1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



845 



mean fool with cleaning it. One that has 

 been in use here for several years has been 

 cleaned just once this summer, and when 

 cleaned it works just as well as new — sim- 

 ply a matter of taking- off the bellows, tak- 

 ing out a few screws, and then it's an easy 

 thing to make a thorough job of cleaning 

 the valve. Takes time, but it's worth it to 

 have a new smoker. 



"The spout, being held on with a hinge, 

 oftentimes does not fall properl3^ on the bar- 

 rel; and if h 'stily jammed down it will 

 crimp open the barrel, so that it will al- 

 ways leak smokp at that point and never be 

 a good fit again." Right j'ou are, doctor, 

 only you've hardly made it strong enough. 

 After the thing gets sufficiently crimped 

 and gummed up, you can't make the nozzle 

 stick on at all, and most of the smoke will 

 blow out at the joint. And 3'et I wouldn't 

 like to do without that hinge; for then when 

 it gets to be ill-fitting (as it will, hinge or 

 no hinge) the nozzle will fall oft" some time 

 into a hive just at a time when 3'ou are most 

 anxious not to have it do so. I don't know 

 the remedy. How would it do to have more 

 of the nozzle telescope over the barrel, and 

 have the telescoping part flare out wide at 

 the edge so it couldn't by any possibility 

 make a start in the crimping business. 

 [We are making a new hinge and new snout 

 which we hope will overcome both objec- 

 tions given above. Perhaps I ought not to 

 tell tales out of school. — Ed.] 



"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." Thus 

 theeditor, p. 800, speaking of clipped queens 

 coming out with swarms. Replying, I 

 should say that "in this locality" it is 

 most decidedly fiot the common thing that 

 the queen is not found quickly. I think I 

 am safe in saying that in 19 cases out of 20 

 (my assistant says 49 out of 50) the queen 

 is found before all the bees of the swarm 

 have left the hive. Of course, I mean if 

 the bee-keeper is on hand when the swarm 

 starts. If not found quickly, you think 

 "the queen should generally be found with 

 a cluster of bees." May be s,\ie should, but 

 she isn't, at least not "in this locality." 

 Times upon times, when I have not been 

 promptly on hand to see the queen issue, 

 I've looked on the ground for that cluster of 

 bees with the queen, but rarely found it. 

 The queen had gone back in the hive with- 

 out waiting for any cluster. [It is your 

 practice, I take it, the minute a swarm is 

 seen to come out, to rush to the entrance 

 from which it is coming. It is the case 

 with a good many that the swarm is not 

 discovered till it is all out in the air. It 

 hovers about for a considerable length of 

 time, and finall}' some stragglers begin to 

 go back to the old hive. This locates the 

 hive from which it came. At that time 

 there is liable to be, as I know from my 

 own experience, bees crawling around 



where the queen is at the entrance. Your 

 locality and your practice seem to be a lit- 

 tle different from ours. — Ed.] 



^JSleioJiboKSjieldj 



The fight is on ! the giant l,abor stern 



Shows all his strength at last ; 

 While locking horns with Capital, 



Out goes the furnace-blast. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Mr. Albert Gale, in the Australian Bee- 

 keeper, makes a review of the only "funny" 

 bee-book ever published. In speaking of 

 drones, the author of this book says: "One 

 by one they sail off into space, irresistible, 

 glorious, and tranquillj^ make for the near- 

 est flowers, where thej' sleep till the after- 

 noon freshens and awakens them." Mr. 

 York replies: "That the drones must sail 

 off into space to reach the nearest flowers 

 is amusing; that drones visit flowers at all 

 is decidedly so; that they fall asleep on the 

 flowers till the refreshing afternoon awak- 

 ens them is irresistibly funny." Mr. York 

 fvirther says: "This is the same book that 

 has been approved by others as thoroughly 

 reliable in its teachings, being nothing less 

 than Maeterlinck's Life of the Bee. " What- 

 ever may have been said by way of ap- 

 proval in this department concerning that 

 book is now thoroughly expunged and with- 

 drawn. It was a t3'pographical error. The 

 writer should have said the book was 

 "thoroughlj^ re//Vable. " But still an in- 

 telligent reader will find some wheat among 

 the chaff. Aside from bees the writer of 

 that book has some good philosophy. 

 \U 



Dr. Miller thinks it will require about a 

 quart of bisulphide of carbon to treat two 

 or three thousand pounds of honey if it is 

 rather closely packed in a room having 

 tight walls. It costs 40 cents a pint, or 75 

 cents a quart. Some writers have told how 

 they have had fire quite near this substance 

 without its -igniting. Thej^'ll repeat that 

 thing just once too often some bright day 

 when a draft of air brings the fumes toward 

 the fire. It does not stop to burn — it goes 

 off with a bang. 



\lu 



In an article on spraying, Mr. H. L. 

 Jeffrey sa3's: 



There is a class of citizens in every place that are 

 the worst criminals on earth. They occupy good po- 

 sitions in .societ}-, in the church, and in all organiza- 

 tions. They have strong influence, and they know 

 they own the earth but have not yet fenced it in, and 

 they are the vilest enemies to every occupation and 

 citizen, but thev are out oi the reach of the law. The 

 law punishes, not for the act, but for getting caught, 

 and they do not get caught. To illustrate by a fact : 



