DECEMBFR 15. 1915 



, 967 



Dr. C. C. Miller 



ITMAY STMAW! 



Marengo, 111. 



At present theie's a very carpet 

 of white clover, althou.ffh there's 

 no tellins' what the winter may do 

 to it. [It is the same everywhere 

 we have been. — Ed.] 



If you find more than one egg 

 in a queen-cell it's a safe guess 

 that laying workers are present. But there 

 are exceptions. June 30 I found in No. 

 38. wliioh had a laying queen, several cells 

 Containing 2 eggs each, and one with 4 eggs. 

 July 26 much the same thing was repeated. 



Years ago, when I was chorister in 

 Moody's church, Chicago, a visitor sat be- 

 side me on the jilatform in Sunday-school, 

 and quietly told me his business was trying 

 to keep bad thing-s out of tlie mail. I little 

 thought then that he would do such a gi'eat 

 lifework, for he was none other than An- 

 thony Comstock. 



A. I. RoOT^ what you say about the liquor- 

 traffic and counterfeiters, p. 18, ad. pages, 

 set me to thinking. Suppose a community 

 where counterfeiters abound should ask that 

 a vote should be taken whetlier counterfeit- 

 ing should be made legal. You'd scout the 

 idea. Yet here in Marengo, where there are 

 no saloons, the law allows a vote to be tak- 

 en that may bring in saloons. 



" Who invented the quadruple winter- 

 case?" p. 875. Looks like it might have 

 been invented by more than one, each igno- 

 rant of what was done by others. About 

 30 years ago I saw these cases at Dundee, 

 111., at Je-sse Oatman's. Some were one- 

 story, for four hives, and some two-story 

 for eight. I have an idea that Oatman 

 invented them, as well as others. [Now 

 who can go Oatman one better?— Ed.] 



Phillips and Demuth, as quoted p. 878, 

 say. " The ideal toward which the beekeeper 

 should work is to keep his colonies during 

 cold weather absolutely protected from 

 wind." That explains why bees may be 

 wintered outdoors in a still situation 200 

 miles north of here better than here, where 

 the winds are severe and long continued. 

 [Winter packing is not as important as se- 

 clusion from wind. Both are necessary, 

 however. — Ed.] 



Somewhere about 9 o'clock each week- 

 day morning is a time of special interest, 

 when the daily paper comes. This is Nov. 

 1. and I can hardly wait for the paper day 

 after tomorrow, for then I'll probably know 

 whether you've downed the saloon in Ohio 



or the saloon has downed you — for a while. 

 [We didn't do it; but there is gloom in the 

 liquor camp. They know we have made 

 such big gains that we ai'e sure to win in 

 1917 if not in 1916. We are going to keep 

 up the fight; and if we make as much gain 

 this year as we did last, we shall make Ohio 

 dry in 1916.— Ed.] 



Mr. Editor, you think, p. 879, that a 

 queen just received by mail will be better 

 accepted if her cage be put in center of 

 brood-nest than if stuck in entrance. I wish 

 we might know how that is. I use entrance 

 because easier, but I've had a notion that a 

 q^ie?n is more readily accepted there be- 

 cause she has a better chance to become ac- 

 quainted with the fielders, and the fielders 

 ai'e the ones that raise a racket with a new 

 queen. And I should expect it to work the 

 same with a queen out of the mail as with 

 another. [Possibly you are right. We 

 should like to hear from others.- — Ed.] 



G. M. DooLiTTLE^ in addition to the good 

 reasons you give for using full sheets of 

 foundation in sections, p. 886, there's a 

 very important reason that you do not give, 

 although Allen Latham alludes to it, p. 888. 

 If there were no other reason for full sheets, 

 I would use them for the sake of keeping 

 the queen from laying in sections. With 

 starters the bees will build drone-comb, and 

 then if drone-comb is scarce in the brood- 

 chamber the queen is sure to go up unless 

 an excluder prevents. Even with an exclud- 

 er the bees will sometimes hold the drone- 

 cells open for the queen. [This is a point 

 that has not been sufficiently emphasized. 

 We know it is true from many reports re- 

 ceived. — Ed.] 



That case of cliilled brood, p. 833. Dr. 

 Phillips leans to the view that in the fall, 

 at close of lirood-rearing, bees not only 

 cease to care for eggs the queen lays, but 

 di'ap; ont brood that has been reared. Pos- 

 sibly that may account for the supposed 

 r-hilled brood, and possibly chilling may 

 account for the brood that Dr. Phillips 

 thinks the bees ruthlessly destroy. T rather 

 lean to Editor Root's view, but I've .seen 

 things tliat favor the other view. I wish we 

 kncAv. [In the case refeiTed to, the dead 

 brood wa.'' found only in front of the colo- 

 nies weakened by foul brood, and in those 

 colonies on which upper stories of wet 

 combs had been placed for the bees to clean 

 up. In tliis <-ase the colony was made rel- 

 ati^'ely small for the size of the hive. — Ed.] 



