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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



I HAT picture 



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SIFTINGS 



J. E. Crane 



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page or 

 Gleanings for 

 April looks very 

 much like Ver- 

 mont on Apr. 1, 

 1919, or would if 

 there was more 

 snow. I thought 



we were booked for an early spring. March 

 27 was warm and balmy, snow all gone, 

 birds singing, dust flying, and bees on the 

 wing — when it began to rain at night and 

 snow next morning, with a fierce north 

 wind. Now (Apr. 1) we have an average of 

 a foot of snow, I believe, with the wind 

 still blowing. * * * 



I have received a sample of that wonder- 

 ful aluminum comb, a whole brood-frame of 

 it. It looks fine at a little distance, but if 

 you examine closely, it is far from perfect. 

 The septum or base of every cell has an 

 opening into a cell on the opposite side, so 

 far as I could discover, and a pretty good- 

 sized one I thought. There seem to be other 

 serious objections to it that I will not take 

 the room to mention. For the benefit of oth- 

 er beekeepers who may not have seen a 

 sample, I will quote from a letter from one 

 who claims to be a stockholder in the com- 

 pany: "I wish to introduce to you a great 

 invention, the Aluminum Honey Comb, and 

 pleased to say I am a stockholder and know 

 the comb is' practical and just what they 

 claim; also, we have honest men at the 

 head of the company. We now have orders 

 for more than 40,000 combs that must be 

 turned out soon — some of them from foreign 

 countries. Ever so many very wealthy men 

 are trying to buy out the company. One of 

 them is Mr. Eoot, the most noted beeman in 

 the world, I think; but, as it is running per- 

 fectly all right, can not be bought at any 

 price, which gives many others a chance to 

 make good. We are now making a special 

 offer to beekeepers who wish to invest in 

 stock and by doing so may have the privi- 

 lege of buying the same amount in combs 

 at a reduced price. One hundred shares at 

 one dollar per is the smallest amount, and 

 not over five hundred to beekeepers." I 

 have quoted verbatim et literatim, and more 

 might be added in the same strain. But I 

 have quoted enough to show that the object 

 is rather to sell stock than combs to bee- 

 keepers. No, thank you, I have other use 

 for my money. [Any claim that Mr. Eoot 

 has tried to buy out this aluminum comb 

 company is without any warrant whatever. 

 Mr. Crane's "no, thank you," is very time- 

 ly, until more careful tests have been made. 

 — Mng. Editor.] ^ , ^ 



"I should like to try wintering with 

 frames crosswise the hive," says D. G. 

 Holterman, page 243. My experience has 

 not been favorable to wintering on combs 

 placed that way, unless a good way is made 

 for the bees to pass across the combs. I 



1 



^"^^^^^^^^ 



\J 



May, 1919 



have f o u n d in 

 such hives a 

 large part of the 

 winter stores 

 packed in the 

 rear combs, 

 while the bees 

 are apt to clus- 

 ter in front 

 where there is 

 less honey; and, unless the weather is very 

 mild so there is a good chance for the bees 

 to move back, they may starve with plenty 

 of honey in the hive. In a cellar it may 



work differently. 



« * * 



I have been over every colony out of doors 

 in our home yard and found nearly all in 

 excellent condition, with the exception that 

 many were short of honey and two had died 

 from starvation. Somehow bees have seem- 

 ed to consume more honey the past winter 

 than usual notwithstanding the mild wea- 

 ther. * * 4. 



Dr. Miller, page 232, inquires how much 

 room there was in hives with solid combs 

 that wintered badly. Well, Doctor, truth 

 compels me to say, not much, perhaps a half- 

 inch. If a considerable space is left be- 

 low the combs, I see no reason why bees 

 should not winter well, especially in a cellar 

 with solid combs above. This gives them a 

 winter nest below instead of among the 

 combs. 



That "Clever Idea," page 210, seems to 

 me of great value. We often run short of 

 division-boards when, if we could use an old 

 comb and newspaper, it would be very help- 

 ful, for we have learned one of the most 

 helpful ways of treating a small colony in 

 the spring is to reduce their room to the 

 size of the colony. Sometimes these will out- 

 run much stronger colonies left on a full set 



of combs. 



* * a 



Elias Fox, page 243, still doubts bees can 

 hear, and he has plenty of good company. 

 Let me tell why I believe they can hear. 

 Some 70 years ago a somewhat noted as- 

 tronomer in studying the orbit of Uranus 

 discovered certain irregularities that he 

 could only account for on the supposition 

 that there must be another planet far be- 

 3'ond the orbit of Uranus. Not having a 

 telescope large enough to detect any planet 

 where he thought there should be one, he 

 told another observer to look towards a cer- 

 tain point in the heavens and he would see 

 a new planet. He looked and, sure enough, 

 there was the planet within a degree of the 

 calculated place. Now there are many things 

 in this world that can only be accounted for 

 on the supposition of something else that we 

 may not yet have discovered, and the or- 

 gans of hearing in bees is one of them. The 

 fact that bees make various sounds at dif- 

 ferent times leads me to feel very sure they 

 can hear. If pinched, a bee will squeal, but 

 no one can tell how. 



