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 



DECEMBER 1, 1908 



NO. 23 



Stray Straws 



Dr. C. C. Miller 



Mr. Editor, I quite agree with w'Tat you say, 

 p. 1366, about melting up combs where there is 

 any question of foul brood. I am exceedingly 

 thankful to say that, so far, I have no personal 

 interest in foul brood. A few years ago it was 

 within 12 miles of here, but I think it was not 

 allowed to spread. 



I THOUGHT I was somcwhat ultra in having a 

 space of 2 inches under bottom-bars. That's 

 shallow compared with what John Silver has. He 

 says, Irish Bee Journal, 63, " Nearly all my bot- 

 tom-boards are of the reversible type, a flat floor 

 one side, when turned upside down; this gives a 

 three or four inch space below." 



Something must be done to stop the man who 

 edits the Irish Bee Journal from getting in his 

 "digs" at every thing and everybody. Here's 

 an item he publishes: 



The British Bee Journal of Oct. 8 announced, for that date, a 

 conversazione of members of the B. B. K. A., at which one of 

 the attractions would be " ' Stings,' introduced by Colonel H. J. 

 O. Walker." 



And then what does that wild Irishman do but 

 head the item, "The Human Sting"! 



A newspaper statement was that the forest 

 fires cost a million dollars a day. [The state- 

 ment is possibly exaggerated, but nevertheless it 

 is plain to any candid mind that millions of feet 

 of valuable timber were burned, the loss of which 

 can not do other than enhance the price of lum- 

 ber in general, and, of course, all that is made 

 from it, including hives. Probably this advance 

 will not take place this year. — Ed.] 



A. I. Root, among your experiments with 

 cereals you might try wheat nvhole. I used it by 

 the peck in my college days as the cheapest fod- 

 der I could live on. I didn't grind it or do any 

 thing with it except to boil it a long time. Then 

 when cold there would be a sort of jelly between 

 the grains. Take it with rich milk, and chew, 

 chew, chew it, and it makes a very satisfying 

 meal. [See Our Homes in this issue. — A. I. R.] 



Lest beginners should think, upon reading 

 page 1363, that either by the mouth or by the 

 sting bees inject formic acid into the cell just be- 

 fore capping, I will say that authorities tell us that 

 the acid gets into the honey through the circula- 

 tion of the bee. [The reader is not to understand 

 that we affirmed that the formic acid was intro- 

 duced in the manner here explained, but only de- 

 sired to show that the bulletin in question did 

 not necessarily imply that it was introduced 



through the sting, a la Clarke. That the formic 

 acid gets into the honey through the process of 

 inversion, or as some prefer to call it digestion, 

 is probably true. — Ed.] 



"Then you believe in the general principle of 

 killing queens every two years, notwithstanding 

 your 'exceptions that p'ove the rule,' " says ye 

 editor, page 1364. Hardly that. Fact is, it isn't 

 easy to tell what I do believe. Most emphatical- 

 ly I don't believe it would be wise for me to kill 

 oflf all queens for no other reason than their being 

 two years old. If I did that there would be no 

 exceptional queens doing fine work in their old 

 age, and they are just the ones I like to breed 

 from, other things being equal. While I think 

 Mr. Chapman's plan of requeening every year is 

 good for him, I don't think my conditions favor 

 it. In actual practice I let a queen live so long 

 as she does good work. Not often do my bees 

 allow a queen to live after that. I suspect the 

 strain of bees may have a little to do with it. 



Beeswax Wood Polish. — The editor of 

 Gleanings recommends beeswax and turpentine 

 in a thin paste, page 1194. We think that he 

 will find our recipe better for furniture polish, viz. 

 — 4 oz. each of beeswax, white wax, and Castile 

 soap. Cut very fine and dissolve in three pints 

 of boiling water. Then add \yi pints of best 

 turpentine. Rub on with one cloth; rub off with 

 another; polish with a third. If found lumpy, 

 stand the jar of polish in boiling water before 

 using it. — Irish Bee Journal. ["White wax" is 

 here mentioned as an ingredient. We do not 

 know whether this refers to a bleached beeswax 

 or to some of the mineral waxes. Our painter, 

 who has tested paraffines and ceresines, says they 

 have a tendency to make a greasy finish, while a 

 pure beeswax and turpentine made into a paste 

 makes a hard, smooth, and semi-glossy surface. 

 We shall be glad to test this matter, and report, 

 usingparaffinefor the white wax referred to. — Ed.] 

 Years ago I stood alone in advocating legis- 

 lation that would give a bee-keeper legal control 

 of a given territory. Indeed, I stood practically 

 alone in advocating that a man had a moral right 

 to his own territory. A distinct change of view 

 as to the latter has taken place. Conventions 

 have passed resolutions condemning intrusion up- 

 on another man's territory, and many are in ac- 

 cord with the views of the editor of the Bee-keep- 

 ers' Re'vieav, who says, p. 339, "The man who 

 will crowd in upon the territory of another should 

 be looked upon as little better than a thief." It 

 may be a long time, as he says, before a man can 

 legally control a territory without owning the 

 land also; but legal control is pretty sure to come. 

 Granted that a man has a moral control, the 



