894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15 



and there was less hardness in his voice. 

 "I'll tell you what I'll do. If you will 

 make that machine work all right I will 

 buy you a new dress." 



"All rigfht, Orville," said Mrs. Stearns; 

 and she went into the house and soon re- 

 turned with a box of pearline and a stiff 

 scrubbing-brush. " Now you see, Orville, 

 you men don't know how to scrub things. 

 Those rolls may have had oil or acid on 

 them, and it must be scrubbed out." 



So Mrs. Stearns went at it with hot wa- 

 ter and cold, and, after a long scrubbing, 

 the sheets of wax were tried again, but the 

 machine would not work. 



" There, Anne, I told 3'ou the measly 

 thing wouldn't work. I'll send it right 

 back to the Roots; " and he grasped the 

 screwdriver to loosen the mill from the ta- 

 ble. But Mr. S. didn't reckon right. That 

 promise of a new dress, and a woman's 

 will, had that machine in hand, and the 

 hot water and pearline were again applied 

 with more vigor than ever. Scrub, scrub, 

 scrub. Mr. Stearns stood first on one foot 

 and then on the other; pulled his mustache 

 occasionally, and lent a helping hand now 

 and then. But Mr. Stearns suddenly re- 

 membered something. 



" Oh! say, Anna, there is the mail train. 

 I must go to the postoftice. " 



"No, you don't, Orville. You have got 

 to stay right here and see this thing out. 

 In the words of General Grant, ' I'll fight 

 it out on this line, if it takes all summer.' 

 I am bound to have that new dress. I'm 

 just thinking it will be bi^own alpaca, made 

 up biasing." 



The machine was all ready for the wax 

 again. It was tried, and the trial was a 

 failure. Scrub, scrub, scrub, hot water 

 and cold. 



" Oh ! say, Anna, what in the name of 

 common sense is the use of scrubbing the 

 thing any more? Why, _vou'll wear the 

 thing out, and then the Root Co. will not 

 allow me any thing if I return it; but if you 

 have got to scrub, I'll go and feed the 

 chickens. I've clean forgot them." 



"Here, Kitty," said Mrs. Stearns, "you 

 stop nailing hives, and feed the chickens. 

 Your pa wants to stay and help me." 



" Scrub, scrub, scrub, hot water and 

 cold. All the forenoon the exercise contin- 

 ued. Mr. S. was clear out of patience, 

 times without number; but finally, just be- 

 fore dinner-time, after an unusuallj^ loi^g 

 scrub and strong scrub, the machine was 

 tried, and, to the surprise of Mr. Stearns, 

 and the gratification of Mrs. S., the sheet 

 went through like a charm, and sheet after 

 sheet followed in quick succession. 



"There, Orville, I told you so," said 

 Mrs. Stearns, waving her scrubbing-brush 

 in triumph. "Now, my dear Orville, this 

 evening we will consider the new dress." 



Of course, Mrs. Stearns received the 

 dress. It was a good one; and now when- 

 ever the machine has a tantrum Mr. Stearns 

 knows who can scrub it into good behavior. 

 In fact, an energetic "Mrs." to mind the 



house and the husband is something I 

 would heartily recommend to quite a num- 

 ber of bachelor bee^-men in California. 



[I especially indorse your last sentence, 

 Mr. Rambler; but why not practice your 

 own preaching? How you Western bee- 

 keeper bachelors ( and there are many of 

 them) can get along and keep house, and 

 find things when you are in a hurry, with- 

 out a "Mrs.," is beyond my comprehen- 

 sion. Whj', when my "Mrs." is gone for 

 only one week things get all mixed up, 

 somehow. 



Mrs. Stearns has our thanks for vindicat- 

 ing the Root Co. by demonstrating that the 

 machine was all right; but perhaps the 

 "Mr." did not read the directions thorough- 



ly- 



But, say; Mr. S. does something that 

 many of us can not do, even if he can't 

 handle Hoffman frames or run a founda- 

 tion-machine; and that is, haul a load of 

 bees without shutting up the hives. I am 

 not sure but if we went at it right, we might 

 do it too. 



As to those Hoffman frames, I suggest 

 that he give his wife a chance to show him 

 how to use them. She would earn the dress-. 

 —Ed.] 



DO QUEENLESS BEES PREFER TOO OLD LAR= 

 V/E FOR QUEEN=REARINQ ? 



Some Final Conclusions. 



BY DR. C. 



Last year I attempted to get an answer 

 to this question. I think the result was con- 

 clusive; but Hon. R. L. Taylor thought the 

 position of the combs was such as to favor 

 starting queen-cells from the j'ounger brood. 

 This year I thought I would make the test 

 in such a wa.y that no such objection could 

 be made. At the same time I simplified the 

 question put to the bees, putting it in this 

 form : 



"Which do you prefer for queen-rearing, 

 a cell in which an egg was laid not less 

 than six days ago or one in which an egg 

 was laid not more than four days ago?" 

 Or, assuming that the larva hatches from 

 the egg in three days, the question would 

 be, "Which do j'ou prefer, a larva three 

 days old or one 24 hours old?" 



July 16th, at 10 a.m., I took from a nu- 

 cleus the only comb it had, which comb we 

 will call comb a. The queen in the nucleus 

 had been laying about a week, and during 

 that time had been confined to one comb, so 

 I could be morally certain that eggs had 

 been laid just before removal. The comb 

 was about two-thirds filled with brood and 

 eggs. I put it in an upper story of a strong 

 colony over an excluder, along with other 

 unsealed brood that had been there for some 

 days, a feeder being on top, so that it would 

 be well cared for. 



July 18th, at 10 a.m., I took from a nu- 

 cleus (in which was mj' best queen) its two 



