AUGUST 15, 1915 



657 



Dr.C.C.Miller| gTEAY STKAWS i Marengo, 111. 



I As Ijirtlior reply (o "A subscri- 

 ber," p. 554, J may say that 1 had 

 virgins cross the ocean beL'oreiuat- 

 iiig, and they did excellent work as 

 (|ueens. 



I On page 591 it is estimated that 



Tour men can bj- hand clean ten 

 eases of honey in an hour. Those four men 

 ought to talce lessons of a woman 1 know of 

 in this locality. 



Frank A. Gray sends samples of white 

 clover (one of them looks like alsike) and 

 a yellow kind called Canada clover, and 

 wants to know if he is right in counting the 

 yellow mucli inferior to tlie white. Entire- 

 ly right, 1 think. Except yellow sweet clo- 

 ver, 1 know of no yellow clover of value 

 for honey. 



The British Bee Journal, p. 229, copies 

 a clipping which says that in that country 

 one firm uses an average of 40 tons of honey 

 per month in the manufacture of a certain 

 cough mixture. Even counting the short 

 tons of 2000 pounds, that means 2630 

 pounds a day, or nearly a million pounds 

 a year. Some honey. 



C'. V. CoxovF.R, that's a bright-looking 

 scheme of yours to save foundation, p. 584, 

 but unless you use excluders I should expect 

 tlie queens to go up and lay in the drone 

 comb sure to be found in some of those cen- 

 ters. Then for every ^4 cent you save on 

 foundation I should expect you to lose 1/2 

 cent in the amount of honey obtained. 



P.. C. AuTEN, you've no consideration for 

 ray comfort — made me get up off the lounge 

 where I was comfortably reading Gleanings 

 to go and sn\ell and taste the water in the 

 bees' cork-chip drinking-tub. You say, p. 

 583, it "will get foul in a few days." Mine 

 had stood the whole season, but I found not 

 the slightest foulness. Didn't you forget to 

 put salt in youi-s? 



E. F. Atwater says, p. 547, that not one 

 queen in a hundred will go uj) to \a.y in sec- 

 tions if bees build drone comb there. But 

 they do. friend Atwater, here. If my bees 

 have a chance to build drone comb in a sec- 

 tion, it is the common thing to find such 

 cells left empty for a time, awaiting the 

 coming of the cjueen, and about 25 queens 

 in a hundred accept the hint. You speak 

 of economizing with a half-sheet or V 

 starter. Do you believe it's real economy 

 to use anything less than full sheets'? 



Wet. That characterizes the season of 

 1915 in this locality. At the end of July, 



although chner is abundant, bees have been 

 kept indoors by the weather for four days, 

 and it's been somewhat the same through- 

 out the month. However, there may be no 

 loss in the long run. The extreme wet con- 

 tinues the clover in luxuriant growth, and 

 the prospect for a continuance of bloom 

 looks just as bright now as a month ago. 

 Later, August 3. Still raining, and clo- 

 ver still growing. [See editorial. — Ed.] 



J. E. Hand says, p. 489, that 14 frames 

 is the limit of practical expansion. That 

 would probably mean that there would be 

 12 ov 1;' tiaines of brood. Not many queens 

 reach that. But some go beyond it, and 

 possibly a good many more might if they 

 had the chance. But the question arises, Do 

 the bees have a fair chance? Generation 

 after generation they are confined much 

 within their capacity, and does not this have 

 a tendency to lessen that capacity? [You 

 do not touch on the gxeat question raised by 

 our friend Mr. Hand, whether or not it is 

 advisable to have one large brood-chamber 

 or a multiple of two or more of medium 

 size, and tier up in order to get the neces- 

 sary capacity. Your opinion on the prop- 

 osition would be interesting. — Ed.] 



" Brked from the best" has been my 

 slogan for some time. It's the one thing I'd 

 especially like to leave as a sort of legacy 

 for beginners. So I'm grateful to J. E. 

 Crane and E. S. Miles for that closing 

 paragi-aph, p. 483. They're dead right in 

 saying bees vary, and that their vailing 

 traits are transmissible, and so " breed 

 from the best." [We should like to know 

 what you mean by " breeding from the 

 best." ' Said Vernon Burt to us the other 

 day, " I like gentle bees ; but I have about 

 made up my mind that if I want honey I 

 shall have to take bees that are a little irri- 

 table." 



Now, doctor, what is the first thing you 

 look for in the "best" — the ability to pile 

 up honey in the supers, or a combination of 

 all good qualities, including gentleness? In 

 other words, are you willing to put up with 

 irritability and general all-around meanness 

 in the way of jobbing, bad color, and poor 

 markings for the sake of getting stock that 

 will winter well and secure a crop of hon- 

 ey? The two last qualities go hand in hand. 

 Bees that die in winter or are weak in the 

 spring can't iie; honey later. In .short, doc- 

 tor, tell us what you mean by " breeding 

 from the best."' — Ed.] 



