GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



January. 1919 



HEAPS OF GRAIN T Pfioiii rDIFFERENT FIELDS 



ready sale for me until about Nov. 15, when 

 the hurry-up fellows had disposed of their 

 cheap stores. After that I sold all of mine 

 at 25 cents, and supplied my customers up 

 to Aug. 15, 1918. Hamlin B. Miller. 



Marshalltown, la. 



Honey as a It is not often that one 



Balance Wheel. can find flaws in Dr. 



Miller 's "Straws." 

 So I grasp this opportunity. On page 602, 

 October Gleanings, he says: "There is an- 

 other reason, likely more important, for 

 having a goodly store of honey in the brood- 

 chamber thru the winter. It serves as a sort 

 of balance wheel equalizing the heat. In 

 ordinary weather the honey is warmed up 

 to something like the temperature of the 

 brood-nest. Then, when the thermometer 

 takes a sudden plunge away below zero, the 

 bees with a big lot of honey do not get the 

 full effect of it because the heat that has 

 been stored up in the honey is slowly given 

 out, and its seems that such a colony should 

 stand the shock better than the one with 

 the empty combs. ' ' 



This reminds me of the lady that had a 

 newly arrived Swedish girl for a servant. 

 The girl complained of cold feet at night and 

 the lady told her to take a flatiron to bed 

 with her, and in the morning asked her 



how she got along. The girl replied: "All 

 right — after I got the flatiron warm, but 

 I nearly froze to death while trying to get 

 it warm." 



Why not use a flatiron or bricks instead 

 of honey? It would be cheaper. 



The doctor's theory might work all right 

 if he warmed the honey every night, but 

 how about it when the honey gets cold and 

 the bees have not only to warm themselves 

 up (say five pounds of bees), but must also 

 warm up 10 or 20 extra pounds of honey? 



Then, too, I don't see how in ordinary 

 (winter) weather the honey can be warmed 

 up to something like the temperature of the 

 brood-nest unless the honey is in the cluster, 

 which would apply to only a small part of 

 the honey in the hive. I think his theory 

 would sound better in mild weather, before 

 a cluster is formed, for then the bees and 

 honey would both be in the same atmosphere, 

 so to speak. If, according, to Phillips, the 

 inside of the hive outside the cluster is of 

 the same temperature as outdoors, the bees 

 would get but little heat (if any) from hon- 

 ey outside the cluster — certainly not as 

 much heat as the honey would get from the 

 bees. 



I am not saying anything against lots of 

 honey in the hive for the bees to eat. 



Hammonton, N. J. C. E. Fowler. 



THE BACKLOr BUZZER. 



Ma says she isn't given to bragging-, but she will say this, that she notices that some beekeepers spend 



more time these days clipping coupons off their liberty bonds than fringe ofi' their shirt cutts. 



