1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



295 



Stray Straws 



By Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, III. 



Mr. Crane's shipping-case has the advantage 

 that no tricky bee-keeper will be tempted to ve- 

 neer when packing. 



R. F. HoLTERMANN, the only further detail I 

 can give you, p. 264, is that I have had very 

 weak queenless nuclei build worker comb. 

 Try it. 



Feed no meal " after natural pollen comes in," 

 p. 259. Right. I've fed bushels of meal, and 

 my bees would never take it after the coming of 

 natural pollen. 



Gaston Bonnier dusted with talc the bees on 

 a narrow strip of buckwheat for a rod in length. 

 Next day, and days following, the white bees 

 were found on that rod and nowhere else. 



An old bee, I've been taught to believe, con- 

 tinues to go afield till it dies. Gaston Bonnier 

 says that, when too old to go afield, it remains in 

 the hive as a brooder, just to keep up heat in the 

 brood-nest. 



"The codling-moth lays its eggs in the bark 

 of the trees," p. 261. In Journal of Economic 

 Entomology, p. 136, it is said, "Observation 

 has shown that the eggs are laid on all parts of 

 the foliage." I think that word "foliage " com- 

 prehends also the young fruits. 



E. D TowNSEVD uses medium brood founda- 

 tion, as the light brood sags with horizontal 

 wiring, p. 281. It might be greater economy to 

 use light brood with foundation splints. Also 

 that would allow the foundation to go clear 

 down to the bottom-bars. 



J. E. Crane's figures, p. 230, are interesting. 

 The moral is, to feed in hot weather. If you 

 must feed late, feed hot; also make feed thick. 

 But then comes the question whether thick syrup 

 will be chemically changed by the bees so as to 

 make good winter stores. 



" I THINK I'll use the' double-tier case hereaft- 

 er, if it doesn't cost too much more for the single 

 tier," page 224. Please change that " for " to 

 " than," and it'll give what I meant to say. But 

 may be both single and double tier cases of wood 

 are to be knocked out. 



When a swarm settles in an inconvenient spot, 

 Franz Ebster (Deutsche Imkei; 184), takes a sponge 

 or rag saturated with carbolic acid on the end of 

 a pole, puts it close to the swarm, and they 

 leave to settle elsewhere. If a swarm is sparsely 

 scattered along a limb, the carbolic held at one 

 side will drive the stragglers into a compact 

 cluster. 



The question has been asked, " If by shak- 

 ing or disagreeable odor you dislodge or drive a 

 swarm from its place, will not the swarms some- 

 times take French leave?" I think not. In its 

 then demoralized condition the swarm is in no 

 mood to start on a journey, but must settle again 

 in a compact cluster before it will start off, even 

 if you keep driving it around all day — at least 

 that's what I think, but I don't know that I'm 

 right. How is it.- 



Just now it is sickening to see how each dif- 

 ferent interest is beseeching Congress to revise 

 the tariff upward whenever itself is concerned, 

 and downward when it concerns the other fellow. 

 Fact is, the people, headed by Taft, desire honest 

 downward revision, and I don't believe bee- 

 keepers as a class want to join the howlers for 

 especial favors. Moreover, no amount of howl- 

 ing will do a particle of good unless some bee- 

 keeper has a pull with Aldrich. 



Quite right you 'are, Mr. Editor, page 224. 

 The best time to drink is between meals, and not 

 at meals. If you chew, chew, chew, long enough 

 you'll not need to drink so much at meals to 

 choke down your food. By the way, there's 

 nothing so very new about this matter of thor- 

 ough mastication. But Horace Fletcher deserves 

 great credit for arousing attention to it. [Many 

 have known these things a good while; hut it is 

 one of the things they know but do not practice. 

 If they did they would live as long as Gladstone 

 or even longer. If the simple directions in your 

 short paragraph could be practiced by every one 

 through life, how much suffering and interruption 

 to business, and how much grief for lost ones, 

 might be saved! — Ed.] 



"During the season of laying, a body-guard 

 attends the queen, lavishing their cares upon her, 

 and this guard never leaves her." Thus a pro- 

 fessor of entomology in one of his lectures, as re- 

 ported in a foreign journal. I think it is the 

 commonly accepted belief. The idea that the 

 same group of bees accompanies the queen con- 

 tinuously is utterly wrong. I don't see how any 

 one could believe it if he should watch a queen 

 for 15 minutes in the busy season. Here's the 

 way my bees act: If at any time a worker recog- 

 nizes that the queen is near, she turns her head 

 toward the queen. If the queen remains long 

 enough in one place, a group of admirers gathers 

 about her. But that same group of bees will 

 never surround her again as long as she lives. 

 At least you don't see the group accompanying 

 her when she moves from the place; but another 

 group will form about her on her next stop. 

 Next time you see a queen scooting across a 

 comb, watch if you can see any bunch keeping 

 pace with her. 



Wm. W. Case's figures, p. 234, show that on 

 fancy white, at 16 cts. , the deduction for com- 

 mission, etc., was 1.128 cts. per lb. But com- 

 mission was 5 per cent. At the usual ten per 

 cent on that quantity, the deduction would be 

 1.89 cts., or practically 2 cts. per lb. Of course, 

 distance makes a difference in freight. General- 

 ly it is safe to advise, " If you can get within 2 

 cts. of what the commission house can sell at, 

 better sell at home. But when there is a shortage 

 in your locality, so that honey is shipped from 

 the city to your home market, then you should 

 sell at home for more than your honey would 

 bring in the city." [We wish to say amen to 

 your last sentence. The fact is, bee-keepers very 

 often ship their product to a distant market, and 

 then that market will ship other honey to the 

 town of that same producer. Every bee-keeper 

 ought to have pride enough to keep foreign prod- 

 ucts from coming into his locality, providing, 

 of course, he has enough honey to supply the lo- 

 cal demand. — Ed.] 



