456 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1 



upper and lower stories or upper and lower 

 sets of frames. Ten years after, we find 

 that he adopted the ^ space; and in later 

 years he has sanctioned the use of thick 

 top-bars and a '4 -inch bee-space as being- 

 more nearly correct than the ^s that he con- 

 sidered just rig-ht. If he were here and 

 not in Michig-an, starting life anew as a 

 farmer, I would refer your question to him. 

 As it is, he will probably see it, and cor- 

 rect any statement I have made regarding- 

 his own present opinions. — Ed.] 



J. E. Crane thinks we might have a sort 

 of knapsack smoker, bellows carried under 

 arm, fire-pot connected by short hose, and 

 smoke carried through hose to small nozzle 

 — all told about the length of the arm. 

 Handy to use at a second's notice, without 

 lifting- up; but wouldn't it be a little in the 

 way? In Europe they have one fastened to 

 the arm or wrist. [That would be nice; 

 "but would not a smoker-cup be a hot thing 

 next to your person? It is hot enough for 

 one to lean over a hive under the boiling 

 sun, without having a stove fastened right 

 on to or close to his body. If a continuous 

 stream of smoke is desired, why not have a 

 foot-power smoker that could be stood on 

 the ground, having a hose connection to the 

 little finger of one's hand? When smoke is 

 desired, all one would have to do would be 

 to work one foot while both hands would be 

 perfectly free. Such a smoker, with a bail 

 or handle on it, could be easily carried from 

 one hive to another. Perhaps the idea is 

 worth developing-. — Ed.] 



Mr. Editor, you seem to think bees would 

 not like to store with separators between ex- 

 tracting-combs. I never tried that, but I have 

 tried having a dummy between each two 

 frames in the brood-chamber, and it didn't 

 seem to make any trouble. You ask, "Don't 

 you recall how disinclined the bees are 

 to go outside of the division-board and store 

 honey in a comb that may be left on the out- 

 side?" Once I gave to a rather weak col- 

 ony in a ten-frame hive a comb that I had 

 filled with sugar-syrup. I put it outside a 

 dummy, and it chanced that, beside it, there 

 was an empty comb. I expected the bees 

 to carry the syrup into the brood-nest; in- 

 stead of that they put it in the empty comb 

 outside the division-board. Last year my 

 best queen was kept with three frames in 

 one side of a hive. On the other side of the 

 hive were three combs containing more or 

 less honey. Two dummies were g-iven, and 

 the space for two combs in the middle of 

 the hive was left vacant. They occupied 

 the six combs throug-hout the summer with- 

 out ever offering to build in the center, and 

 I think they stored in the three combs away 

 from the brood-nest. There was never any 

 cluster of bees in the vacant part. [A good 

 deal depends on the strength of the honey- 

 flow. If room is scarce, bees are disposed 

 to swarm, and honey is coming in rapidly, 

 dummies or separators would cut very little 

 figure in the amount of honey produced; 

 but if the season be backward, the colony 

 a little weak, a division or dummy-board. 



in our locality, is almost sure to prove a 

 damper to the onward progress of the brood- 

 nest. Are not the cases you mention the ex- 

 ceptions that prove the rule? — Ed.] 



■r-^^ 



^ICKlI^GS 



'^//lOM OUfiNElCHSORS FIELDS. 2^ 



To-day fair Cuba stands at last 



From hated despots free ; 

 Columbia the fetters broke 



And gave her liberty. 



On page 93, in speaking of the writings 

 of Mr. R. Hamlyn-Harris, of England, I ex- 

 pressed surprise that he should make no 

 reference to Mr. Langstroth as an inventor, 

 and attributed it to "bias if not prejudice. " 

 I ain glad to learn that neither of these fac- 

 tors entere:' into the problem, as the follow- 

 ing from Mr. H. shows: 



Dear Stenog : — I plead guilty to neglect, and that is 

 all. I regret that I made no mention of lyangstrotli in 

 my recent paper ; prejudice I am not guiity of : but 

 omission in this case came more from want of fore- 

 thought. You may make use of my remarks for pub- 

 lication if you wish. I am fearfully busy, and have 

 been for some time, at a piece of research work which 

 took me to Naples. I therefore regret that I am so 

 often absent ; indeed, I am so occupied that I leave 

 much that I ought to do undone. Please excuse my 

 unintentional omission. I thank you very much for 

 your kind review of my paper. 



R. Hamlyn Harris. 



Zoological Institute, Tubingen, Germany, Mar. 23. 



As a writer on bees in particular, Mr. 

 Hamlyn-Harris is, in my opinion, the best 

 author we have on the continent. He is at 

 home in the literature of the bee, no matter 

 what language it is written in. His review 

 of foreign bee-journals, in the British Bee 

 Journal, constitutes one of the most reada- 

 ble features of that paper. Any thing from 

 his pen will pay perusal. 



L'APICULTEUR. 

 The May number of this magazine is prob- 

 ably the largest bee journal ever issued, con- 

 sisting of 128 pages the size of this. Over 80 

 pages of this are devoted to the proceedings 

 of the annual meeting of the Federation of 

 French Bee-keepers' Societies. They give 

 it all at once instead of running it through 

 several issues. The fact that 24 bee-keep- 

 er's societies were represented in this con- 

 vention shows the extent to which French 

 bee-keepers are united in furthering their 

 own interests. It is in refreshing contrast 

 with the comparative lack of organization 

 in this country. 



itr 



AUSTRALASIAN BEE-KEEPER. 

 This journal, published by Pender Bros., 

 is always full of good things. Although 

 the subject is hardly worth while, I have 

 thought best to quote a few words from Mr. 

 Gale in regard to Maeterlinck's Life of the 

 Bee, as that book is now so much discussed. 



