236 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 15 



plates I thought I would tell the whole thing, 

 even if some things were retold. 

 Ft. Collins, Colo. R. L. Pennell 



[In our issue for Jan. 15, page 96, we gave 

 some experiments on feeding candy in win- 

 ter. Perhaps it is this to which you refer. 



Candy made of sugar and honey mixed 

 into a soft dough should never be given to a 

 colony of bees unless it be given in paper 

 pie-plates, or wooden butter-dishes, or some 

 sort of receptacle to prevent the candy, when 

 it becomes warm or moist, from running 

 over the frames and killing the bees. — Ed.] 



THE LOSS DUE TO EVAPORATION IN THE 

 FEEDING OF SUGAR SYRUP. 



I see you and Mr. U. H. Bowen overlook- 

 ed two very impoi'tant points regarding his 

 experiments in feeding bees, as recorded on 

 page 1599, Dec. 15. 1. The bees had not yet 

 completed evapprating that syrup when he 

 did the last weighing, as will be seen by com- 

 paring weights at the different dates. From 

 the 15th to the 17th, out of the 6 lbs. pre- 

 viously fed, there was a loss of 4 lbs Dur- 

 ing the next two days the loss was but 2| 

 lbs., while it should have been as much as 

 during the previous interval. Probably 

 damper or colder weather made the differ- 

 ence. If he had weighed the hive each day 

 for a week longer he would have found them 

 losing all this time more than was necessary 

 for their subsistence, probably causing a 

 shrinkage of 5 lbs. more, reducing his 19 to 

 14 lbs. 



2. When the bees had completed evaporat- 

 ing that syrup in cool damp weather it still 

 contained at least 25 per cent of water, still 

 reducing the amount to 11| lbs., or 55 per 

 cent of the sugar fed. When the bees had 

 this "honey" capped, the amount was still 

 "more reduced. 



I am very glad to get his report, as I had 

 contemplated feeding syrup next fall for 

 winter ieed, because I thought it cheaper 

 than hnney. I think Mr. Alexander loses 

 too much by extracting and feeding back; 

 and his plan evidently unduly excites and 

 wears out his bees, and he can sufficiently 

 stimulate breeding in a way that will save 

 stores and not be so hard on the bees. 



Lander, Wyoming. I. W. Beckwith. 



HOW TO FASTEN FOUNDATION TO HORIZON- 

 TAL WIRES. 



On a cool morning place your frame up- 

 side down on the table. Slip the foundation 

 clear down into the groove, but in such a 

 way that every second wire will be on the 

 opposite side. It is easy when the wax is 

 cool. Leave it that way till the day gets 

 warm and the wax soft ; then press in the 

 wedge strips ; lay the frame down; spur the 

 wire down, first on one side and then t^e 

 other. A. Bruhn. 



Enumclaw, Wash., Dec. 29. 



[Your plan is perfectly feasible ; in fact, 

 we believe it is the only right way for the 

 wedge-top frames and horizontal wires. — Ed ] 



TUBERCULOSIS AS A DISEASE OF THE MASSES. 



Oh how I do love good books! and I love 

 the good men and women who give the world 

 good books at reasonable prices. You know 

 I have had considerable to say of late in re- 

 gard to the "great white p'ague" (probably 

 because of the dear sister who has been thus 

 afflicted*), and that is why I have been so 

 eagerly watching for reports regarding the 

 efforts of our great doctors to combat it. 

 Well, one of my "happy surprises" was to 

 get hold of Dr. Knopf's prize essay. It is 

 published by Fred P Flori, 514 East*82d St., 

 New York, and much credit is due Mr. Flori 

 for giving the world such a beautiful book 

 for only 25 cts. paper, 50 cts. cloth. There 

 are 104 pages and 30 illustration«, some of 

 them beautiful half-tone-*, and I rejoice to 

 learn that the book has already been trans- 

 lated into 21 different languages. 



The motto of the book, given on the cover, 

 is "To combat consumption, as a disease of 

 the masses, successfully, requires the com- 

 bined action of a wise government, well- 

 trained physicians, and an intelligent peo- 

 ple." The book should be read by every- 

 body, and everybody will be pretty sure to 

 read it after getting once well started. It 

 should be read by all, because the ways of 

 living that stamp out consumption will stamp 

 out a hundred other ailments as well. It is 

 along the lines T. B. Terry and myself have 

 been urging for some time past. Plenty of 

 air, and cool outdoor air at that, is the great 

 theme. I told you last winter and spring, 

 or tried to tell y<»u, that the best place for 

 chickens was not an apart^nent warmed up 

 by steam-pipes, and I felt then and feel now 

 that God was revealing it to me that human 

 beings should not be warmed by warm apart- 

 ments. If you can not do any belter, per- 

 haps it is better to be warmed thus than to 

 suffer with th« cold. If obliged to sleep in a 

 warm room, fix something so you can sleep 

 with your head out of the window or on the 

 window-sill with the window up. 



The book contains several pictures of ar- 

 rangements of this kind. A large part of 

 the book (and several illustrations) is devoted 

 to doing away with indiscriminate spitting 

 on the floors and sidewalks, and pocket spit- 

 toons for consumptive people are described 

 and illustrated. Humidifiers for correcting 

 too dry an atmosphere indoors are described 

 and illustrated. Here we have "Terry" 

 again. 



The matter of diet is fully discussed by the 



* I am extremely happy to inform all inquiring 

 friends that this sister (Mrs. C. D. Gardner, Manistee, 

 Mich.) is eery ?mich better, and she has just written 

 me that she doesn't seem to mind the winter weather 

 at all, so far, and that she weighs more than for a 

 number of years. 



