73 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1 



more than the 71,400 eggs in the time stat- 

 ed ? But such a feat of egg-laying I should 

 think was rather exceptional ; and I am 

 still inclined to adhere to my original prop- 

 osition, that, ordinarily speaking, 40,000 to 

 50,000 bees would be considered a larg-e 

 force. — Ed.] 



Practice on a sufficiently large scale is 

 worth more than theorj^ So when McEvoy 

 has safeh'^ used 5000 hives that had contain- 

 ed foul brood, and the Roots have safely 

 used beet sugar for 20 j'ears, we may dis- 

 miss anxiety as to those two items. (I am 

 sorry to demolish one of the settled facts; 

 but Mr. Gilmore, that expert whom I met 

 at Buffalo, tells me that, in all probability, 

 we have been feeding cane sugar for the 

 last ten or twenty years, and he is a beet- 

 sugar man, you know. See editorial on 

 this subject elsewhere. — Ed.] 



Prof. Cook pleads for the use of correct 

 terms, and wants us to stop sajnng 

 "worms" when talking about the larva; of 

 the bee-moth, which are not worms at all in 

 the language of entomologists. My sympa- 

 thies are with the professor as to using cor- 

 rect language, and I wish he would tell us 

 what to say in place of "worms." The 

 word is used so often that it would be rath- 

 er expensive business to use in its place 

 something with five times as many syllables, 

 and say "larva; of the bee-moth. " Give us 

 a correct name in one or two syllables, pro- 

 fessor, and we'll all \.ry to fall in line. 

 And tell us, please, what to call "wormy'' 

 combs. 



Taking away honey and filling up with 

 sugar for winter is advised, p. 755. I don't 

 know whether there is any thing in the ob- 

 jection, but some German writers strongly 

 object that such feeding will lead to enfee- 

 blement of constitution. [It has been or- 

 thodox teaching in this country, or at least 

 it used to be, that sugar syrup was the very 

 best winter food for bees. Indeed, some 

 used to advocate extracting the honey out of 

 the combs, even if the sugar sj'rup cost as 

 much as the honey removed, pound for 

 pound. Now, I ask for information: Do the 

 Germans mean that feeding induces a drain 

 on the vitality of the bees to ripen or in- 

 vert the syrup ? If thej^ do, I do not recall 

 that an}' one in this country has observed 

 such weakness. — Ed.] 



The drone is always a half-orphan, for 

 his father is always dead before he is born. 

 He never has a full sister, for the father of 

 his mother's femtile children is never his 

 father. In fact, he never has any father 

 except his grandfather, and he never lives 

 to see anj' of his children. [Perhaps you 

 are right; but how do you /'«ozt' that the fa- 

 ther of the drone's sister does not exert 

 some potent influence on the drone himself? 

 If so, is he not a full brother to the queen ? 

 I have to plead ignorance, as I did not hear 

 the discussion at the Buffalo convention on 

 this point, being out of the room at the time 

 on committee work. Perhaps the Germans 

 settled this long ago; but it used to be said. 



and the statement maj'^ be true, that the 

 drones from a queen that had never met a 

 drone were not capable of performing the 

 function Nature designed. Really, I do not 

 see how the matter can be proven one way 

 or the other. — Ed.] 



"Swarthmore" makes a "digression," 

 p. 743, so interesting and at the same time 

 so much at variance with generally accept- 

 ed belief that one wants to ask how he 

 knows. He saj's j'oung queens will meet 

 the drone 6 to 12 times, and lay the second 

 dav' after becoming pregnant. [My, oh my ! 

 I mvist have failed to note that "digression " 

 of Swarthmore's, or I should have chal- 

 lenged it. Such a statement, unless sup- 

 ported by the best of proof, borders very 

 strongly on heresy — at least heresy in bee- 

 lore. All our authorities have taught, sup- 

 ported by the best of evidence, that the 

 queen meets the drone but once. If she 

 meets him oftener than this, it is a new and 

 interesting fact. But the other statement, 

 that the queen inay laj' in two dav's after 

 becoining pregnant, may not be so far wrong. 

 If I remember correctly, I once saw one 

 queen coming out of her hive, bearing visi- 

 ble evidence of fertilization (threadlike fila- 

 ment), and in two days afterward I have 

 found her laying; but my records, I think, 

 showed that queens usually take three or 

 four. — Ed.] 



"I believe," says ye editor, page 742, 

 "the best solution of the hive-cover problem 

 will be two boards ^s in. thick separated 

 by a Yi air-space." It does me a lot of 

 good to hear that, for it's what I've urged 

 this long time, and I'm now using covers 

 unfit for use because the right cover is not 

 yet on the market. But remember the up- 

 per and lower board must not have the grain 

 running in the same direction. Rambler 

 says the air-space "is necessary in hot lo- 

 cations." So it is in cold locations, being 

 warmer in cold weather than a single board 

 without the air-space. [Soine dav^s ago 

 Mr. Calvert sent some samples of covers, 

 such as I described on page 742, to a num- 

 ber of prominent bee-men, as well as deal- 

 ers, located in various parts of the country. 

 A good many of the replies have now been 

 received; and nearly all favor a single- 

 board cover in place of the double board 

 with air-space. Indeed, the Excelsior cov- 

 er with sloping sides and ridge-board is 

 considered quite good enough. This is a 

 surprise, as it seems to us that a double 

 cover would be better on all accounts. — Ed.] 



/r. H. //. , Ore. — The action of the sun on 

 the face of comb hone}"^ is to bleach or whiten 

 rather than to discolor or turn to dirty j^el- 

 low. There is plenty of evidence to prove 

 that. The statement that the drones lay 

 eg'g^s is the veriest nonsense; and any man 

 who goes to talking that way should be ig- 

 nored and pitied. Life is too short to waste 

 on any such discussion as that. 



