800 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct, 1 



dance of it here, but not a bee to be seen on 

 it, and I don't know that it ever yields. 

 [Since our last issue the weather has turn- 

 ed much warmer, and the bees are working- 

 on goldenrod as I never saw them before. 

 At the Harrington yard, up on the hill, or 

 the farm where we are temporarily sojourn- 

 ing', there is any quantity' of goldenrod and 

 heartsease in the vicinity; and during the 

 heat of the day the bees are very busy on 

 both.— Ed.] 



A. I. Root seems to be getting- interested 

 in bees, p. 783. Go kind of easy on it, Bro. 

 A. I., so as to hold out, and help us to solve 

 some of our later problems. [Say, doctor, 

 I believe if you had amplified this thoug-ht 

 you would have said A. I. Root once rode 

 the bee-keeping- hobby so hard that he tired 

 of it. You now wish him to ride easj- and 

 slowly so that he may again contribute as 

 formerly of his knowledge and experience 

 to the bee-keeping- world. But, say; let me 

 tell you he is g-rowing- enthusiastic over 

 some of the new devices that have been 

 adopted by us j'oungsters. — Ed.] 



Sometimes it is spoken of as the common 

 thing that, when a swarm issues with a 

 clipped queen, the queen will be found on 

 the ground with a cluster of bees. In the 

 hundreds of cases I have seen, such a thing 

 has not often occurred. If the queen is 

 quickly found, she is looking out for her- 

 self; and if left long enough for a cluster 

 to form she is generally back in the hive. 

 [Is it not the common thing that the queen 

 is not found quicklj', and hence the bees 

 find her before the bee-keeper? If that is 

 the case the queen should generally be 

 found with a cluster of bees. — Ed.] 



After an absence of four days at Sun- 

 day-school conventions I return home, Sept. 

 19, to find that the supers have been taken 

 off the hives at the home apiary, giving an 

 average of 45 sections per colony. About 

 all of this has been stored since the middle 

 of August, being, I think, the best fall 

 yielc? I ever had. After having to feed up 

 to July, I feel quite thankful for 45 sections 

 per colony. [I saw those crates of honej' 

 stacked up on Dr. Miller's hives. I had 

 been prepared to believe he secured no hon- 

 ey, and he was ready to think so too, I 

 should judge, till he came to lift off the cov- 

 ers from some of the supers. But more of 

 this at another time. — Ed.] 



Some report entire success in wintering 

 colonies on solid combs of sealed honey; 

 others entire failure. I suspect the diff'er- 

 ence depends on the amount of space under 

 the bottom-bars. If there is only half an 

 inch under the frames, there is no room for 

 the bees to form a cluster, and the3' are 

 bound to freeze. With two inches between 

 bottom-bars and floor, they can cluster and 

 keep warm, even if there isn't an empty 

 cell in the combs. That is, they can in a 

 cellar; outdoors not so well, for the cluster 

 below the frames would be too much expos- 

 ed. [Then you would favor two inches un- 

 der the combs summer and winter. I be- 



lieve it is your practice to have such space 

 the year round. — Ed.] 



To decide whether a virgin queen is 

 present, a common way is to give a frame 

 of eggs and young brood, with the under- 

 standing that, if a young queen is present, 

 no queen-cells will be started. It is pretty 

 safe to follow the rule that, if no queen- 

 cells are started, there is a (lueen present; 

 but I have ceased to put faith in the oppo-' 

 site rule, that the presence of cells shows 

 the absence of any queen; for too often cells 

 will be started, even with a good virgin 

 queen present. It's a good thing, all the 

 same, to give the young brood. [You are 

 just right. The presence of cells under 

 some circumstances does not necessarilj'^ in- 

 dicate the absence of a queen; but they may 

 show that the old queen-mother is playing 

 out, or they may show the fact that the hive 

 was queenless at one time, and that a vir- 

 gin present for some reason had not seen fit 

 to destroy the cells and thus put out of the 

 way any possible rival. — Ed.] 



Here's something for the young man to 

 think about. Speaking in Fortnightly Re- 

 view of the drink bill of France, the United 

 Kingdom, Germany, and the United States, 

 John Holt Schooling, the expert British sta- 

 tistician, says: "The American total per 

 head is less than half the total consump- 

 tion per head in any of the three other coun- 

 tries. The superior sobriety of the Ameri- 

 can workman as compared with the Eng- 

 lishman has often been noticed, and obser- 

 vation in social grades higher than that of 

 the artisan tends to show that American 

 superiority in this respect is a general su- 

 periority not confined to workmen only. 

 The developed alertness and prompt energy 

 of the American may, it is quite likel}', be 

 due in some part to this relative abstinence 

 from alcoholic drink." [This fact is very 

 encouraging, if true, and I believe it is. 

 Possibly it explains why American manu- 

 facturers are invading the European mar- 

 kets with better-made goods, and at less 

 price, in spite of cheaper European labor. 

 The time was, and does even now prevail 

 to some extent in German factories, where 

 emploj'ees are given rations of beer between 

 meals. Some of these manufacturers are 

 beginning to discover that this is a serious 

 mistake. Just imagine a manufacturer in 

 this country, who is looking at the dollars 

 and cents, giving away beer to his men for 

 the purpose of stimulating (?) their ener- 

 gies. Sometimes it is discouraging to think 

 of the number of saloons in the United 

 States; but when we come to think of the 

 healthj' public sentiment that is growing 

 very rapidly, we can not help feeling that 

 God still reigns. — Ed.] 



Allow me to endorse what A. I. Root 

 says, p. 782, about the unwisdom of trj-ing 

 to live a Christian life outside of any church, 

 or refusing to unite with a church just be- 

 cause your own particular brand of church 

 is not within reach. Even if one can live 

 a Christian life all bj- his lone self, he can 



