724 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Dec. 1 



Stray Straws 



By Dr. C. C. Miller 



Dr. Friedrich Kuehl, the leader among 

 Austrian bee-keepers, died Sept. 19, aged 72. 



I tried feeding 3 parts sugar to 1 of water. 

 Can't say I like it. Too difficult to dissolve 

 the sugar. Ye editor's idea of 2 or 2>^ to 1 

 is all right. 



Foster's "meat and honey," p. 657, re- 

 minds me of my son Charlie. When a little 

 boy he ate honey regularly on his potato. 

 It's not so bad. 



J E. Crane, after reading your third par- 

 agraph, p. 693, I know now what's the mat- 

 ter with you and me. We didn't get enough 

 shaking when boys. 



Eighty tons of wax used at Medina last 

 year! Whew! That much thin super foun- 

 dation would cover 44 acres. In the usual 

 3^ X 15^4 strips it would reach 1125 miles. 



G. M. Doolittle estimates the amount of 

 honey a sinole bee gathers at y^ oz., p. 694. 

 Let me try mjr hand at the problem from 

 another direction. Since the field-life of a 

 bee is 26 days, if a colony with a field force 

 of 30,000 bees can gather 15 lbs. of honey a 

 day for 26 consecutive days, making 390 lbs., 

 then one bee will gather the thirty-thou- 

 sandth part of that 390 lb., or i oz. But there 

 is that "if." 



William George Jordan appreciates the 

 dandelion as much as A. I. Root, but from a 

 different standpoint. He says. The Circle, 

 249: "The wayside dandelion is passed by 

 with half-tolerant contempt because it is 

 commonplace. Naturalists claim it is king of 

 the vegetable kingdom. It is one of the 

 most perfect forms of the largest, oldest, 

 most widely diffused, and most highly finish- 

 ed order of plants. It is of a far higher type 

 of plant life than a rose or a lily, or even a 

 cedar, a palm, or an oak." 



You don't need a small hive for a baby 

 nucleus. You can use just as few bees in a 

 hive of full size with two Langstroth frames. 

 [That would not hold true at Medina. The 

 big hive is too large, so also its frames. In 

 a little hive the bees, on the other hand, can 

 warm up the interior of it, because they 

 have only a very little, comparatively, to 

 warm. But perhaps you mean that a small 

 bunch of bees can be put in a big hive. 

 Yes, but they can not begin to give the re- 

 sults in queen-rearing that they could if 

 given a small hive. — Ed.] 



A. I. Root didn't tell us, after all, p. 715, 

 how the chick cuts its shell so as to get out. 

 When a boy I was taught that the shell is 

 broken by the little knob that is on the top 

 of the chick's bill, which knob disappears in 

 a few days. Is there any thing in that? 

 [Your early teaching, according to the state- 

 ment of Mr. Ralph Root, of the Root Incuba- 

 tor Company, is correct; indeed, he showed 

 to us this little knob, and how the chick, by 

 the upward pressure of the bill, makes a 



crease clear around the shell. After the 

 chick has been hatched a day or two this 

 knife or little cutting edge disappears. — Ed.] 



I hope that Hurley-Root controversy will 

 not close till we know something about that 

 winter nest. I suspect each is right from 

 his own standpoint. [We were, of course, 

 speaking from the standpoint of the one who 

 is wintering bees outdoors, as that is the plan 

 we use almost entirely. Possibly Mr. Hur- 

 ley was speaking from the standpoint of one 

 who winters indoors. But whether bees are 

 wintered outdoors or indoors, they will make 

 a winter-nest if the feed be given early 

 enough; but, of course, if they are put im- 

 mediately into the cellar late feeding and 

 the consequent splitting-up of the cluster by 

 slabs of stores would not necessarily be par- 

 ticularly harmful; but we would prefer to 

 have winter-nests, even for cellared bees. 

 There is a period in the fall, before bees are 

 put indoors, when they will have many cold 

 or chilly days, it is during this time that the 

 colony will suffer somewhat if its cluster is 

 divided up by solid slabs of syrup. — Ed.] 



In discussing sealed covers, absorbents, 

 etc., it is possible that other factors not con- 

 sidered play an important part, and help to 

 account for diverging views. I very much 

 doubt whether enough importance has been 

 attached to the idea advanced — was it by Jay 

 Smith? — that the sides of the hive must be 

 colder than the top. Much the same idea 

 was held by the late C. F. Muth, who urged 

 that the important thing was to keep the top 

 warm. If top and sides be equally warm, 

 there will be more condensation of moisture 

 at the top than at the sides, for the vapor 

 rises. In C. F. Muth's locality, no protection 

 was needed at the sides— only on top. Now, 

 suppose with his usual protection on top he 

 had added protection at sides until the sides 

 were warmer than the top. That would have 

 made the top, where it was colder, the place 

 where the vapor would condense, causing 

 bad wintering. Further north there must 

 be protection at sides, but enough more must 

 be added on top so that the sides shall still 

 be colder than the top. Whether absorbents 

 or sealed covers, we don't want moisture on 

 top; and whatever moisture condenses on 

 the sides there will be just that much less 

 moisture to be condensed above. [We wish 

 some of our readers could go out into our 

 home yard, during the middle of winter, and 

 look at some of our colonies under sealed 

 glass covers. Sheets of glass just the size of 

 the top of the hive are imbedded in putty to 

 make a hermetic sealing. Over this is plac- 

 ed a tray containing planer-shavings, as il- 

 lustrated in this issue. At any tim.e during 

 mid-winter the amount of moisture, if any, 

 can be readily seen. This is never directly 

 over the cluster, if it can be noticed at all, 

 but will be found clear to the outside cor- 

 ners. Sometimes it can be seen where it had 

 trickled down on the sides. Bees are always 

 nice, warm, and dry. Colonies under absorb- 

 ing cushions with upward ventilation do not 

 look so nice and bright.— Ep.] 



