Gleanings In Bee Culture 



Published by The A. I. Root Co., Medina, Ohio 



H. H. ROOT, Assistant Editor 



A. I. ROOT, Editor Home Department 



E. R. ROOT, Editor 



A. L. BOYDEN, Advertising Manager 

 J. T. CALVERT. Business Manager 



VOL. XXXVI 



JUNE 15, 1908 



NO. 12 



Stray Straws 



Dr. C. C. Miller 



Have read Leslie Burr's article, p. 699. Am 

 going to stay at Marengo. [Most bee-keepers 

 had better stay where they are unless they desire 

 to go into the business of honey production on a 

 very large scale, running a series of yards. — Ed.] 



I THOUGHT I did a pretty good thing when I 

 said "cellar the bees" instead of "put the bees in 

 the cellar." Now comes a Canuck, R. B. Ross, 

 Jr., with the word "uncellar. " Why not.? Ever 

 so much shorter than to say "take out of the cel- 

 lar." 



Sorry you've gone lame in one eye, Mr. Edi- 

 tor, but glad you are going to spend more time 

 with the bees. Better for your readers, and you 

 will live longer. [The eye is apparently holding 

 its own. We feared at one time that it might 

 get worse, and possibly involve the other eye. — 

 Ed.] 



W. Z. Hutchinson, p. 639, speaks of storing 

 supers of honey in the bee-cellar. Does he really 

 mean cellar? That might do in Colorado, just 

 possibly in Michigan; but to store honey in any 

 thing called a cellar in this locality, unless the 

 cellar is heated, comes pretty near spelling ruin. 

 [Here too. — Ed.] 



A Carnio-Italian queen was received from 

 Medina, July 30, 1906 — too late for her progeny 

 to do much storing that year. Last year the col- 

 ony built up well, showed no great inclination to 

 swarm, and stored more than the average. This 

 year it has built up well again. Looks like good 

 stock, judged by this one specimen. 



Sometimes the objection is made to comb hon- 

 ey that the wax is indigestible. Probably in no 

 case does that do any harm; and in some cases 

 the indigestibility of the wax is its greatest rec- 

 ommendation. In cases of chronic constipation 

 comb honey has been reported beneficial when 

 extracted honey would have no effect. 



Wonder what made the difference between 

 Albert L Mills' experience, p. 701, and that of 

 Mr. Whitney and mine. Could it be that letting 

 most of the bees go down through the escape, as 

 Mr. Mills did, should make the difference.? It 

 seems strange that he found a loss with only two 

 supers, and that with thousands of supers I have 

 as yet observed no loss. 



A. I. Root, let me tell you a little story. Once 

 there was a saloon-ridden town where four boys 

 lived whose fathers were drunkards, and spent all 

 their money at the saloons. You will see a pic- 

 ture of them in Gleanings on the right side of p. 



698. On the left side you will see the same boys 

 a few months later after saloons were voted out, 

 and the fathers supported their boys instead of 

 saloons. 



I don't know whether bees that cap the combs 

 watery are always hustlers; but I think I never 

 had any very poor storers that capped watery. 

 But as I work for comb honey I don't believe 

 such bees bring up the quantity stored as much 

 as they bring down the price per pound. It's all 

 right for such bees to find an asylum with Mr. 

 Whitney, page 702, for I suspect he sets them to 

 woik on extracting-combs. For extracted honey 

 they are all right. 



Bertha M. Timoney, you say your bees are 

 not as neighborly as those bees in Germany, page 

 703, but perhaps they would be if placed the same 

 as the bees are placed in Germany. Germans do 

 not scatter them all over the ground as we do, but 

 put them very close together. My hives stand 

 in pairs, a space of only an inch or so between 

 each two hives. In a hot time sometimes that 

 space is filled up with bees, and the bees of the 

 two colonies hang out as one cluster. If one 

 hive should be crowded with honey, and the oth- 

 er have lots of room, it would be nothing strange 

 if they should go into partnership and store 

 where there was the most room. 



Bee-keepers, I think, generally understand 

 that it is economy to use foundation as thin as 

 possible. In spite of that, thin super has the 

 preference over extra thin more than two to 

 one. Please get bee-keepers to tell why. I gave 

 up extra thin because the bees maltreated it so 

 whenever not actually storing in it. [Yes, we 

 should be glad to have producers report what 

 weight of foundation they use for sections, and 

 why, particularly the n.vhy. In order that we 

 may hear from as many as possible we should like 

 to get postal-card reports from several hundred. 

 This will be interesting and valuable, especially 

 to those whose minds are not quite made up 

 which to use. — Ed.] 



Working with bees at night seems to do well 

 with some; but somehow it doesn't seem to fit 

 this locality. Bees crawling all over, like as not 

 to sting where it will hurt — excuse me. [Night- 

 working is not nearly so bad as it may seem on 

 first trial, providing one uses a good lantern, bi- 

 cycle pants-guards to keep the bottom of the 

 trousers tight, and sleeves protected in a similar 

 manner. Yes, the bees will crawl; but if one 

 goes at the matter properly he will experience but 

 little difficulty. But we would advise night- 

 working only in the case of business men or 

 clerks who do not get home till after daylight 

 hours; and in all other cases where robbing has 

 been very bad — Ed.] 



