DECEMUKR 15, 1915 



1011 



Dr. C. C. Miller 



ITEAY STMAW: 



Marengo, 111. 



John L. Ryard uses candy and 

 foundation in raating-boxes. p. 

 041. Swiss beekeepers use candied 

 lioney, without comb or founda- 

 tion. 



The European war pinches 



where one would hardly expect it. 



Till' British Bee Journal has cut down its 



number of pages because the wai* has made 



it impossible to get enough paper! 



Earl Seamans, I quite agree with you, 

 p. 932. that European foul brood is not 

 such a dreadful calamity, but I don't agree 

 in thinking the queen must in all cases be 

 killed. You caged a queen, gave clean 

 combs, and the disease returned. I've caged 

 a good many queens, gave no clean combs, 

 but left the diseased combs, released the 

 queen in ten days, and in the gi-eat majority 

 of cases there was no return of the disease. 

 In a very bad case I would kill the queen ; 

 but a good beekeeper should never allow a 

 case to get so bad as to need the queen 

 killed. 



R. F. Holtermann, -p. 944, you think I 

 never saw a moving-picture show. Oh, yes ! 

 I'm fond of a good movie. Then you want 

 to know how many straight lines there are 

 in a circle. I suppose you want me to say 

 an infinite number of infinitely short lines. 

 But I know a better answer than that — 

 there's only one line, " a cun-ed line," as 

 the dictionary has it. And now I'll agi'ee 

 that, when there's danger of a comb break- 

 ing out, your way of handling is excellent : 

 but just as soon as possible I'd try to have 

 all combs so that so much ceremony would 

 not be needed. 



Frank L. Pollock relates, p. 937, "that 

 almost every bee that took wing loaded 

 from the cappings ejected a fine spray of 

 fluid before reaching the window." That 

 reminds me that when bees are robbing a 

 hive or a super, especially if the entrance 

 be small, all about the entrance is daubed 

 and sticky. May it not be merely the ordi- 

 nary evacuation? [You will remember we 

 reported how bees taking thin syrup from 

 an outdoor feeder would emit a fine sjuay 

 on taking wing. We had supposed that this 

 fine spray was nothing but water, and that 

 it was a trick of nature which we have not 

 fathomed, by which bees can. while on the 

 wing, eject a large amount of water either 

 from nectar or from thin syrup. If the 

 boes cast this spray while gathering thick 

 or well-ripened honey immediately on tak- 



ing wing, then our fine-spun theory has 

 received a jolt. — Ed.] 



E. F. Atwater, you gave me a scare 

 when you came down so savagely on dum- 

 mies, p. 928; but on reading further I 

 found you objected only to their flimsiness. 

 You're dead right in that. Such flimsy 

 things as I've seen sent out are a disgrace 

 to manufacturers. But aren't you a bit off 

 in thinking that a dummy not over % thick 

 must necessarily be flimsy? I had a few 

 an inch thick, but nearly all are 5-lG; and 

 after 25 years' use I don't see but they 

 stand the racket just as well as the inch 

 ones, all but the lugs, and I've remedied 

 that by using a tenpenny nail strapped on 

 with a piece of tin. Neither has there been 

 any trouble wnth comb built at sides. You 

 say the dummy is sooner or later thrown 

 away. Well, I saw at Ernest Pike's eight- 

 frame hives without dummy, and equal 

 space at each side, and I'm not entirely cer- 

 tain it isn't an improvement. The self- 

 spacing featui'e is not destroyed; and if 

 you stop to think a minute you will see that 

 with the usual arrangement we have less 

 space at outsides than in center, and it seems 

 there should be more. No. there's nothing 

 wrong with a dummy % or 5-16 if it's made 

 right, and 141/4 for ten frames, with no 

 dummy, is an abomination. [We do not 

 agree with your last sentence. We have 

 been using our ten-frame hives 14^/4 wide, 

 hundreds of them, at our yards — ten frames 

 without dummies. The fact is, the whole 

 bunch of frames should be placed so that 

 there will be an equal space on each side. 

 The two outside combs may be built out a 

 little in the height of the honey-flow, and 

 that is all. As a general thing, a dummy, 

 no matter what its thickness, is harder to 

 get out of a hive with its full complement 

 of frames than any one of the frames. One 

 manufacturer, and possibly more of them, 

 will leave out dummies in their 1916 hives. 



The ordinary Hoffman frame will, by 

 the accumulation of bee-giue and wax. 

 space wider and wider until the extra quar- 

 ter-inch is practically taken up. When the 

 frames are new the 14V4-inch width is a 

 trifle wide; but as the frames grow older 

 the increased spacing for each frame makes 

 the 1414 about right. After a great deal of 

 travel we are satisfied that the average 

 beekeeper of large experience does not use 

 dummies with a full complemont of frames 

 with either an oi^ht or ten frame hive. — 

 Ed.] 



