140 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1 



merce is different from the cane sugar or su- 

 crose found naturally in honey. The modern 

 honey-analyst, at all events, is able to detect 

 any foreign ingredient put into honey, even 

 cane sugar. — Ed ] 



" Some residents of the buckwheat coun- 

 try consider buckwheat honey the best hon- 

 ey sold, and . . . there is every thing in 

 getting our tastes educated to a certain fla- 

 vor," p. 78. I think the prevailing honey is 

 the one generally preferred in each locality; 

 but I feel quite sure that there is a decided 

 difference in taste aside from locality or ed- 

 ucation. In this locality, where buckwheat 

 honey is rare, a few people strongly prefer it 

 to white clover. A member of my family 

 prefers a certain fall flavor to white clover, 

 while the very smell of it is offensive to me. 

 I WONDEK if something unusual in transit 

 or otherwise had not happened to that sam- 

 ple of heather honey received in Medina, p. 

 78. 1 think I never sampled heather honey 

 except once, and I surely did not call it vile. 

 It was from Scotland, and may have differed 

 from your English heather. [We do not 

 know how to explain it; but we presume the 

 sample sent to us was fine to those who were 

 consumers of that kind of honey. For ex- 

 ample, we consider Colorado alfalfa or Cali- 

 fornia sage ds very fine honey; but there are 

 some who do not like either— especially those 

 who like strong-flavored dark honey.— Ed.] 

 ' ' I TOLD YOU so. I wanted you to put that 

 in, and you wouldn't do it." That's what 

 my assistant said to me upon reading what 

 Mr. E. F. Atwater says, p. 83, about the be- 

 havior of a single piece of foundation fasten- 

 ed top and bottom. But I couldn't say it 

 with the same authority as Mr. Atwater, not 

 having had his experience; yet the fact re- 

 mains that it was just because I wanted to 

 avoid the unpleasant behavior of the single 

 piece fastened at the bottom that I invented 

 the bottom starter. That fastens the section 

 at the bottom just as securely as the single 

 piece fastened top und bottom, but does not 

 give the same opportunity for sagging. Bot- 

 tom starters require no extra machinery, 

 and any one can try them. 



E. H. Bradley must live in "the land of 

 contraries," p. 91. When a colony swarms 

 he keeps the strength as much as possible 

 with the mother colony, and depends on it 

 for surplus; elsewhere the swarm is thus us- 

 ed. In his locality the bees of a swarm seem 

 to return to the parent stock, only "enough 

 will remain to take care of all the eggs the 

 old queen can lay;" elsewhere no bees of the 

 swarm return to the parent. Unless he takes 

 precautions the swarm may swarm again, 

 making a virgin swarm; elsewhere no pre- 

 cautions are considered necessary to prevent 

 a virgin swarm. With him it is no trick to 

 produce prize honey over the black combs 

 of the mother colony; elsewhere, if there is 

 any difference, finer sections can be produc- 

 ed over a swarm with new combs. 



Referring to p. 78, I think the Miller es- 

 cape has the advantage that it is cheaper of 

 construction, and takes less time in using. 



while the bees may more readily desert the 

 Whitney. But if I preferred the Whitney I 

 would go back to the kind I used before the; 

 present Miller; mosquito-netting on all sides,, 

 instead of the Whitney box, and a cone at 

 the top. The cone may be of wire cloth, or.' 

 netting held up by two bent wires. That's; 

 away ahead of the Whitney or Miller for 

 letting in light on all sides; but I prefer thej 

 Miller on account of convenience in using. 

 Would not one large cone be better than the' 

 several small cones in the Whitney? [We 

 do not know whether a lot of cones is better' 

 than one or not. An actual test will deter- - 

 mine the point. — Ed.] 



All that, however, is aside from the main^ 

 point. My request was that you tell us on 

 what ground you base the objection that 

 "very young bees are unable to get back to ■ 

 the hive. ' ' You do not reply to that, mere- 

 ly repeating, "It would be my opinion that 

 some young bees will be lost " Please tell 

 us why that would be your opinion. [If your 

 pile of supers with your bee-escape is placed 

 at some point remote from the hive or hives, 

 then we do not see how it is possible for 

 the young bees to go back to the hive 

 whence they came. If the pile is placed near 

 the entrance of some colony, then it is con- 

 ceivable that they might crawl into such col- 

 ony.— Ed.] 



Thanks to Louis SchoU for helping to 

 keep the word "section" from being over- 

 worked, p. 88. I can hardly see the objec- 

 tion to "brood-chamber " that he does. Still 

 less do I see the objection to the word 

 "story." To be sure, story means a "full- 

 depth hive-body.'' Well, what of it? Is; 

 there any fixed depth for a full-depth hive- 

 body? A Jumbo hive-body is full-depth, so' 

 is any hive-body in use, so long as only one 

 story is used, isn't it? Now, suppose twO' 

 Jumbo bodies are used— one on top of the 

 other— is not each body a story? Suppose' 

 two bodies ten inches deep are used; is not 

 each a story? Go on down shallower and 

 shallower, and where will you draw the line' 

 and say any thing shallower than this is not. 

 a story? and why is it not a story? Let me: 

 start from another quarter. If a man uses a, 

 single Heddon hive-body you would call that, 

 a story. Now, why isn't it just as much a 

 story when he puts another story on it?' 

 [When we write about "divisible hives" or 

 a "shallow hive" or a "sectional brood- 

 chamber," is it not commonly understood 

 that such hive or brood-chamber is about, 

 half the depth of an ordinary Langstroth 

 hive? Langstroth depth is standard in this; 

 country. When we speak about a shallow 

 brood -chamber it is understood that we mean 

 about half the depth of the standard. When 

 we say ' ' Jumbo ' we mean something deep- 

 er than the standard. When we talk of a 

 short man we mean one considerably less 

 than six feet tall. When we speak of a tall 

 man we mean one who is nearly six feet or 

 something above it. 



We see no objection to the phrase "divis- 

 ible" hive or "sectional" hive. The latter. 



