1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



145 



in colder weather a fire maybe lighted in a small 

 stove. 



This building is not plastered, but is finished 

 in the natural wood. At the front door is the 

 original doorstone, taken from the Isaac Stearns 

 home, the first one built in Stoughton, in 1716. 

 On all the doors are hinges and latches, forged 

 by hand over one hundred years ago. Inside the 

 bungalow is a carpenter's bench and supplies 

 which go to make up a first-class apiary. 



The bee-shelter runs north and south, with a 

 passageway two feet wide between the two rows 

 of hives, which face east and west. The south is 

 left open, while the north end is boarded up with 

 a door in the center to pass into the bungalow. 

 Mr. Britton had board shutters made to fasten on 

 the sides in winter. The bees in this shelter fly 

 out into the light and disturb the operator very 

 little. 



The bees are all in double- wall hives, except 

 one, which is in the stump of an apple-tree, which 

 was made larger inside to give them more room. 

 A barrel with both heads out was then put over 

 the stump, with packing between for a winter 

 cover. Mr. Britton enjoys the bees very much, 

 and they give him all the honey he wants, of dif- 

 ferent kinds, and some to sell. Next season he 

 intends to have a hive at each front window in 

 the bungalow, raising the window a little, and 

 using the sill for the alighting-board. During 

 the past season he has had three colonies in the 

 tower of his house, and one in his work-room on 

 the second floor, and they produced a fine lot of 

 honey. The writer superintended the building 

 of this bungalow, which was completed in No- 

 vember. E. C. Britton. 



Canton, Mass., Dec. 7. 



ARE LUMBER-CUTTERS TO BLAME FOR FOREST 

 FIRES.? 



I have noted what you say, page 17, Jan. 1, re- 

 garding forest fires. You are certainly wrong in 

 general as to the source of the fires. In our town 

 there are nine mills which have been in operation 

 over 25 years, and in that time there has not been 

 a single fire started by a mill or gang of laborers. 

 All the fires in this county for several years have 

 been set on purpose, or else they came from 

 campers, hunters, or fishermen. Not a single 

 fire broke out till the hunting season opened. 



Bleecker, N. Y. John M. Peters. 



[It is true the lumbering interests do not direct- 

 ly cause the forest fires. It would certainly be 

 against their interests to do so; but they have a 

 careless way of leaving the brush scattered over 

 the ground; and this brush drying becomes very 

 inflammable. If they were compelled by law to 

 clean up all this loose rubbish, leaving the ground 

 clean, there would not be these forest fires, for 

 the reason that no fire could start in the first place. 

 —Ed.] 



carbon bisulphide injured THE FLAVOR OF 

 HONEY. 



Some time ago I had occasion to fumigate 

 some comb honey with carbon bisulphide. The 

 lard-cans in which I put the sections were per- 

 fectly free from all odor of any kind. The hon- 

 ey was of very fine quality, and delicate in fla- 

 vor. We aired it well after. We placed the bi- 



sulphide in a small vial, about an ounce to each 

 50-lb. can, and allowed it to remain, possibly, 

 a week. The first time I tasted the honey, after 

 this, I said it had the after-taste one gets from 

 evaporated apples that have been "sulphured," 

 and that the delicate flavor of the honey was de- 

 stroyed. After several days of airing, the un- 

 pleasant flavor diminished, but the delicate flavor 

 was gone forever, leaving only an ordinary honey 

 instead of a fine quality. We had the same re- 

 sult last year. 



It seems impossible to keep the wax-moth lar- 

 vae out of the honey when stored. In the above 

 case I had taken the supers from the hives and 

 packed the sections in the cans and covered with 

 the tin covers. In about a month I found the 

 small larvae in the sections. 



Rugby, Tenn. Nellie Schenk, M. D. 



[We have done quite a good deal of fumigating 

 with carbon bisulphide, but have never noticed 

 any diflrerence in the flavor of the honey after- 

 ward. Possibly the long time which your honey 

 was subjected to the gas accounts for the loss of 

 flavor. 



We should be glad to hear from any who have 

 had experience in the use of this chemical, with 

 regard to the quality of the honey afterward. — 

 Ed.] 



more about the conditions in oklahoma. 



In regard to the high winds here in Oklahoma 

 I would say that they are not so bad as to pre- 

 vent the bees from getting back to their hives. 

 Once in a great while we have a hard wind- 

 storm, and I have watched the bees enough to 

 know that, when they are out at work, and such 

 a storm comes up, they flock to the hives by the 

 thousands. In windy weather the bees work 

 just the same as when there is no wind — that is, 

 if there is plenty of honey in the fields; and al- 

 though the wind bothers them considerably they 

 always " get there. " 



As to the sudden changes keeping the bees 

 away from the hives and freezing them, I have 

 found that the bees begin to come back in great 

 numbers just as soon as there is a slight change 

 in the temperature. It rains rather too much 

 here in the spring; but otherwise this is a good 

 country for bees. During the year 1905 we had 

 about 25 lbs. of surplus honey to the colony. In 

 1906 we got no surplus honey; but in 1907 we 

 had about 50 lbs. to the colony. In 1908 we av- 

 eraged 25 lbs. among the strong colonies. The 

 weaker ones got enough to build up in good 

 shape for winter. 



I do not spend enough time with the bees to 

 make a business of the work, as I keep them 

 merely for pleasure, and for the honey that we 

 can use at home. J. H. Flippo. 



Chickasha, Oklahoma, Jan. 12. 



AMOUNT of sweet -CLOVER SEED TO SOW TO 

 THE ACRE. 



Mr. Root: — I believe you are advising wrongly 

 when you suggest sowing 4 lbs. of hulled or 8 to 

 10 of unhulled sweet-clover seed per acre, for the 

 reason that, at any time of the year you may sow 

 it, there is only a part of it that will germinate 

 the same season it is sown, the rest not starting 

 till the next season, I have sown at least 25 or 



