74 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1 



Stray Straws 



Dr. C. C. Miller 



CariyW. Rees, p. 63, ought to try shaking 

 the bees in front of the hive after moving that 

 short distance. I have considerable faith in shalc- 

 ing for that purpose. [Good suggestion, and it 

 will work too. — Ed.] 



A. I. Root used to have honey peddled from 

 a vegetable-wagon. Joseph Tinsley, Irish Bee 

 Journal, p. 76, gets a milk-seller to sell honey. 

 The milk-wagon has the advantage that it goes 

 every day in the year. [Good suggestion! — Ed.] 

 Fhank C. Pellet, you're all right about feed- 

 ing below in winter when the cluster is down 

 enough. Y^Q done some feeding that way, but I 

 used comb honey. But are you not a little off 

 in your second sentence, page 5^.? You prefer a 

 pan of syrup on top to any of the feeders on the 

 market, because " there is less danger from rob- 

 bing than from an entrance feeder. " Are all the 

 feeders on the market entrance feeders? Can a 

 pan of syrup on top be any safer from robbers 

 than a Miller feeder? 



R. C. Aikin's articles are thought-provoking, 

 and that one on page 61 is no exception. I think 

 there is more money in comb honey than extract- 

 ed _/br me, else 1 would extract. But I seriously 

 question that under general conditions as much 

 comb as extracted can be obtained. I 'm not sure 

 but I'll say under any conditions. If as much 

 comb can be obtained, please give us an instance 

 of a single case where, other things being equal, 

 25 or 50 colonies gave as much comb as an equal 

 number, side by side, gave of extracted. 



Don't go crazv in too much of a hurry about 

 shaking bees. That it makes them tame as kit- 

 tens is valuable; also that it makes them stay 

 put when moved. But neither of these things 

 proves that shaken bees store more honey. I 

 don't say they don't, but satisfactory proof is yet 

 lacking. [No, we would not get "crazy;" but 

 somebody must have enough enthusiasm to try 

 out the thing, whether there is any thing in it or 

 not. We positively know that it is a great 

 help in bringing about the safe introduction of 

 queens. — Ed.] 



R. GoELDi, Sc/i-Tveiz. Bztg., 176, reports this: 

 Drones were hatched out in a super over an ex- 

 cluder, and, of course, had never flown. One 

 evening he took the super back of the apiary and 

 took off the cover. Promptly the drones sailed 

 out, circled about, and went straight to the hive 

 from which they had been taken. He counts 

 this proof of the sharp sense of smell of the drones. 

 A skeptic at my elbow suggests that from the su- 

 per also flew workers which knew their old loca- 

 tion, went to it, and started a call at the entrance, 

 and the drones followed them. [Quite right. — 

 Ed.] 



Don't any of you beginners look at that pic- 

 ture on page 60 and conclude you'll go to using 

 box hives for fancy comb honey. If Mr. Spick- 

 ler had used a movable-frame hive he would have 

 gotten just as many and as good sections, and his 

 bees would be in better shape for the future. 

 Neither should you decide to hive four swarms 

 together. To get 76 sections from each of those 



early swarms, if hived separately, would be noth- 

 ing remarkable. [Beginners are not likely to be 

 misled by the picture. It is interesting to show, 

 however, what even poor conditions can produce. 

 —Ed ] 



Here's what we need: One or more stations 

 where all the stock is such that pure fertilization 

 is certain; also parcels post. Then you can send 

 a virgin in a fertilizing-cage with % lb. of bees 

 and yi lb. or more of candy, and have her return- 

 ed a laying queen. Visionary? Well, that's 

 just what they have in Switzerland. [Half- 

 pound packages of bees will be sold extensively 

 next year. Any thing under 3 lbs. will go as 

 cheaply as by mail from California to Maine. 

 Half-pound and one-pound packages of bees weigh 

 respectively 214. and 3 lbs. It follows, then, that 

 the express charges from Medina to San Francis- 

 co, for instance, on a half-pound or a pound 

 package of bees will be only 68 cts., and that Is 

 figuring the express on bees at 1>^ times the or- 

 dinary rates. The express for 300 miles would 

 be correspondingly less, or about 50 cts. Ap- 

 parently, then, we do not have to wait for parcels 

 post. — Ed.] 



HoNiY sold at 15 cents costs 5 cents for dray- 

 age, freight, leakage, and commission, p. 65. I 

 should like to see a concrete itemized statement 

 for that. I think that 5 cents ought to be cut in 

 two unless the amount sent be very small or the 

 distance very great. [At a meeting of the North- 

 western Association, held at Chicago some fif- 

 teen years ago, a certain man named Dr. C. C. 

 Miller was present, and also ye editor. The 

 question was asked, if comb honey sold in the 

 open market at 15 cents what would be the net 

 price the producer ought to get on an average? 

 As nearly as we remember, the figures stood 10 

 cents to the producer if the honey brought 15 

 cents. It is up to you, doctor, to show the fig- 

 ures, for you are the fellow who helped make 

 them. Let us examine some of the items: There 

 is freight, commission, cartage, leakage, storage, 

 shortage, and, on large amounts, insurance; and 

 in the case of some commission houses, dishon- 

 esty. — Ed.] 



Extracted honey "can be kept indefinitely," 

 says R. C. Aikin, p. 62. That's orthodox; we 

 all say it; but there may be no harm in sticking 

 a question-mark after it. See what Wesley Fos- 

 ter says, p. 21. Now if honey deteriorates like 

 that, so as to lose all of its honey flavor, and be- 

 come only a sticky syrup when kept in a comb, 

 is there not sojne deterioration when kept in a 

 can? [Mr. Aikin's statement is a little strong. 

 While honey will keep a number of years, and 

 still retain its character, if not overheated, yet 

 there is apt to be a slight deterioration, both in 

 flavor and color after the sixth or seventh year. 

 Just the other day we found a sample of moun- 

 tain-sage honey that was put up by A. I. Root in 

 1885. It was laid aside and was not discovered 

 until a few days ago. The honey was not can- 

 died in the least; but it had turned to the color 

 of ordinary buckwheat. We did not test it for 

 its flavor, for the amount was small, and we knew 

 that the Bureau of Chemistry would be glad to 

 get it providing it had not been tampered with 

 by any human tongue to change its character. — 

 Ed ] 



