400 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Stray Straws 



De. 0. C. MiiiLEE, Marengo, 111. 



Dr. a. F. Bonney, American Bee Jour- 

 nal, 61, bring's valuable information as to 

 lime from J. M. Francis, a practical chem- 

 ist who is also an enthusiastic beekeeper. 

 Ordinary lime contains 10 to 25 per cent of 

 impurities, and 100 pounds of it will absorb 

 about 24 pints of water and 62^2 pounds 

 of carbonic acid. But after it is slaked, 

 and in powder, it will not absorb another 

 drop of moisture, although it will continue 

 for some time to take up carbonic acid. So 

 lime in bee-cellars has its time-limit. 



A. I. Root, you object to paying 25 or 50 

 cts. or $1.00 apiece for day-old chickens, 

 but tliink it good sense and real science to 

 pay $5.00 or more for a rooster of the right 

 stock. But what if a day-old chick turns 

 out to be a $5.00 rooster? I think you ad- 

 vise — and the advice is good — to buy sever- 

 al dollar queens in the expectation that one 

 or more of them will turn out to be as good 

 as a tested queen. WTiy not the same rule 

 with chickens? If the day-old chick is of 

 the same stock as the $5.00 rooster — well, 

 why not? 



I SAID, p. 248, that it was not so well 

 known that frequent changes of tempera- 

 ture favor granulation, and you reply, Mr. 

 Editor, that that's just what ABC and 

 X Y Z teaches. Yes; but are there not a 

 lot of readers of Gleanings who have no 

 ABC? And that gives me an opportunity 

 to say to all such that they're making a 

 big mistake. If you can't have both, by all 

 means stop Gleanings for a year or two 

 and get the book. [This matter of frequent 

 changes of temperature favoring the gran- 

 ulation of honey has been spoken of several 

 times in Gleanings. For example, turn to 

 page 135, Gleanings for 1910. Some five 

 or six years ago it was mentioned much 

 more frequently than of late years.— Ed.] 



I have just read the report of Illinois 

 Association, which contains a report of the 

 last National meeting. In the Seci-etary's 

 report, which previously appeared in the 

 Review, exception is taken to the action of 

 Mr. France in refusing to allow the League 

 fund to be used for any thing but advertis- 

 ing. It seems to me Secretary Tyrrell can 

 hardly be familiar with the full history of 

 the fund. When it was offered to the Na- 

 tional, strenuous effort was made to have it 

 given without any string to it, and it was 

 just as strenuously insisted by the League 

 that the National use it solely for advertis- 

 ing or not get it at all. The National re- 

 ceived the fund on that basis, and it would 



be a breach of good faith now to divert the 

 fund to any other purpose. Nor is such 

 action at all justified by the consent of all 

 but one of those who contributed more than 

 $25.00 each. If all should consent except a 

 single one who had contributed 50 cents, 

 that one would have a right to protest that 

 it would be wrong to divert the money to 

 any other use. 



Mr. France would have less ground to 

 stand ui^on if it were impossible to carry 

 out the original intention. But at that same 

 meeting at Cincinnati, it was practically re- 

 solved that the National should do the very 

 thing that the League fund was intended to 

 pay for. Mr. France is the only living 

 member of the committee appointed to 

 spend the money. If two such men as he 

 and Secretary Tyrrell were appointed a 

 committee, with free hand to use that fund 

 as originally intended, it seems it might do 

 more good than used in any other way. 

 Why not ? [ Excellent suggestion ! It seems as 

 if this might be the solution of an unpleas- 

 ant problem. Gleanings respectfully re- 

 fers it to the parties interested. If Mr. 

 Tyrrell and Mr. France can agree on a 

 13ropaganda of advertising, we see no reason 

 why the fund could not be used. Judicious 

 advertising in the magazines, and perhaps 

 the newspapers, showing the real value of 

 honey as a food, would benefit the industi-y 

 at large. — Ed.] 



That's right, Mr. Editor ; " jab " when 

 you get the chance, p. 328. You ask if I'm 

 sure it's economy not to paint hives. No; 

 the list of things I'm not sure about is about 

 as big as the list of things I don't know. 

 You want to know whether unpainted hives 

 don't gap at the joints sooner than painted 

 ones. I don't know. I haven't kept any till 

 they gapped. I've kept them only since the 

 first dovetailed hives were made, and they 

 don't gap yet. How soon do your painted 

 hives gap? You ask about covers twisting 

 and checking. Now look here. Did you 

 ever know me to advocate unpainted wood- 

 en covers? But with a very few exceptions 

 my covers are covered with something better 

 than paint. Some of them are covered with 

 tin that's painted — at least it was painted — 

 but the majority are covered with zinc, 

 which doesn't need paint. You have never 

 made better covers. You ask if it's economy 

 to leave houses unpainted. I don't know. 

 Depends on the cost of new siding when 

 the old Avears out, and the cost of keeping 

 the houses painted during the same time. 

 Now that we've discussed economy, perhaps, 



