FKr.KIARV. 1919 



GLEANINGS IN B K E CULTURE 



87 



Of course, there is the chaiieo that alumi- 

 num comb, even after having made a bril- 

 liant showing, may develoji some unexpect- 

 ed objection tliat will throw it out of the 

 running. But let us look kindly and hope- 

 fully toward its future. If it should suc- 

 ceed, it will be especially valuable in re- 

 gions where AnivPrican foul brood is found — 

 and it is becoming difficult to locate regions 

 where it is not found. To the man who has 

 had experience with American foul brood, 

 probably the thing that he dreads most 

 about it is the melting up of his nice brood- 

 combs. Indeed, if taken in time — even if 

 not in time for the Kight treatment — it 

 may be so managed that the set-back from 

 it is hardl}' worth considering, were it not 

 for the remorseless destruction of brood- 

 combs. And unless there is something I 

 don 't understand about it, with aluminum 

 combs the disease may be destroyed and the 

 combs saved. That will be worth thousands 

 of dollars. 



* * * 



lona Fowls, you 've done a rather daring 

 thing, page 42, January Gleanings, in trying 

 to tell what is "a strong, a weak, and a 

 medium colony. ' ' I don 't know that any 

 one else has ever done it, and I don't know 

 that any one can do it better. It surely is 

 important that we have a more definite un- 

 derstanding about some of the terms used 

 in beekeeping. For instance, when we 

 speak of a bad case or a mild case of foul 

 brood, do you and I have the same idea in 

 mind? If a beginner were to ask me what 

 I meant by a bad case of foul brood, I 'm 

 afraid he wouldn 't get a very satisfactory 

 answer. Possibly I might say, "Oh, a case 

 in which a lot of the larvae are diseased. ' ' 

 And the conversation might continue like 

 this: "But what do you mean by a 

 Mot'?" "Why, a considerable propor- 

 tion." "But what proportion is a consider- 

 able proportion?" Thus driven into a cor- 

 ner, ' ' Well, I don 't really know, but I 

 think I should call it a bad case if 50 per 

 cent of the larvae were diseased." And I 

 don 't at all know whether that would be 

 right or not. Do you? What we need is 

 some sort of authoritative answer that 

 shall be definite and specific, something af- 

 ter this fashion: If less than one per cent 

 of the larvae are diseased, it is a very mild 

 case; if one to 10 per cent, mild; 10 to 35, 

 medium; 35 to 50, bad; and beyond 50, very 

 bad. ' ' Those figures may not be at all cor- 

 rect, but I'm trying to give the idea. Now 

 who will help us out on these things? I 

 am tempted to say to you. Miss Fowls, in 

 the words of Mordecai to Esther, "Who 

 knoweth whether thou art not come to the 

 kingdom for such a time as this"? 



You wouldn 't think to look at C. E. 

 Fowler that he was a man of such vicious 

 disposition, but see how he goes for me with 

 a flatiron and a Swedish girl on page 38, 

 January Gleanings. Well, if his bees are 



stupid enough to start in with cold honey, 

 same as the girl did, then it may turn out 

 the same way. Anyway, I 'm not so set on 

 having honey a balance-wheel but that I 

 can forgive the attack, but I cannot forgive 

 the insidious attack on page 18. It's a put- 

 up job between him and the editor. Know- 

 ing I 'm still sore from the tumblei I got 

 from my high horse about skyscrapers, they 

 rub it in by giving that skyscraper pile of 

 Harry Edsall. Well, it 's a long lane that 

 has no turn. [I will guess it is, and that 

 you will be in ambush right at the ' ' turn ' ' 

 with a big shillalah. — Mng. Editor.] 

 » * * 



You say, Mr. Editor, page 13, ' ' The time 

 will never come when one can afford to ex- 

 tract all the honey from his bees, brimstone 

 them, and buy more bees." That, of course, 

 refers to buying bees from the South in 

 spring. Like enough you're right, and yet 

 a pretty good case can be made out from 

 David Eunning's statement. A package, 

 when fed up, cost him $4.37. If he had a 

 colony in the fall from which he could ex- 

 tract 26 pounds of honey, brimstoning the 

 bees, and should sell that honey at 17 cents, 

 it woukl bring him $4.42. He could then 

 kill his bees, spend 4.37 for the package, and 

 be 5 cents to the good. I am, however, just 

 a bit skeptical as to the package always giv- 

 ing as good a return as the home-wintered 

 colony. 



A. I. Root says a good word for sunflow- 

 ers, page 47, January Gleanings. I planted 

 quite a patch one year, but saw no striking 

 evidence that it was of much value to the 

 bees. A good deal is said about the Mam- 

 moth Eussian variety, but I have some 

 doubt about its being better than the com- 

 mon. It has much larger seed, but it 's the 

 shell that 's large without any corresponding 

 enlargement of the kernel. I suspect more 

 meat and oil would be found in a pint or a 

 pound of the common sunflower than in the 

 Mammoth Eussian. Still, I don't know very 

 much about it, and I don 't know which kind 

 would yield the most oil per acre. 



* » * 



Here 's a rather striking ad of a commis- 

 sion house in a Chicago daily: 

 STOP THE "FLU" 

 Eat 

 Honey 

 Oranges 

 Grapefruit 



* * * 



Mr. Doolittle advised, page 597, October 

 Gleanings, that sections should be taken 

 from the hive as soon as sealed over. That 's 

 right; only once in a great while the sec- 

 tions will be filled and sealed so rapidly 

 that under ordinary conditions they will be- 

 come watery when stored in the honey-room. 

 So it is well to be on the lookout for such 

 very white sections, and give them an extra 

 chance for ripening, either on or off the 

 hive. 



