Gleanings In Bee Culture 



Published by The A. J. 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 



NOVEMBER 1, 1908 



NO. 21 



Stray Straws 



Dr. C. C. Miller 



Bee-keeping is mentioned, p. 1279, as "proba- 

 bly the oldest human occupation under the sun." 

 I wonder, now. Adam was a gardener. Did he 

 " probably " spend some time at bee-keeping be- 

 fore he began gardening.? 



My GRANDSON, 11 weeks old, is now here on a 

 visit from Washington, D. C When I realize 

 what interest is awakened by that single lump of 

 humanity, I wonder how it can be with A. I. 

 Root with his full outfit of grandchildren, assort- 

 ed sizes. 



"Wouldn't it be fair for the buyer of honey 

 to allow the producer half price on the can.? " asks 

 Dr. Lyon, p. 1245. Isn't the answer on the next 

 page, where the editor says, "He pays the pro- 

 ducer half a cent more per pound for the honey 

 because it is in tins.?" [Y-e-s; but after all we 

 suspect that would not quite answer Dr. Lyon. — 

 Ed.] 



For uncapping, there is suggested, page 1244, 

 "a straight handled tool on plain work, and 

 another knife, with an offset handle, in places 

 which can not be reached with the straight knife. " 

 Are not those " places " depressions, and would 

 they not be better reached with a straight handle 

 and a curved blade.? [Quite likely. Whoknows 

 by experience.? — Ed.] 



Uncle Joe Cannon denounced by the Rock 

 River Methodist conference for opposing tem- 

 perance legislation, p. 1274. Oh, my! that's not 

 the only pebble on the beach. Can't recall them 

 all; but there are other Methodist conferences 

 doing the same thing; also the Methodist bishops 

 (isn't the M. E. General Conference also on the 

 list?) besides Baptist bodies, Quaker — oh! I don't 

 know what all. Fact is, moral issues are forcing 

 politics into the church, and the leaders are be- 

 ginning to use plain talk. 



Formic acid, according to that quotation from 

 U. S. Bulletin 110, page 1254, " is supposed to be 

 introduced into the honey by the bee just previous 

 to capping the cell." Why not add that the bee 

 drops it into the cell from its sting.? But does 

 any intelligent bee-keeper nowadays believe that 

 the acid is added " just previous to capping the 

 cell" .? [You seem to have in mind the old sting- 

 trowel theory, long since exploded and discarded. 

 Why can not the bees introduce the formic acid 

 in some other way than with their stings.? The 

 author of the bulletin mentioned, we do not 

 think, had in mind the sting-trowel theory. — 

 Eu.j 



That point that W. K. Morrison makes, p. 

 1248, as to the dryness of honey compared with 

 other foods, is good. It struck me almost as 

 something new. But I would not like to insist 

 before a promiscuous audience that " Actually, 

 honey improves with age." Put in that geneial 

 form I'm sure it would be met with the answer, 

 " I know that isn't true, for 'new honey' is al- 

 ways best, and the longer we keep it the poorer 

 it gets." Even if, under proper conditions, it 

 may improve with age, there's a limit, I think, to 

 that age. 



A nucleus with the full two-inch space under 

 bottom-bars had become so strong that the clus- 

 ter of bees hung an inch below bottom-bars. On 

 a hot day I lay for some time on the ground in 

 front of the hive watching the bees enter. They 

 had no fixed rule. Some lit directly on the clus- 

 ter, some on the floor, and some on the side of 

 the bottom-board Then I watched the bees fly- 

 ing out. Some started directly from the cluster, 

 aud some jumped down on the floor and walked 

 out. [We have watched the bees in the same 

 way, and found they fly out and return exactly 

 as you describe. — Ed.] 



Glad to satisfy the curiosity you express, 

 Mr Editor, p. 1243. I had 129 colonies, spring 

 count, from which I took 19,480 sections. Al- 

 though that's short of what I expected, it's better 

 than 1 could have done 25 years ago. Probably 

 three reasons for the improvement: Forage bet- 

 ter; bees better; bee-keeper better. [This is 151 

 sections of comb honey to the colony. As you 

 use 1% by 4}( square sections this would make 

 a little less than 140 lbs. of comb honey per hive. 

 The record, while not a breaker, is good for that 

 number, and you are to be congratulated. While 

 the season was excellent we must give the man 

 and his management some credit. — Ed.] 



"For outdoor-wintered colonies we recom- 

 mend about 25 lbs. of sealed stores," page 1245. 

 While that may be all right at Medina, I'd feel 

 safer here with 30. And a good way south of 

 Medina, don't bees use moie.? [Where it is very 

 cold the bees will consume more stores than 

 where it is only moderately so. If the other ex- 

 treme is reached, where the bees can fly almost 

 every day in the winter, then there will also be a 

 larger consumption, but at an increased ratio. In 

 our locality we would estimate that there would 

 be less stores consumed than in any point north 

 or south of us. If 30 lbs. would be about right 

 for Marengo, then 25 lbs. would be a safe figure 

 for a locality somewhat milder. — Ed.] 



W. M. Janes wants me to give some of the 

 most easily seen points in appearance by which 1 

 Ciin decide that a queen is old. I can recognize 



