968 



GLEANLNGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Grace AUen 



THE DIXIE B: 



H Nasliville, Tenn. 



A favorite question for discus- 

 sion seems to be, " Do bees dislike 

 black?" Well, just ask Uncle Mil- 

 ton, the old darkey who helped me 

 one day recently. And then you 

 might ask him how well blacks like 

 bees. 



Here is winter almost at hand, the long 

 quiet evenings bringing their great oppor- 

 tunity for reading and study — an oppor- 

 tunity of measureless value to beginners, 

 and seldom neglected by more experienced 

 beemen who have found success lying al- 

 ways along the path of progi'ess. 



hoiioy that was very yellow, in contrast 

 witli ordinary comb honey. — Ed.1 



* * * 



Though by this time the weather is gray 

 and chill, that threatened early fall did not 

 materialize, October and early November 

 staunchly ui^holding all the traditions of 

 golden autumn-time. " Fooled again," if I 

 may quote Dr. Miller. And by the way, 

 Dr. Miller, all of us will concede most 

 heartily the inspiring possibilities of a 

 beekeepers' meeting of three when that 

 tluee happens to be the government ento- 

 mologist, the editor of Gleakings, and the 

 Sage of Marengo himself. 



I am practically convinced that the dead 

 brood I mentioned last month was chilled 

 by that one sudden cold spell. A day or 

 two after I discovered it I tried to show it 

 to Mr. Allen; but 

 the bees had clean- 

 ed up so thorough- 

 ly that there was 

 little evidence left. 



DEATH 



So many things I do not understand! 



My neighbor's house today is strangely still, 



Insufferahly sweet with heaped-up flowers. 



Friends enter softly, greeting hand to hand ; 



A silence never-ending seems to fill 



With shadowed hush the long, reluctant hours. 



I believe I like 

 Mr. Auten's water- 

 ing-device, p. 583, 

 July 15, the best 

 yet, if it just won't 

 prove a breeding- 

 place for mosqui- 

 toes. It seems as 

 though there would 

 be scarcely enough 

 movement of the 

 water to prevent 

 the wet sand and 

 the gi'ass, at the 



spot where the constant drip comes out, 

 from being an ideal breeding-place for 

 these pests. I should like to know how that 

 has worked out in experience, for otherwise 

 it looks like one of the simplest and most 

 satisfactoiy plans of all. 

 » * * 



Since mid-Seplcmber our brood-chambers 

 have been decidedly yelloAv, the top-bai-s of 

 the frames showing a yellowish tinge, the 

 cappings being a bright yellow. Does gold- 

 enrotl produce that effect- — assuming that 

 they work it? I have never seen it so 

 pronounced before. [Yes, we have seen 

 ^,omb honey produced from goldenrod that 

 was yellow all over— honey, cappings, and 

 section. In (tLEAnings for April, 1909, 

 we showed a picture of some goldenrod 



(Though once across the aching air so tense, 



Insistent in his love and ignorance, 



A baby broke the breaking hearts again 



With quivered "When she tummin back ? Oh when ?" ) 



Beneath a cloud-veiled sky and shaken trees 



My slow steps brought me home, and all around 



The withered leaves lay dead on every hand. 



I stood at last among my quiet bees, 



Stood there and stood, nor made the slightest sound — 



So many things I do not understand ! 



On page 491 Mr. Holtermann advises 

 beginners to study the correct method of 

 handling frames, and then to do it right. 

 That may seem a little thing, but little 

 things are very im- 

 portant. Tradition 

 says that Michael 

 Angelo answered a 

 friend's protest 

 over his painstak- 

 ing attention to de- 

 tails, with the suc- 

 cinct remark, "Tri- 

 fles make perfec- 

 tion, and perfection 

 is no trifle." If big 

 factories can pay 

 out thousands of 

 dollars to experts 

 to install system 

 and scientific man- 

 agement in their 

 plants, to the profit 

 of both owners and 

 workmen, mightn't it be worth while for 

 amateur beekeepers to pay out a little 

 thought and attention to studv the best 

 ways to do things, and then a little persis- 

 tence till the best ways become habits? 



But I can not sit on that wiggly hive- 

 cover! Not happily. It tires me immeasur- 

 ably more to balance the unsteady cover 

 than to kneel by Ihe liive. which seems lo 

 bo my favorite apiarian attitude. 

 * * * 



An interesting letter from Mr. Bruce 

 Anderson, Forsyth County, Agent in the 

 Farmers' Co-operative Demonstration work 

 of North Carolina, reports that the first 

 year's work of the bee-club started in that 

 locality last spring has been very encourag- 

 ing, with a promising outlook for next year. 



