cold weather, apply three bees 

 to your anatomy; milder weather, one would 

 be quite sufficient. I'm with the queen- 

 breeder who can give more attention to the 

 rear end. These rear-end collisions are be- 

 coming entirely too numerous. 



Cranford, N. J., May 9. Resnaw. 



HOW long wili, a queen live and do good 



WORK? 



In going over a yard recently bought, the 

 other day, clipping the queens, I found one 

 already clipped. The man who is working 

 the yard said he knew there had never been a 

 queen clipped in that yard, and could account 

 for it in only one way. This particular hive, 

 with others of the same kind, had been bought 

 and brought from a distance, six years ago, 

 and this queen must have come from that 

 yard. If F. McNay sees this article I wish he 

 would answer it, as this queen was found in 

 his old Mauston yard, in a hive with oak top- 

 bars. The queen had a fine lot of brood. 



Bees in this locality are building up finely. 

 C. H. Pierce. 



Kilbourn, Wis., May 18, 1901. 



[I saw Mr. McNay at Los Angeles, and it 

 is his practice to have young queens. Mr. 

 McNay is a very successful bee-man, and one 

 of his secrets of success is in having young 

 queens. I hope if he sees this he will give us 

 the further history of that old queen if he can. 

 —Ed.] 



" BAIT SECTIONS ; " difference in experi- 

 ence. 



Dr. Miller wonders what makes the differ- 

 ence between my experience and his in using 

 bait sections (p. 379, May 1st). I believe he 

 hints at the reason himself in the last three 

 lines of his Straw. I think likely that, in a 

 slow or short honey-flow, the baits would be 

 sealed as he says. Our honey-flow always 

 comes with a rush, as thousands of acres of 

 alfalfa come into bloom at about the same 

 time. The bees pile the ready- made combs 

 full of thin honey ; and the sections being 

 thick the honey does not ripen as fast as that 

 stored as the comb is built, so they just take 

 their time about sealing it, and we often find 

 sections left until the end of the season. I 

 think this is probably another case of " local- 

 ity." Mrs. a. J. Barber. 



Mancos, Col., May 10, 1901. 



[When Mrs. Barber speaks of locality she 

 hits the nail on the head. As I travel over 

 the country I am more and more impressed 

 with the differences in locality. — Ed.] 



PIGS, WHEELBARROWS, AND QUEENS. 



In Gleanings and elsewhere, after an offer 

 of queens at exceptionally high prices, are to 

 be found the following words : 



It seems as if it ought not to be necessary to say that 

 no one but a queen-breeder or a large honey-producer 

 should order ihese high-priced queens ; but it is a fact 

 according to our experience that beginners with only 

 a few colonies will order our highest-priced imported 

 queens. Such bee-keepers have no more use for such 

 queens than a pig has for a wheelbarrow. 



I never was a pig, so I may not be a compe- 

 tent judge as to the yearnings that animal may 

 have for a wheelbarrow ; but I have been a be- 

 ginner in bee-keeping, and I am not so far 

 from being one now that I can be satisfied to 

 read those words without entering a protest. I 

 am not going to uphold the idea of gouging 

 the queen-breeder or the large honey-produc- 

 er by making him pay $25 for a thing as little 

 as a queen-bee, but I do protest that we begin- 

 ners are not away off in trying to get the best 

 that is to be had. " Beginners with only a few 

 colonies will order our highest- priced imported 

 queens, ' ' forsooth . Why shouldn 't they ? Any 

 scrub stock will do for the beginner with five 

 or six colonies, and then when he gets up to 

 50 or 100 he should get a best imported queen 

 and have a time working out all his poor 

 stock. Please tell us why it would not be the 

 wise thing to begin with the best and have the 

 best all the time. Wouldn't it be a good deal 

 easier to change the stock with five colonies 

 than with fifty ? 



Perhaps you will say, "But not every be- 

 ginner with five colonies increases to fifty. 

 Wait till you know that he will have enough 

 to make it worth while. It may be that he 

 will be satisfied not to go beyond the five colo- 

 nies." Well, suppose he should never go be- 

 yond five. Let us figure a little to determine 

 what he might afford for those five. If he is 

 in an average locality, with only five colo- 

 nies, and those no better stock than beginners 

 usually have, it would be nothing strange that 

 a change to best imported Italians would in- 



