614 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 15 



number. He is in position to do great g-ood 

 in the way of publicity and promotion, and 

 his journal has always been ready to for- 

 ward the interests of the National. 



Herman F. Moore. 



[It is true that Mr. York has repeatedly 

 declared he is not a candidate for the office 

 of General Manager. I once broached the 

 subject to him, and he ver^' positively declin- 

 ed to be considered a candidate. He based 

 this refusal on the ground that no bee-edi- 

 tor should take the office. But if he were 

 to get the unanimous support he might re- 

 consider. Personally I know he would 

 make a good General Manager; and I do 

 not see why the fact of his being an editoi^ 

 of a bee-paper should stand in the way of 

 his considering the office. Mr. Secor has 

 said he wished to be relieved. Just what 

 his future action will be I do not know. 

 There are a dozen good men whom I could 

 support as candidates, and Mr. York, Mr. 

 Hutchinson, Mr. France, and Mr. Secor 

 are some of them. 



Now, when I say I do not believe that the 

 position of editor bars one from being Gener- 

 al Manager, I wish to say emphatically there 

 are other reasons wh}' I, as one of them, 

 can not and will not be considered as a can- 

 didate; but I can give my support most cor- 

 dially to any of the other bee- editors. I 

 suspect the publication of this letter from 

 Mr. Moore will raise a breeze with Bro. 

 York. Veil, let him raise the wind, Mr. 

 Moore, and I can stand a good deal — these 

 hot daj^s. The Association needs some men 

 who can cool things off a little. — Ed.] 



A PLURALITY OF EGGS IN ONE CELL. 



I have a colony in a ten-frame L. hive 

 that swarmed twice and superseded its 

 queen. This young queen at this time has 

 every cell filled with from three to seven 

 eggs. This room consists of about seven 

 combs. Those eggs hatch out perfect work- 

 ers. As this is contrary to custom I should 

 like an explanation. G. B. Crum. 



Pearson, Ga., July 5. 



[The circumstance you relate is quite un- 

 usual — that is, if the queen fills the whole 

 seven combs, which we can hardly think 

 possible, in the way you describe. Very 

 often a queen, when she is young, and just 

 beginning to lay, will deposit four or five 

 eggs in a cell; but she will soon get down 

 to regulation work and put only one &^^ in 

 a cell. Drone-laying queens and fertile 

 workers, or "laying workers," as some 

 call them, will very often lay several eggs 

 in a cell. — Ed.] 



A PECULIAR CASE OF BEE-POISONING. 



Mr. A. I. Root: — I shall be compelled to 

 sell my bees. Two years ago last fall I 

 got stung four or five times on the face, and 

 it poisoned me for the first time; and in 

 about two weeks I came down with typhoid 

 fever. I was not able to handle them any 



more that fall. I commenced the next 

 spring, and I have inhaled something from 

 them that affects me the same as a cold in 

 my head and lungs, only worse. It affects 

 me just as soon as I go among them. I 

 have been wearing a sponge over my mouth, 

 but it makes no difterence. Some thought 

 it was pollen. I have had to feed my bees 

 this winter. I inhale it every time I go into 

 the cellar. 



You will notice I commenced this letter 

 some time ago. It is now June 11, and I 

 will try to finish it. I have sold my bees. 

 I got stung both nights they came after 

 them. The first night I was very bad ; but 

 the last night it went to my head and 

 lungs, and I did not know whether I should 

 live or die for about an hour. I have had 

 several such spells before, most of them 

 caused by inhaling the poison. 



Mrs. J. H. Gray. 



Cedar Run, Mich., June 11. 



[It would be interesting to know whether 

 any of our subscribers have had an}^ simi- 

 lar experience. Years ago Mr. Langstroth 

 told how the bee-poisoning affected him as 

 soon as he went into the bee-yard. Even 

 the very aroma of the bees would give him 

 a very unpleasant sensation. This was 

 during the latter end of his life, especially 

 in the spring, when he first went out to 

 work with his favorite pets. — Ed.] 



/r. R.., Oliio. — There is danger of using 

 too much sulphur in fumigating comb hon- 

 ey. The larger the room, of course the 

 more sulphur is needed. One pound in a 

 room about 10X10, 10 feet high, will not be 

 too much. The plan now recommended is 

 to use bisulphide of carbon. About a pint 

 of it should be put into a pan just over the 

 pile of honey. Honey should be stored in 

 some empty hives outdoors. Then the drug 

 should be placed in the pan above referred 

 to, on top of the whole. The fumes and gas 

 that rise from the bisulphide are heavier 

 than air, and will settle all around through 

 the honey. The bisulphide will not discol- 

 or, while the sulphur is likely to do so. 



W. H. //., Pa. — If you clipped the queen's 

 wings before she took her flight she would 

 prove utterly worthless, and should, there- 

 fore, be removed from the hive and killed. 

 The bees should be given unsealed brood to 

 rear another one, or, better still, a cell. 



A glass slide could be used in the top 

 of an Alley drone-trap, in place of the 

 zinc slide very readily; but the ordinary 

 manufacturer could not ship glass in a 

 small article of this kind. There is anoth- 

 er objection to it in that the bees would be 

 apt to fly against it, bumping their heads 



