1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



(35 



"When did 3'ou uotice this water}' appear- 

 ance — when 3'ou took it from the hive, or 

 mostlv when j-ou were getting- it ready for 

 market?" 



" Some when taking it from the hives, but 

 much more when 1 was sorting it for mar- 

 ket, as I inspected it more closely at this 

 latter time. " 



"Somewhat as I expected. And I think 

 jou are blaining the Italian bee, in part at 

 least, for what you are 3-ourself to blame 

 for." 



"How could I be to blame?" 



" Where did you store your honey between 

 the time it left the hive and when you com- 

 menced to crate it?" 



"In what we call the 'cellar kitchen.' 

 Was not that a good place for it?" 



"Just the place to give honey which was 

 nicel}' capped when it left the hive a watery 

 appearance a month later." 



" Why so?" 



"Because honey is very susceptible to 

 moisture. In storing it in this damp room 

 the honey took on moisture, thus becoming 

 thin, and expanding till it reached the cap- 

 ping to the cells, when it would have the 

 same appearance as did that where the bees 

 placed the wax next the honey when cap- 

 ping it. Did you notice any such thing in 

 crating as the unsealed cells around the 

 edges of the sections leaking?" 



"Yes. These cells leaked so badly that 

 I kept a moistened sponge to take it up. 

 But this was because the cells were unseal- 

 ed, was it not?" 



" Did the honey run from these cells when 

 taking it from the hive?" 



"Not very much. Why?" 



"This shows that it was thinner when 

 crating than when taken from the hive, and 

 suggests what every bee-keeper has found 

 out sooner or later — that the only proper 

 place to store honey is in a dr3s warm, 

 airy room. B3' storing in such a rooin, even 

 watery-appearing honey will be improv- 

 ed." 



"Well, indeed, I am glad to know this; 

 and this alone will more than pay me for 

 coming. And now I must be going; but be- 

 fore I go allow me to ask if you have notic- 

 ed what Dr. C. C. Miller said in Glean- 

 ings about you and Brown getting mixed 

 up on that prime-swarm first-swarm mat- 

 ter." 



"Yes, I noticed it and found the time to- 

 day from other pressing work to look the 

 matter up, and Dr. Miller is right. Doo- 

 little did get all mixed up, I suppose owing 

 to overwork, which brought on careless 

 reading and thinking, the same thing / 

 have accused others of. I am sorry for this, 

 and herebj' apologize to you, and through 

 you to Dr. Miller and the readers of Glean- 

 ings, for it is no more than fair that, where 

 a man makes a mistake in public, he should 

 confess it publicl3^ It seems that I quoted 

 Dr. Miller rightly; but after that my brain 

 worked in a wrong direction. Again I sa}-, 

 / a)n sorry.''' 



Borodino, N. Y. 



BASSWOOD TOP-BARS. 



The Kind that do not Crawl around the Yard; a Re= 



joinder to Dr. Miller and the " Naples 



Dutchman." 



BY S. A. NIVER. 



Mr. Editor : — I am in such a state of ut- 

 ter bewilderment that, to put it into plain 

 United States, I don't where I am at. Shall 

 I laugh at Dr. Miller's Straw as a joke, 

 and ' ' sass back ' ' at that Naples Dutchman, 

 or "go wa3' back and sit down " ? 



It all grows out of the casual mention of 

 Morton's preference for basswood to pine 

 for top-bars, and Dr. Miller's Straw about 

 its twisting and warping to the extent of 

 crawling about the 3'ard. That was the 

 tirst hint I had ever received in regard to 

 any such objection to the use of basswood 

 for top-bars, or for whole frames as to that 

 matter. Of course, the genial sage of Ma- 

 rengo would not say they crawled about his 

 bee-yard in such a positive way unless he 

 had observed such antics — would he? Then 

 he read Greiner's "roast" (page 420), 

 where he sa3's, "When I hear a man . . 

 make a statement of so-called facts, which 

 are not facts at all, it naturally weakens 

 our confidence in the man; and to recom- 

 mend basswood top-bars is a case of the 

 kind." Why use basswood that will warp 

 and twist all out of shape? He knows, be- 

 cause he tried it "only once." 



Plainly it was my safest way to take to 

 the woods and repent my folly in mention- 

 ing basswood top-bars, and lack of atten- 

 tion to the habits of such a crawling "crit- 

 ter," although I had used hundreds of them, 

 and helped make them by thousands; so I 

 went to Grotou for a little rest from selling 

 hone3' (rest for mj' customers as well as 

 myself), with the resolve to see some twist- 

 ing and crawling if any such circus was 

 on the boards. 



I went through the home yards, and ex- 

 amined those basswood frames, in brood- 

 nests and supers; frames made entirely of 

 that crawling wood, which had been in use 

 for six 3'ears at least, to m}' certain knowl- 

 edge. Mr. Editor, those frames are as 

 straight and true as an}' pine frame "/w 

 our locality.'''' Then I interviewed Morton's 

 brother on the subject, and they never had 

 noticed an3' tendency to warp or twist, al- 

 though they had used them for 3'ears, and 

 never had heard of an3'^ trouble with bass- 

 W(X)d frames from an3' one. 



Now, then, where is the trouble? Is Gro- 

 tou basswood a different species, or are 



