92 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1 



last 6000-mile trip I do not think I saw a 

 single one; but I did see all kinds of dilap- 

 idated i}iovable-Jra))ic hives. — Ed.] 



In Glkanings for July 1, 1900, in a foot- 

 note to an article of mine, you say, Mr. Ed- 

 itor, "We have heretofore assumed that 

 larvje just hatched, or larva; not more than 

 three days old, was the preferred ag-e; but 

 here is a case where the bees evidently had 

 a preference for the tive-day limit." The 

 fact that this continues to be quoted in for- 

 ei^rn journals, and that it is likely to be 

 misunderstood, makes me now refer to it. 

 While you may have meant all rig-ht, there 

 is danger that you may be understood as 

 meaning: " In this case the bees preferred 

 larva; live da3's old to any thing j'ounger." 

 This is not true. The only possible prefer- 

 ence at all in that line would be expressed 

 thus: " The bees preferred to wait till some 

 of the larvse were too old for good queens, 

 rather than to start all cells earlier." 

 Now let me give the truth deduced from my 

 investigations — the truth that I think any 

 one ivill deduce from any fair investigations 

 — it is this: Bees will not start queen-cells 

 with larvse as old as three daj's ivhen 

 younger larvce are present; but they will 

 continue to start queen-cells after all the 

 larvje present have become too old for that 

 purpose. Will my good friend of the Re- 

 view say whether he believes this to be the 

 truth? [I accept your amended correction. 

 —Ed.] 



Thk editor seems to have mounted the 

 hobby of lots of fresh air for bees in win- 

 ter. I have been riding it myself for some 

 years. Sometimes toward spring the tem- 

 perature is 50° in the cellar and the bees 

 quite noisy. Cellar too warm? No, that's 

 not the trouble. It's 50° outside as well, 

 and so there is no change of air. I'll start 

 a fire and make it still warmer, so the air 

 will change, and when the fire dies down 

 it will be as warm as ever, 50°; but they 

 will be quiet, because they have fresh air. 

 [Yes, I now recall that you have been an 

 advocate of fresh air in bee-cellars, but I 

 had forgotten it. If I understand you, you 

 agree with me that the temperature is not 

 nearly so important as fresh supplies of 

 air given often. Last winter there was a 

 great range of temperature in our bee-cel- 

 lar, ranging from 35 to 65, and yet we had 

 perfect wintering, because the bees had 

 fresh air all the time. I am beginning to 

 feel that the bee-keeping world has been 

 laying too much stress on temperature, and 

 not enough on ventilation. For example, 

 we kept our bee-room closed two nights; 

 but the bees began to roar and fly out. 

 Then we let in fresh air, and, presto! all 

 was quiet. — Ed.] 



REPI.YING to your question, page 48, Mr. 

 Editor, I freely admit, and have alwaj's 

 admitted, that a colony with short tongues 

 may gather more than one with long 

 tongues. That does not militate in the 

 least with the fact that length of tongue 

 reach is absolutely essential to get the red- 



clover nectar. Now let me suppose a case. 

 Suppose 100 acres of red clover with tubes 

 of such depth that a tongue reach of less 

 than .19 will fail to get the least taste of 

 nectar. Of what avail will be all the best 

 qualities in the world, if the bees have not 

 the necessary .19? Another question will 

 you please answer: Can bees do any thing 

 oq red clover without sufficient tongue 

 reach? If they can not, is not tongue reach 

 an essential? [Your supposable case is 

 bardly in the realm of probability. Assum- 

 ing that it is, however, yow are strictly 

 right. So far as my experience and obser- 

 vation go, all Italians, and possibly some 

 blacks, will gather some honey from red clo- 

 ver providing there are f/Z/tv bees that gath- 

 er large amounts from the same source. 

 From measurements I have made, there are 

 a good many flower-tubes in a head that 

 are much less than the shortest tong^ue 

 reach of anj^ bees. Again, there are some 

 seasons when nectar is secreted so freely 

 that even a long tube will be so full that 

 the bees can get a considerable amount be- 

 fore it is beyond their reach. — Ed.] 



I WILL TRY to answer 3'our questions, p. 

 48, Mr. Editor. In the first place it should 

 be understood that grammars and diction- 

 aries do not make rules and definitions. 

 The usage of the best speakers and writers 

 alone decides what is right and wrong, 

 and dictionaries and grammars are author- 

 ity only so far as they tell what that usage 

 is. When that usage changes, then the 

 books must change if they would hold their 

 places as authority. A grammar does not 

 make right usage — it merely records it. 

 You ask, "How can a word be grammati- 

 cal when it violates all present rules of 



grammar: 



When all the best speakers 



and writers unite in a usage entirel}' difter- 

 ent from thiit laid down in ,the grammar, 

 then the grammar to that extent has become 

 antiquated and must be changed. I think 

 that also answers j'our question as to how 

 a word can be grammatical now that was 

 not grammatical in the past. Compare the 

 oldest English grammar published and 

 see if it ag-rees with the latest. [Say, 

 doctor, you are irrepressible. I thought 

 I had you squelched; but even if you hiive 

 the better of the argument I'll not ad- 

 mit it to you. No, sir, I'll say "shook" 

 when, according to my notion, it expresses 

 better the Dutch method of treating a swarm 

 to the average reader. — Ed.] 



We're bad, but we're not as bad as 

 somebody else. In 1900 the drink con- 

 sumption in the United States per capita 

 was 14.7 gallons; in German3% 30.9; in 

 Great Britain, 33.2; in France, 33.6. [I 

 have faith to believe that, in the very near 

 future, these figures in all of the countries 

 will be reduced. German}', the country 

 that has been quoted as favoring beer for 

 its people, is now waking up to its sense of 

 danger. The iron Bismarck, before he died, 

 said that Germany had more to fear from 

 beer than from any other enemy; and the 



