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. 

 Entered at the Postoffice, Medina, Ohio, as Second-class Matter 



A. L. BOYDEN, Advertising Manager. 

 J. T. CALVERT, Business Manager, 



VOL. XXXVI 



DECEMBER 15, 1908 



NO. 24 



Stray Straws 



Dr. C. C. Miller 



Margaret Gray is advised, page 1444, to re- 

 move honey from the hive to prevent granulation. 

 Does honey granulate sooner in the hive than 

 out.? [No. Quite the other way, or at least that 

 has been the general impression. — Ed.] 



Let ME add a little to that reply to Charles 

 Reynders, p. 1443. If you receive a queen that 

 you don't want to use immediately you can put 

 her caged in any strong colony, putting the cage 

 between the brood-frames, but not allowing the 

 bees of the hive to get at the candy. I think she 

 might stay a month all right. 



Honey " is not spoiled in cooking as many 

 good foods are," p. 1430. Quite right as intend- 

 ed, but it does not mean that you can boil honey 

 without spoiling it A very little cooking be- 

 yond 160° hurts the flavor. [Boiling honey cer- 

 tainly does spoil it for table use; or, rather, we 

 should say, it greatly mars its flavor. — Ed.] 



About that twenty colonies from nine, page 

 1443. It is quite possible, as stated, "that two 

 of that nine were strong enough to make two other 

 colonies each." It's perhaps a little more likely 

 that from each of the nine colonies a single frame 

 was taken, these nine frames being used to make 

 the two colonies. [We accept your amendment. 

 —Ed.] 



Drone combs in supers. " Unless perforated 

 zinc is used the queen would be quite sure to oc- 

 cupy this drone comb," page 1425. Let me add 

 that, if perforated zinc is used, the bees will hold 

 open more or less of the drone comb for the use 

 of the queen. I judge this from the fact of see- 

 ing sections not entirely filled with worker foun- 

 dation, and the vacancy filled out with drone 

 comb, the drone comb entirely empty when the 

 rest of the section was filled with honey. [Since 

 Dr. Miller speaks of it, we remember there have 

 been reports of how drone-cells would be left 

 open and empty, while the worker would be fill- 

 ed with honey. Who else has any thing to offer 

 on this subject? — Ed.] 



E. D. TowNSEND has hit it exactly in that bot- 

 tom paragraph, p. 1432. An eight-frame hive is 

 too small for extracted honey, and possibly for 

 comb. At any rate, no one should fool with an 

 eight-frame hive unless he intends to give his 

 bees the very closest attention. But I am not so 

 sure about some things in the preceding paragraph. 

 He says, " Bees on ten frames of brood will store 

 the same amount of honey whether the brood is 

 all in one hive, or divided into two parts and in 



two hives. " I haven't the figures at hand; but 

 from some of the authorities across the water has 

 come the statement, never before contradicted, to 

 the effect that, if one colony is twice as strong as 

 another, it will store more than twice as much 

 honey. 



That comb honey 12 years old, p. 1437, re- 

 minds me. Years ago, on a visit to my mother 

 I spoke of sending her some honey. She said, 

 "Why, Charles, you don't need to send me any. 

 I have plenty left from last year. " "Oh! but 

 last year's honey is no longer so good," I said. 

 " Oh! but it is," she replied. " Please show it to 

 me. " To my surprise she showed me sections of 

 honey that were faultless. " Where do you keep 

 it.''" I asked. "Up in the garret. " If you know 

 what a garret or attic is, you know it is a very 

 cold place in winter, but roasting hot in summer. 

 The roasting the honey got in the latter part of 

 summer seemed to have thickened it so that the 

 winter's freezing did not affect it. Afterward I 

 saw at a Rockford convention section honey in 

 perfect condition that had been kept over in the 

 same way. 



After reading about clover, p. 1426, I went 

 out to reconnoiter. We had one of tiie worst 

 drouths last summer I ever knew — perhaps the 

 worst. No rain fell from August 11 till Sept. 27 

 — 47 days. In the cow pasture, which has not 

 been ted down for some time, I found abundance 

 of young clover, and I see no reason why it may 

 not be as good next year as this. In the horse 

 pasture, which has been continuously and severe- 

 ly grazed, I saw no clover. However, putting 

 on my specs and getting down on my hands and 

 knees I could see here and there wee clover leaves 

 started. I doubt if there'll be a very big show 

 there next year, when this year it was a mass of 

 white. [We should be glad to get reports from 

 others who may know the exact conditions, as it 

 must necessarily have a strong bearing on the 

 price of clover honey at least. — Ed.] 



Is IT TRUE that " what kills the clover is not 

 the drouth, but too much water in the ground 

 and hard freezing ".? If farmers agree on that I'll 

 take their word for it; but naturally I should 

 think just about the opposite. I think it is gen- 

 erally believed that it isn't so much freezing that 

 hurts as thawing, especially frequent and rapid 

 freezing and thawing. Wet ground is slower at 

 thawing out than day, and the dryer the ground 

 the more rapid the freezing and thawing, I should 

 think, hence the more harm. [You may be right; 

 but is it not possible that a wet soil heaves more 

 — that is, expands more during the process of 

 freezing — than a dry one.? Now, the roots of 

 clover extend for several inches into the ground, 



