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 



OCTOBER 15, 1908 



NO. 20 



Stray Straws 



Dr. C. C. Miller 



Hahnemann, the aged bee-keeper mentioned 

 on page 1186, is, if I mistaice not, the inventor of 

 the queen-excluder. Going from Germany, he 

 has been in Brazil many years. 



E. D. TovvNSEND, I was a little surprised that 

 you didn't mention dandelion in your list of hon- 

 ey-plants, p. 1185. It was introduced here per- 

 haps 60 years ago, and now it is worth more than 

 all early yielders combined, leaving out fruit- 

 bloom. 



"Timely hints on fall uniting," p. 1178, are 

 good. Let me add that, if you kill one queen 

 two or three days before uniting, then move the 

 queenless bees to the hive with the queen, it will 

 ensure the safety of the queen, and the queenless 

 bees will stay put better than queenright bees. 

 [Correct, according to our experience. — Ed.] 



A. I. Root, you seem to think, p. 1209, that 

 if you- have your money in government bonds 

 you can't get it just when you want it. That's 

 true, and it's not true. You can get the money 

 for a government bond any day, but you must 

 sell the whole bond at once. If you want only a 

 small part you can't get it. There's where postal 

 or savings banks are ahead. 



The season was somewhat disappointing at 

 the latter end, owing, at least partly, to the drouth 

 of 43 days. Still, I'm not grumbling. An aver- 

 age of 151 sections per colony (about 138^ lbs.) 

 is not bad. The best colony gave 276 sections, 

 falling 24 sections short of the best yielder in 

 1903. [Now we are curious to know how many 

 colonies you had, or, in other words, what is your 

 total crop.? — Ed.] 



A. I. Root, speaking of preparing wheat 

 cheaply for the table, p. 1213, did you ever try it 

 vYith no preparation whatever except to boil the 

 whole wheat.? In college days it was a staple ar- 

 ticle with me, and I assure you a peck of wheat 

 will go a long way. Boil it three hours. A good 

 medicine for constipation. Cheap, too. Some 

 of the time my board cost 35 cents a week. But 

 I don't hanker to repeat the experience. 



You ask, Mr. Editor, p. 1176, "Do you think 

 there is any real difference between boiling the 

 splints in the hot wax and covering them over 

 with a thick film of wax as described by Mr. At- 

 water.? " No, indeed; I think the Atwater plan 

 might be the better, if thoroughly done I iiave 

 been wondering whether it might not be just pos- 

 sible that one reason the bees gnawed Mr. At- 



water's foundation was because the end of the 

 splint was some distance above the bottom-bar. 



W. K. Morrison, your levulose-dextrose bus- 

 iness, page 1205, is interesting. Now when I've 

 had coarsely grained clover honey I've drained 

 off the liquid part, leaving apparently dry sugar. 

 Is the liquid drained off mostly or entirely le\u- 

 lose.? If so, we might so control the granulating 

 as to get all the levulose out. [The drainings 

 are pure levulose and water. If held at the right 

 temperature the levulose leaves the dextrose as a 

 liquid. The dry sugar is puie dextrose. In time 

 there may be a demand for this levulose, as it is 

 undoubtedly a medicine. — .W .K .M] 



M. H. Mendleson, you're perhaps the first 

 Californian who has mentioned getting a crop of 

 phacelia honey, although I've implored some of 

 you to tell us about it. It is a native of Califor- 

 nia, introduced from there into Germany, and 

 much has been said in German journals about it; 

 but your brief mention of a carload of honey 

 from it, p. 1203, comprises a large part of our lit- 

 erature on the subject. What's the honey like ? 

 What is the value of phacelia as forage for cattle.? 

 Was your honey got from wild or cultivated 

 plants? Please unlock your knowledge-box. 



Postal savings banks will be a great conven- 

 ience, and entirely safe, splendid for temporary 

 deposit; but other savings banks will still be need- 

 ed, for two per cent is all that is proposed the 

 postal shall pay, and it is right that money should 

 earn more if it can do so safely. There is con- 

 siderable discussion just now about having laws 

 that will make savings banks as safe as govern- 

 ment bonds. Indeed, Oklahoma already has 

 such a law, and you can send money there by 

 mail and get 4 per cent. That's about as much 

 as you can get from banks anywhere. In this lo- 

 cality, 3 per cent is the rule. 



Wm. W. Case says, p. 1199, that the larva of 

 the bee-moth makes its start in cells of pollen in 

 sections, and in travel-stain. He might add that 

 the body of a dead bee also makes a good start- 

 ing-point. But with Italians or good hybrids, 

 do worms trouble sections.? For years I haven't 

 fumigated a section, although, before Italian 

 blood predominated, all sections were fumigated 

 twice. [We find it necessary to fumigate some 

 lots of sections that are sent to us. We presume 

 it is because the producers of them have the bee- 

 moth in their vicinity. Come to think about it, 

 we do not have to fumigate combs from our yards 

 as we did in years gone by. — Ed.] 



" These old queens are always readily accept- 

 ed anywhere," page 1204. That sounds as if it 

 meant that an old queen would be more readily 



