Gleanings In Bee Culture 



H. H. ROOT, Assistant Editor. 



A. I. ROOT, Editor Home Department 



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

 E. R. ROOT, Editor. 



A. L. BOYDEN, Advertising Manager. 

 J. T. CALVERT, Business Manager. 



VOL. XXXVI 



NOVEMBER 15, 1908 



NO. 22 



Stray Straws 



Dr. C. C. Miller 



Herr Schroeder and his wife, of Trieste, 

 Austria, made a flying visit to Marengo, leaving 

 a streak of sunshine behind them. 



Students of French who are bee-keepers would 

 do well to get Dadant's Langstroth in French, 

 " L'Abeille et la Ruche," as a reader. It's fine. 



An AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL says: "Spring is 

 the best time in the year to move bees." It may 

 be; but if a bee settles on your neck, or any other 

 portion of your anatomy, in the fall, don't wait 

 until the spring to remove it. — Norristo-Tvn Herald. 



As POSTSCRIPT to the last item on page 1304, 

 let me add that you may sometimes if not often 

 find a case where the bees stop rearing brood, al- 

 though the queen has not yet stopped laying. 

 You will find eggs and sealed brood, but no un- 

 sealed brood. [We accept theamendment. — Ed.] 



QuiNBY said that a colony which had stored in 

 supers might be expected to have plenty of stores 

 for winter. That was true when he said it, for it 

 was before the days of extracted honey. This 

 year I think each of my colonies that stored in 

 sections is well supplied for winter; but a few col- 

 onies that had stored in drawn combs were not 

 more than half supplied. 



Alsike is getting to be quite an item here. 

 On the first crop I saw scarcely a bee. Was 

 there a lack of nfectar in it, or was it only because 

 there was such an enormous amount of that and 

 white clover? Bees were plentiful on the second 

 crop of alsike, and so they were on red clover. 

 [In our locality the firstcrop gave a large amount 

 of nectar. We should conclude that weather 

 conditions about Marengo were not favorable, or 

 alske would have yielded on its first crop as it 

 did with us. — Ed.] 



Suppose one strain of queens lives twice as long 

 as another; don't you believe one set of workers 

 would live longer than the other.!" You can not 

 easily keep track of the age of workers; but you 

 can of queens. [We do not know whether we 

 believe that a long-lived queen means long-lived 

 workers; but this is true: A queen vigorous 

 enough to live five years may transmit that same 

 vigor or longevity to her workers; but the life of 

 the worker is dependent on its wings to resist 

 wear and tear; and it is dependent somewhat on 

 the kind of flora it has to work on. A queen 

 might have great power of egg-laying year after 

 year, but breed bees with wings that would not 

 stand very much strain or wear and tear in a growth 

 of heavy underbrush. — Ed.] 



Oliver typewriters, advertised in Gleanings, 

 have at least the advantage of a good "locality," 

 for they're made in this county. At Sunday- 

 school conventions I've met some nice men who 

 were connected with the factory. [It has been 

 said there are as many Oliver typewriters in use 

 as of all other kinds together. At all events, all 

 of the typewriter work in the main office and 

 branch offices of The A. I. Root Co. is done on 

 the Oliver machine. It is one of the strongest 

 typewriters ever made. It is practically impos- 

 sible to get it out of alignment; and while we 

 have no financial interest in it, it is a pleasure to 

 testify to its many sterling merits. — Ed.] 



"Why CAN NOT the bees introduce the formic 

 acid in some other way than with their stings.?" 

 is a question propounded to me, p. 1303. I reply 

 that most certainly they can; and just as certain- 

 ly I think they do. Now, Mr. Editor, I've an- 

 swered your question; please answer mine. I 

 asked, "Does any intelligent bee-keeper nowa- 

 days believe that the acid is added 'just previous 

 to capping the cell.?' " That's what's supposed 

 to be done according to the bulletin. I've no 

 recollection ©f seeing it ever stated that the poison 

 was introduced "just previous to capping " ex- 

 cept by the sting; so I don't see what was in 

 mind if not the sting-trowel theory. However, 

 let us throw out that theory entirely. What 

 ground is there for supposing that formic acid is 

 introduced by the bee just pre^i-'lous to capping the 

 cell? Don't you believe there's formic acid there 

 before the cell is half filled.? [You are asking 

 something about which we know nothing; but 

 we do not see any reason why the bee could not 

 inject formic acid from its mouth parts into the 

 cell just previous to the capping. You seem to 

 think that the writer of the bulletin above men- 

 tioned had in mind the sting-trowel theory. He 

 may have had, but we doubt it. — Ed.] 



Summer of 1908 I had 18 colonies that gave 

 200 sections or more each. Of these, 



3 with 1905 queens averaged 217 sections each. 



3 with 1%6 queens averaged 233 sections each. 

 12 with 1907 queens averaged 223 sections each. 



I am inclined to believe that, with a good strain 

 of bees, a queen's second year will in general be 

 her best. 



My 4 queens that stood at the head of the list 

 were as follows: 



A 1906 queen with 276 sections; 



a 1907 queen with 266 sections; 



a 1907 queen with 252 sections; 



a 1905 queen with 244 sections. 



The 1906 queen had at one time an egg in one 

 queen-cell, and at another time a grub in one 

 queen-cell. I don't know whether a swarm would 



