40 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Stray Straws 



De. C. C. Miller, Marengo, 111. 



Charles 8. Sharp, feeding dry cube su- 

 gar, p. 30, is a fine thing in some cases, 

 mith tlie proper moisture; but I'm afraid 

 the beginner can not count on that moisture 

 in all cases without sui^plying it. 



P. C. Chadwick, I don't know about 

 your locality. May be, as you say, p. 5, it 

 takes a lot of bees to defend large en- 

 trances, but here, in the height of storing, 

 I've some doubt whether any bees lose time 

 merely as guards. At any rate, I believe 

 a larger force is needed for ventilation with 

 a small entrance than for defense with a 

 large entrance. 



A. I. Root, you say, p. 36, " Is it not true 

 that some of our experts ahvays get a crop 

 of honey more or less?" While an expert 

 might get a crop where a bungler would 

 fail, it might be nearer the mark to say 

 there are localities where there is always a 

 crop. If there is no honey in the flowers 

 there will be no crop, expert or no expert, 

 and there might be a locality always so 

 good that even a bungler could never fail. 



MORLEY Pettit, referi-ing to a Straw, p. 

 754, in which I say, " European would have 

 to be pretty bad if you couldn't find two 

 healthy combs in every diseased colony, at 

 least that is the case in this locality," re- 

 plies, "In the locality of Ontario you would 

 have to put the Avord American instead of 

 European in that sentence. When we find 

 European foul brood in one or two colonies 

 of an apiary, we can rest assured that we 

 do not need to go any further, for it is 

 practically certain to be in even'^ colony in 

 the apiary, and in every brood-comb. I 

 suppose the fact that it is found mostly in 

 apiaries of black bees makes it so much 

 worse with us." Thanks for that much more 

 light, Bro. Pettit, even though the darkness 

 be yet somewhat profound. [This is a sur- 

 prising statement concerning European foul 

 brood. We have never had any experience 

 with it, we are glad to say. We should like 

 to inquire Avhether others have had the same 

 experience. — Ed.] 



" We have not yet seen the cellar where 

 the ventilation was as good as outdoors," 

 p. 790. Strictlj^ speaking, no. Yet if you'll 

 go down cellar with me, Mr. Editor, I think 

 you'll agree that the difference is not recog- 

 nizable. At this present moment, with 37 

 degrees outdoors and 53 degi'ees in cellar, 

 the door is wide open. When cold enough 

 to close or partly close it so as to keep up 

 to 45 degrees, the difference outside and in 



makes a rapid change of air so that it is 

 always i^ure. [Those who recommend out- 

 door sleeping-porches for the treatment of 

 tuberculosis claim that there is a big dif- 

 ference between porches and a ventilated 

 room inside of the house. If there is any 

 thing in this, the quality of the air outdoors 

 is very much purer and better than that 

 inside of a building that receives its air 

 through a door. Relatively, however, the 

 difference may not be so great. But there 

 is one tiling sure, doctor, we do not believe 

 you would run the risk of dropping your 

 cellar temperature to, say, the freezing- 

 point, 32 Fahrenheit, within your cellar; 

 and yet it is conceded that outdoor bees 

 will stand the freezing-point very nicely, 

 and come out in fine condition the following 

 spring. They will stand all grades of tem- 

 ])erature, providing it does not go below 

 ten above and continue there too long. — 

 Ed.] 



Not often are two such interesting arti- 

 cles brought out as in the friendly Lovell- 

 Ryan controversy, pages 654 and 771. As 

 a beekeeper of the rank and file, I should 

 incline to the opinion that bees may be at- 

 tracted by the odor of honey where color 

 can play no possible part, and also that 

 color plaj'S even a more important part 

 than odor when it comes to bees and flow- 

 ei-s. But more interesting to me than this 

 is the Crane-Ryan item. Mr. Ryan says, 

 " It seems rather out of the way to speak 

 of the Man-God as learning any thing from 

 the hills and valleys, flowers, etc.- If I mis- 

 take not, he was invested with all human 

 science, and had naught to learn from his 

 own creatures." Surely reason would point 

 in that direction. Of him it is said, " All 

 things were made by him; and without him 

 was not any thing made that was made." 

 And is it reasonable to believe that he would 

 learn from the objects of his creation ? 

 Plainly Bro. Crane is following something 

 else than reason. And I must confess sym- 

 pathy with his view. I like to think of the 

 Savior of men as very God in the highest 

 and fullest sense of the w^ord, and jet at 

 the same time, in some mysterious way that 

 I do not pretend to understand, as being a 

 man just as much as I am a man, who had 

 to learn things just as I have had to learn 

 them. Moreover, if Bro. Crane has no rea- 

 son for his comforting belief, he has some- 

 thing higher than human reason ; he has the 

 word of God, which says. " And Jesus in- 

 creased in wisdom." — Luke 2 :52. 



