930 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 1 



I've READ with some care Maeterlinck's 

 " Life of the Bee." Its charming style and 

 exquisite word-painting- delighted me, and 

 for some pages I thought, "Here's a book 

 at once thoroughly reliable and delightful." 

 Then an occasional error in its teachings 

 jolted me. Further on, bee-lore became 

 more and more diluted, and many pages in 

 succession without a word about bees were 

 occupied with outside philosophizing- that 

 was much of it pessimistic, and some of it 

 left a bad taste in the moul-h. (Jne familiar 

 with Roofs ABC will learn nothing from 

 this book about bees, and the cutting-out of 

 a third of its pages would leave the book 

 improved. On the whole it is not a book 

 for unqualified commendation. 



You SAY, Mr. Editor, page 897, that you 

 sometimes leave two stories of brood-combs 

 when putting on supers. I wish you could 

 tell us how the yield compares with that of 

 the colonies that have the one story removed. 

 I tried it pretty thoroughly, and was 

 obliged to give up sorowfullj' that I couldn't 

 get as much surplus with two stories as 

 when I took one story away. [If the two 

 colonies are the same in strength, then the 

 one that is contracted down to one story 

 would, of course, have more honey. But if 

 one colony is so strong, so boiling over in 

 bees that it could not be squeezed down into 

 the brood-nest of a single hive-body, then I 

 should expect more honey from that stock 

 than if we tried to squeeze it into one brood- 

 nest and then made it get the loafing or 

 swarmiing fever. — Ed.] 



From far-off New Zealand comes a 

 good hive-tool invented by C. E. England. 

 It is of /g-inch steel, 10 inches long, 2 '2 

 wide at one end, and continuing that width 

 for 2'/4 inches; then one side is abruptly cut 

 awaj' to lyi in width, tapering from that 

 to the smaller end, which is j% wide, mak- 

 it very nice to clean out tin rabbets. Near 

 the small end a notch is cut so as to make a 

 hook to lift out a dummy bv' the end of the 

 top-bar — a useful thing. The large end is 

 good for raising covers and supers, and for 

 a scraper. [We illustrated a similar in- 

 strument of Mr. England on p. 645; but the 

 new tool you describe embodies, as I under- 

 stand it, later improvements. One like it 

 was sent here; but if I were making a spe- 

 cial hive-tool I would have it somewhat dif- 

 ferent, and Dr. Miller would have his still 

 different. After all, I doubt whether we 

 shall get any thing much better than the 

 screwdriver and putty-knife that every one 

 can get. — Ed.] 



I THINK, Mr. Editor, that hereafter it 

 will be better for you to come to Marengo 

 each time you write footnotes to Straws. 

 Then we could have a better understanding, 

 and not get so much mixed up. We're tan- 

 gled up about that feeding business, p. 891. 



1 think that you forget that what we were 

 talking about was the advice, p. 862, to use 



2 of sugar to 1 of water for I'cry late feed- 

 ing. You are entirely right that a syrup 

 as thin as nectar is the right sort of thing. 



but it will not do to feed it very late. If fed 

 ver}- late, do you think the bees would ei- 

 ther invert or evaporate it? If they will do 

 neither, is it not best at least to do the 

 evaporating for them ? I have fed barrels 

 of 5 sugar to 2 water, as alreadj' said, and 

 none of it ever turned to sugar ; but then I 

 used acid with it. [Yes, I understood that 

 you had reference to late feeding ; but our 

 own experience had been so disastrous that 

 I felt like putting in a word of caution. But 

 we did not trj' the use of acid, and therein 

 might be the difference between our failure 

 and your success. — Ed.] 



The bees with heads in cells getting 

 honey, says A. C. Miller, p. 899, are usual- 

 13^ field bees, seldom nurse bees. As that 

 runs directly counter, so far as I know, to 

 all previously expressed authority, don't 

 you think, Arthur, that you ought to furnish 

 a bit of proof? [I had not thought of this 

 before; but my own recollection is that the 

 g-reat majority of the bees that have their 

 heads in the cells have put them there to get 

 away from the smoke poured in by the bee- 

 keeper during the operation of opening the 

 hive. In the height of the honey season, 

 perhaps a good portion of such bees would 

 be those just from the field; but if Doolit- 

 tle's observation is correct (and I believe it 

 is), to the effect that the field bees in the 

 rush of the season give their loads gathered 

 to the nurse bees, and that these in turn de- 

 posit them in the cells; then those bees that 

 have their heads in the cells are not the 

 field bees. I have observed this : That 

 most of the bees thus engaged appear to be 

 young ones. The burden of proof rests on 

 your distant cousin to show that the con- 

 trary is true. — Ed.] 



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\^/fOM Ol/fl NEIGHBORS FIELDS. 2^ 

 By^LStcnoc-.^' "^ 



Thanks ! thanks for the peace that reigns 



Within our land to day ; 

 Thanks for the harvest, thanks for all things 



For which were taught to pray. 

 Thanks for the hopes the present brings 



Concerning fxiture days ; 

 Thanks for the firm belief we have 



That thanks are half God's praise. 



\b 



In cases of great weakness, accompanied 

 with constant thirst, a remedy will be fotmd 

 by pouring the white of an Qgg into a glass 

 and mixing with it about two teaspoonfuls 

 of liqtiid honej' and a few drops of lemon 

 juice or a little citric acid. As a general 

 rule in the sick-room, food and drinks should 

 be fresh — nothing warmed up, and not too 

 much at a time. — From the Gcrutafi. 



In Stray Straws Dr. Miller has some- 

 thing to say about Maeterlinck's Life of the 

 Bee. Although I spoke highly' of the work 



