1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1121 



two questions involved in this stimulative feed- 

 ing. First, which is better — a strong colony of 

 old bees, whose vitality is unimpaired by pre- 

 vious brood-rearing, or a weak colony of young 

 bees 37 days before our honey harvest is to be- 

 gin, that being the time required to rear laborers 

 for the fields from the eg(r. Second, when nat- 

 ural pollen (the best kind of stimulant in connec- 

 tion with plenty of honev in the hive) begins, as 

 it does here, more than 37 days before our earli- 

 est harvest commences, and continues without a 

 break, is it any additional stimulation to feed 

 thin honey? All of my experience says that col- 

 onies which do not begin brood-rearing in earnest 

 till pollen comes in plentifully from the elms and 

 hard maple will excel by far those which are 

 stimulated to brood- rearing earlier, so that the 

 old bees die of exhausted vitality before the hon- 

 ev harvest arrives." 



SIFTINGS. 



By J. E. Crane 



It is a great satisfaction to have such a frank, 

 outspoken report as we find on page 869 on the 

 good and bad qualities of the Caucasian bees. 

 We feel somehow now as though we knew some- 

 thing definite. Thanks. 



Dr. Miller inquires, page 927, Aug. 1, if we 

 found any thing in the platforms of the two great 

 political parties about the greatest public ques- 

 tion of the day. No, doctor, we didn't, and we 

 were looking too. Too bad. 



Mr. F. G. Marbach's suggestion, page 929, of 

 making a honey-board of two sections, is a good 

 one. The only objection I find is that, in prac- 

 tice, one piece is quite apt to be missing, having 

 been used for something else. It is bad busi- 

 ness to do SO; but with help you can not always 

 find things in place. [See Mr. Brovald's sugges- 

 tion, page 1137. — Ed.] 



* 



I find an error on page 895, first column, a lit- 

 tle below the middle. In referring to the varia- 

 tion of cane sugar in honey it says, " It is caused 

 by differences of soil or climate, etc." It should 

 have been, " Is it caused by differences of soil or 

 climate.'" I do not presume to know. It is one 

 of those scientific questions we should like to 

 know; but perhaps it is not of great practical 

 value. 



W. K. Morrison says, page 875, that a writer 

 in one of the European journals maintains that it 

 is only from the second crop of red clover that 

 bees extract any nectar, while he imagined it was 

 mostly gathered from the mammoth clover. 

 Hereabouts I have seen bees work as freely on 

 both the first and second crops of medium red 

 clover as on any other clover; but it was only 

 when conditions were favorable and only occasion- 

 ally. 



By the way, Mr. Morrison is one of the most 

 cosmopolitan writers that have enriched the pages 



of Gleanings, and his Gleanings from Foreign 

 Exchanges are full of meat, and well worth the 

 careful thought of every bee-keeper. 



And there is Dr. Miller, page 939, with "the 

 smile that won't come off." G^od! Surely he 

 is our " grand old man." Old, did I say.'' No, 

 he is not old. I don't think he ever will be. I 

 have read somewhere in an old-fashioned book 

 that there are those who are made " partakers of 

 the divine nature.." Such do not grow old. I 

 believe no other contributor to our American 

 bee-journals has a larger place in the hearts of the 

 bee-keepers of our country than Dr. C. C. Miller. 



♦ 

 I believe Dr. Miller's estimate, page 867, July 

 15, of the amount of wax needed for storing 100 

 lbs. of honey is rather high. I have two or three 

 times had occasion to melt up section combs, and 

 I succeeded in getting only about four pounds of 

 wax to the hundred of honey. There is, how- 

 ever, quite a variation in the thickness of combs 

 or in the amount of wax used by different colo- 

 nies in comb-building. 



The remarks of J. L. Byer, page 935, are of 

 value as to danger in the use of cyanide of potas- 

 sium. I have had occasion to use both cyanide 

 and bisulphide of carbon this season, and I find 

 but little difference in cost, and for a small space 

 the bisulphide is much more convenient to use, 

 and on the whole I prefer it. But when a large 

 space is to be filled I am not sure but the cyanide 

 treatment would be preferable. 



The article by J. L. Byer, page 887, on wax- 

 rendering, stirs within us a fellow-feeling. I made 

 a press a few years ago something after the Hatch- 

 (iemmil type, and have often been surprised at 

 the amount of wax I have secured. I do not 

 press so hard as formerly; but after pressing a 

 batch fairly, I loosen the screw and remove the 

 follower; pour in hot water, and stir up the slum- 

 gum thoroughly; press again, and get at the sec- 

 ond pressing about ten per cent as much as at the 

 first pressing. 



If all those who can not affoid to take a bee 

 journal could only learn "h'>w to make wax" it 

 would pay many times over for all the journals 

 devoted to bees in this country. Further, if all 

 who render wax knew how to do it properly the 

 supply of this useful article would be largely in- 

 creased, and the wax famine that has seemed im- 

 minent for a few years past would be postponed 

 for some time. 



4> 



On page928 we find the following: "We notice 

 by the American G?-ocer tha.1 the Kansas Board of 

 Health, which has the entorcement of the pure- 

 food laws of that State, says that grocers who sell 

 beet sugar for cane will be subject to prosecution. 

 We wish this ruling might become general all 

 through the United States, as it is impossible now 

 to know w hat one is buying — cane or beet sugar. " 

 Now, we seem to be not a little mixed on this 

 sugar question. I have been accustomed to think 

 of beet sugar as cane sugar, and yet the Kansas 

 Board of Health, as well as the editor of Glean- 



