AUGUST 15, 1913 



563 



Stray StraAvs 



Dr. C. C. MlLiiEE, Marengo, 111. 



Beet sugar has its certificate of charac- 

 ter, p. 398, but I'd feel surer about it if the 

 British Bee Journal would endorse that cer- 

 tificate. 



P. C. Chadwick, your head's level on the 

 sugar Cjuestion, p. 404. I suspect there's 

 many a beekeeper thinks he's making mon- 

 ey by feeding sugar when he's losing. 



HoNEY-PLAXTS luxuriant this year. Plen- 

 ty of white-clover blossoms an inch in di- 

 ameter, with stems more than a foot long, 

 and one dandelion stem I measured was 

 30^2 inches long. 



Let me endorse the use of dummies rec- 

 ommended by G. M. Doolittle, p. 442. I 

 have some just such as he describes. Others, 

 instead of being an inch thick, are % thick. 

 These I like better, although it requires a 

 few more of them. They are easier to han- 

 dle if an inch shorter than the frames, and 

 seem to work just as well. 



Mr. Editor, likely enough you are right, 

 p. 481, that in grading section honey more 

 than two different weights are needed. For 

 the sake of illustration, let us suppose that 

 the three weights needed are 12, 13, and 14 

 ounces. My idea is that there must be three 

 different scales — not one pair of scales ca- 

 pable of weighing all three weights, but 

 three separate scales, one weighing 12 ounces 

 and nothing else; another 13 ounces, and 

 another 14 ounces. The simplest possible 

 arrangement will answer — just a bar with 

 a weight on one end and something to lay a 

 section on at the other end. You see it 

 would take too much time to have scales that 

 would have to be changed every time a dif- 

 ferent weight was needed. And surely a bal- 

 ance weighing only one single weight could 

 be made for less than one weighing differ- 

 ent weights. [Having three scales would 

 be more ex^Densive and more complicated 

 than having one i^air of scales that would 

 instantly record 12, 13, 14 ounces, or any 

 other weight at a mere glance. We do not 

 believe there are any scales on the market 

 such as j'ou have in mind ; and the demand 

 for them would be so limited that the cost 

 would be prohibitive. The only thing to do 

 is to take what is already on the market 

 and make the best of it. — Ed.] 



Mr. Editor, let's see if we can not come 

 to terms about that winter-nest business. 

 You ask, p. 482, that I shall not confuse 

 outdoor and indoor wintering. I recognize 

 that outdoor wintering is under discussion, 

 and not only outdoor but Canada outdoor; 

 for if you go far enough south, where is the 

 difference between outdoor and my cellar?* 



All the same, if a cluster of bees in cellar 

 can hang below bottom-bars, what reason is 

 there that they can't do the same outdoors? 

 You are entirely right in thinking that solid 

 slabs of honey allowing layers of bees only 

 Yi inch thick will not do. Even in cellar I 

 should expect i/4-inch layers to perish. But 

 a 2-inch laj'er is another story. With a 2- 

 inch space under the bottom-bars (a deeper 

 space might be better), allowing the bees to 

 cluster clear down to the bottom-board, 

 there ought to be no trouble about their 

 keeping one another warm. I wonder if 

 you've thought of this: Solid slabs, allow- 

 ing "l^-inch layers of bees only^ are bad; 

 empty combs are bad after the same kind, 

 but much less in degree ; the ideal is a solid 

 cluster of bees with nothing interposing, 

 directly under a solid mass of honey. And 

 this refers to the severest climate outdoors. 

 [When we speak of outdoor wintering it 

 would, perhaps, be well to bear in mind 

 that it means all degrees of temperature — 

 high winds, no wind, wet snow, and light 

 snow. We do not believe it would be prac- 

 ticable for a cluster to winter under the 

 frames for outdoor wintering. Even a win- 

 ter with a temperature of only 50 degrees 

 would drive the bees up between the frames. 

 And when it got down to zero or even be- 

 low, a cluster in front of the entrance on a 

 level with the bottom-board would freeze 

 to death. On the other hand, in a cellar 

 temperature anywhere from 40 to 60 de- 

 grees, at either extreme a cluster could be 

 maintained below the frames. A winter 

 nest for cellar wintering is not important; 

 but we believe it is vital in outdoor winter- 

 ing. We should expect, in our locality at 

 least, that a cluster of bees would not stay 

 in the space between the bottom-bars and 

 bottom-boards in outdoor wintering, but 

 would move up three or four inches on the 

 combs. As the winter progresses, the win- 

 ter nest would move upward with the bees: 

 then move backward to the back end of the 

 hive. That is precisely what takes place in 

 our outdoor-wintered colonies. The writer 

 has opened up hundreds of colonies at all 

 times during mid-winter ; but we have never 

 yet found a cluster below the frames. We 

 should like to know if there was ever a case 

 recorded of that kind. 



In early fall it may be practicable to give 

 a colony nothing but solid combs; but let 

 that colony have its own sweet will and it 

 will soon make \\p a winter nest just over 

 the entrance and about two inches above it, 

 in our locality. This would be during No- 

 vember and December. — Ed.] 



