656 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Nov. 1 



Stray Straws 



By Dr. C. C. Miller 



The Todd hive-stand, p. 641, is entirely 

 new, and as good as it is new. 



E. B. KiBBE says, page 612, "Dr. Miller 

 is talking of using splints for part sheets."- 

 Beg pardon, friend Kibbe, I tried part splints 

 (.5-inch) for full sheets, but it didn't work. 



When uniting, don't forget that a colony 

 moved to a new location will stay put much 

 better if made queenless a day or more in 

 advance. [This trick of the trade is worth 

 pasting in the hat. — Ed.] 



Official reports say that 25 per cent of 

 the cases of desertion come as the result of 

 drink. Gen. Fred. D. Grant says it is in re- 

 ality 95 per cent, for the other causes assign- 

 ed nearly all come from drink. 



The charge as to Solomon's wickedness, 

 p. 548, is all true. But the inspiration of the 

 writing does not depend on the perfection 

 of the writer, else none of the Bible is in- 

 spired, for none of its writers were perfect. 

 I believe the writings of Solomon contained 

 in the Bible are just as much inspired as any 

 part of the Bible, and I believe the whole 

 Bible is inspired. 



If you use a teaspoonful of tartaric acid 

 with 20 pounds of sugar, p. 622, be sure to 

 have it not heaping but even full. But a 

 Michigan man reported granulation with the 

 acid. [We suspect that, under some condi- 

 tions, granulation will not be entirely arrest- 

 ed unless an excessive amount of acid, which 

 would be harmful, were used. We have 

 very little granulation in the combs, and have 

 never used any acid; but we take this pre- 

 caution — that the sugar be thoroughly dis- 

 solved. The larger the percentage of sugar 

 to water, the more important this is. — Ed.] 



Referring to what Prof. Surface says, p. 

 623, is it not possible that there is so much 

 difference in honey-dew in different places 

 that bees winter well on it in some places 

 and die in other.s? [Honey-dew from a given 

 source, we should imagine, would be practi- 

 cally the same in any locality; but the quality 

 of the honey-dew, we think, varies in pro- 

 portion to the amount of white honey, clo- 

 ver, or basswood, that is mixed with it. A 

 large amount of good honey mixed with hon- 

 ey-dew will make a fair table honey and ex- 

 cellent stores for winter. We should say, 

 then, that the difference M^as "dew," not so 

 much to the "dew" itself as to the honey 

 that was mixed with the "dew." — tEd.] 



You WANT my experience with swarms 

 that wouldn't stay hived, Mr. Editor, p. 590. 

 I have had no such experience — never had 

 a swarm, I think, object to staying hived. 

 But then you forget that I've had practically 

 no experience with hiving swarms. I don't 

 think I've averaged two natural swarms a 

 year that I hived in the orthodox manner. 

 But I ought to be stood up in a corner for 



failing to notice that Mr. Ford hud tried giv- 

 ing a frame of brood to his swarms. [We do 

 not understand you, doctor. Do you mean 

 to say that, in the production of comb honey, 

 you have practically no swarming? or do you 

 mean that you do not have any swarming- 

 out after the bees have been once hived? If 

 very much swarming is allowed in the yard 

 the bees are likely to get the swarming mania; 

 and a swarm once hived may come out again, 

 no matter how favorable the conditions. 

 The fact that we have had so many questions 

 from our subscribers, asking how to make 

 their swarms stay hived, would indicate that 

 many had experienced trouble. — Ed.] 



Louis Scholl, that //2-inch midrib, p. 625, 

 is interesting. But the dwarf bees in that 

 case are no proof that the diameter of a cell 

 decreases with age, under normal condi- 

 tions. Those cells were shortened in depth 

 for want of room, the bees having no chance 

 to lengthen them out. Next svmimer give 

 back to the bees that comb, spacing the 

 combs so the bees will have room to length- 

 en the cells, and see if you'll not get bees of 

 full size. Of course, if midribs get so thick 

 that cells must be less than normal depth, 

 dwarfing must result. Yours, I think, is the 

 first case on record where that could occur. 

 In combs 30 years old I think I have never 

 found midribs more than 's inch, and I nev- 

 er knew any dwarfing in them. [It was the 

 late R. Wilkin, one of the extensive bee- 

 keepers of California, who, a year or so be- 

 fore he died, stated that he had a large num- 

 ber of combs that were thirty years old to 

 his certain knowledge; that the bees hatch- 

 ing from them were just as large as those 

 from new combs. He did not say whether 

 the midrib to these old combs was any 

 thicker than that of new ones. The pre- 

 sumption is that they were somewhat. But 

 if they were not spaced too closely in the 

 first place, the bees would make up for the 

 depth by elongating the cells. 



In 1900 and 1901 there was considerable 

 discussion on this question; and as we now 

 recall it, the general consensus of opinion 

 was that the age of the comb did not nec- 

 essarily affect the size of the workers hatch- 

 ed from it Cheshire, in his "Bees and Bee- 

 keeping," Vol.1., Scientific, statesthat, when- 

 ever there is an excess of cocoons in tiie 

 cells or enough to reduce appreciably the 

 diameter of the cells, the bees remove them; 

 but when one melts up old combs in a solar 

 wax-extractor, and sees how these cocoons, 

 after the wax has been melted away from 

 them, stand out in bold relief, he wonders 

 whether the bees actually do remove the co- 

 coons. They certainly do not remove them 

 all. But, on the other hand, it may be said 

 that it is not necessary for them to do so. 



We are quite inclined to agree with Dr. 

 Miller, that, if Mr. Scholl would space that 

 same comb so that there would be more space 

 between it and the next comb, he would get 

 bees just as large in it as he would from the 

 other combs. The experiment is worth the 

 trying.— Ed.] 



