APUIL 15, 1915 



Dr. C. C. MiUer 



307 



ITMAY BTMAWI 



Marengo, 111. 



I WONDER if the light outdoors 

 is not better for bees in winter 

 than the darkness of the cellar. 



Now isn't it funny, 

 With so little money, 

 The eating of honey 

 Makes tempers so sunny ? 



A CAMPAIGN is getting under way to 

 make Chicago dry in 1916. Are they crazy, 

 or is the millennium at hand? 



How ffood it seemed to see the old-time 

 leaders. L. C. Root, P. H. Elwood, and W. 

 P. Henderson, again in print in Gleanings, 

 April 1! 



Are you planning to keep tally of every 

 pound or every section you take from each 

 colony this year'? If so, then you'll know 

 what stock to breed from next year. 



You say, Mr. Editor, p. 219, that I can 

 not pack my hive-cover. Why can't I pack 

 that dead-air space? To be sure, it's only 

 % inch, but it could be made more. Yet 

 the double telescope may be warmer. 



M. A. Gill says, Western Honey Bee, 

 7, that he marked his No. 1 sections " not 

 less than " 12 ounces, and his No. 2 " not 

 less than " 10 ounces. That was consider- 

 ably less than their weight, but he could 

 sell his honey by the case just the same as 

 before the new law, without running the 

 risk of free board at Fort Leavenworth. 



John S. Snearly, I use thin super foun- 

 dation in sections, top starters 3Vi inches 

 deep, bottom-starters %. I don't use extra- 

 thin because the bees are so much worse at 

 gnawing it down if at any time there is a 

 lull in the flow; and even if I should use 

 extra thin above I should want heavier for 

 bottom starters so they wouldn't topple 

 over. 



G. M. Doolittle's last way of preventing 

 after-swarms — listening for piping — is ex- 

 cellent, p. 266. For those who might prefer 

 one of his previous plans, let me suggest a 

 slight variation. Leave the old hive stand- 

 ing close beside the swarm for a week. 

 Then, at 2 o'clock, carry the old hive to a 

 new stand. That's less trouble, and just as 

 sure to work as the gradual turning. 



Usually I go by the blooming of the soft 

 maple in taking bees out of cellar, but 

 sometimes it is not reliable. A little alma- 

 nac must be mixed with it. This year a few 

 blossoms were out on one tree — and only 

 one — the 2.5th of March, and the thermome- 

 ter was up to 5.5 degrees. If it had not 

 been for the almanac the bees would have 



come out. But at once it turned cold — 15 

 to 20 degrees each morning — and it was 

 good to know that bees were in the cellar. 



The question is asked by P. C. Chadwick, 

 [). 264, why is it that in one case bees recov- 

 er from a three-days' freeze, and in another 

 case succumb in a much shorter time? As 

 a sort of forlorn hope let me suggest that 

 the deciding factor may be the thawing. 

 Take frozen fruit or vegetables. Plunge 

 part of them in a pail of water nearly 

 freezing, and let the rest thaw in warm air. 

 Let the first thaw out slowly, and they will 

 be as good as new, while the latter will be 

 spoiled. Why not the same with bees? 



A long time I looked with much interest 

 at that picture of the Quinby home, p. 269. 

 One summer in the '60's a business trip took 

 me through St. Johnsville, and I called on 

 Mr. Quinby. He insisted on my spending 

 the night, and I shall never forget his kind- 

 ly treatment of the budding young beekeep- 

 er. His apiary was somewhat picturesque, 

 his hives innocent of paint. In that econo- 

 my I have imitated him. The first hives I 

 ever had — -I made them myself — were Quin- 

 by box hives. His instructions in The 

 American Agriculturist, continued monthly 

 for years, were always excellent. His book 

 was a revelation. 



The Country Gentleman is doing good 

 service in championing sweet clover as a 

 farm plant, but is behind the times on 

 spraying. Its latest number contains an 

 article advising to spray fruit-trees when 

 two-thirds of the blossoms have fallen. [Of 

 late, experiment stations and other author- 

 ities on the spraying of fruit-trees seem to 

 be inclining toward condoning, if not actu- 

 ally suggesting, spraying while the petals 

 are falling. At that time the secretion of 

 nectar is ended, the pollen dried up, and 

 few bees are working on the blossoms. 

 Prof. Chenoweth of the Massachusetts Ag- 

 ricultural College says that bees no longer 

 visit the blossoms when the petals are fall- 

 ing. At the Massachusetts Fruitgrowers' 

 Convention last winter, the statement was 

 made, " The blossoms of the trees fall at 

 different times and one cannot be hanging 

 around with the spraying apparatus watch- 

 ing for the proper moment for each tree." 

 To this Prof. Chenoweth replied, " You 

 would have to take the time when the max- 

 imum number of trees are shedding their 

 petals and do it then. You would probably 

 kill a few bees, but not enough to do serious 

 damage." — Ed.] 



