1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



II'. i 



to report to Rergh, :is worthy prosecution for cruel- 

 ty to animals. Yet so long as we see horses, poor, 

 lame, and starved, and yet forced to hard labor un- 

 der the spur of the cruel lash, we must not berate 

 these birds too severely. It is a very sad fact, that 

 cruelty is not limited to the lower ranks of animal 

 life. It is posible that the shrike may, upon occa- 

 sion, take and feed upon his impaled victims; but 

 he is so industrious that he can usually obtain 

 enough fresh material for his mate and fledglings. 

 In the rare cases when his hunts are fruitless he 

 repairs to his thorn-bush larder— and so his young 

 are still provided for. 



The large dragon-fly found by Mr. J. had no rela- 

 tion to the impaled insects. The dropping from 

 this insect was fecal, not eggs. The darning-needle 

 lays its eggs in water, not in trees nor on other in- 

 sects. The borers which infest Mr. J.'s quince- 

 trees are in no way related to the insects sent. 

 There are three kinds of beetles that bore or tun- 

 nel the quince. These can be kept off by the use of 

 the soap and carbolic-acid mixture, as previously 

 described. A. J. Cook. 



Agricultural College, Mich. 



Friend Cook, your statement is, to me, 

 astounding. Were it not as you say, that 

 entomologists are agreed in this matter, I 

 should stick to it pretty stubbornly that you 

 had made a mistake. That a bird should 

 take live animals, and impale them on sharp 

 thorns simply for amusement, is something 

 to me unheard of ; and it appears from 

 friend Johnson's statement that the vicious 

 bird actually puts them on while they are 

 alive, and leaves them squirming in agony — 

 that is, if insects suffer as we do. Ernest 

 suggests that the phenomenon may be 

 something akin to the way cats play with 

 mice before they kill them finally. 



UNFINISHED SECTIONS. 



IIOIIU KEASONS WHY THEY SHOULD NOT BE USED. 



UCH has been written in Gleanings of late 

 in favor of using sections filled with comb 

 left over from the preceding season. 

 Some of the writers have contented them- 

 selves with simple argument. Others speak 

 from a knowledge born of indefinite experience, 

 while some point triumphantly to two or three ex- 

 periments which to their minds settle the whole 

 thing. A question of this kind can never be settled 

 by mere argument. Practical experience alone can 

 decide, and I do not remember a single experiment 

 quoted in favor of their use which was carried on 

 in such a way as to be at all conclusive. To really 

 prove any thing, an experiment must be made on a 

 scale large enough to overcome individual varia- 

 tions and under varying conditions. It proves noth- 

 ing to say that you put a case of unfinished sec- 

 tions on one hive and a case of new sections filled 

 with foundation on another, and that the first case 

 was tilled sooner than the other, or that it looked 

 just as well. I used one year about 500 sections 

 filled with comb that were of an altogether differ- 

 ent make from those filled with foundation. These 

 partly finished sections were scattered all through 

 the apiary, taking pains to have them impartially 

 distributed, not only in every hive but in near- 

 ly every wide frame which I then used. On ap- 



count of the difference in sections, every box of 

 honey built on these combs could be distinguished 

 wherever it was seen, from those built on founda- 

 tion. The result showed that, on an average, the 

 sections containing foundation were finished soon- 

 er than those containing comb, and were moreover 

 much nicer in appearance. This experiment, I 

 think it will be admitted, was fairly conclusive. 

 Still, thinking that the variation of seasons might 

 change results, I have tried substantially the same 

 thing every season since, and always with the same 

 results. I shall try it again this season, in the 

 chance of learning something more on the subject, 

 and I hope all who wish to learn for themselves, or 

 are at all skeptical on this point, will do the same. 

 Let every case of sections you prepare for the sea- 

 son's use contain a certain definite number of part- 

 ly finished sections, placed in a certain part of the 

 case. Compare these sections in their growth and 

 completion with those in the corresponding part of 

 the same case, and average the results. When you 

 take the honey from the cases, put that stored in 

 old combs by itself. If you can not make a distinc- 

 tion, before the honey is sold, between that in new 

 and that in old combs, why, then your experience 

 will be very different from that of mine. My ex- 

 perience has been each year, that it not only costs 

 more to have honey stored in unfinished sections, 

 but that the honey, when finished, is not worth as 

 much. Nearly all such honey must be graded as 

 No. 2, which with me brings usually two cents per 

 pound less than No. 1. Of course, if all the cells 

 must be lengthened out much, the outside is new 

 comb, and will look well enough ; but it is very sel- 

 dom that a section fitted with comb will make a real- 

 ly nice section of honey. 



Some claim that it is a great advantage to have 

 at least one or two sections of comb in every case 

 at the beginning of the season, as " bait combs," to 

 attract the bees into the supers. This may be of 

 use at times, though I have seldom seen the need 

 of it. However, for other reasons, I prefer to have 

 the bees store their first honey in extracting-combs, 

 so I have been in the habit of placing a shallow set 

 of combs over each hive and removing it as soon as 

 they were well at work in them. Not having 

 enough of these cases to go around, I have this 

 year made extracting-frames which interchange 

 with the section-holders in a case like that of your 

 Dovetailed hive. They are so made that combs cut 

 from unfinished sections will fit in nicely, fastened 

 with rosin and wax, or twine. One of these will be 

 placed in each super. When filled, the honey will 

 be extracted and the combs stored away by the 

 superful ready for a sudden honey-flow; and as the 

 end of the season approaches, they will be return- 

 ed to the hives in such a way as to largely lessen 

 the number of sections left unfinished. In this 

 way I kill several birds with one stone. 



Dayton, 111., May 10, 1889. J. A. Green. 



I am very glad indeed that you have 

 brought this matter up. It has seemed 

 somewhat of late as if the whole thing were 

 to be abandoned as a mistake ; but I can 

 not see how it is possible, when we had so 

 m;iny direct testimonies from practical hon- 

 ey-producers, at conventions held winter be- 

 fore last. I had supposed, however, that it 

 was generally agreed that one or two sec- 

 tions, partly rilled with comb from the year 

 previous would certainly be an inducement 



