OCTOBER 1, 1913 



660 



Stray Straws 



Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, III. 



For the second time in my life I have 

 seen a queen sting a worker to death. Aug. 

 15 I put a virgin not a day old on a comb 

 of a nucleus. The first thing it did was to 

 clinch a worker, which showed it had been 

 stung when it was released, but it did not die 

 (ill some minutes later. Why did the queen 

 sting that worker? A general spirit of de- 

 structiveness is shown another way in a 

 young virgin. After she emerges from her 

 cell in a nursery it is a frequent tiling to 

 find she has dug a hole in the side of the 

 cell, as if she would kill the inmate. 



There you go again, Mr. Editor, p. 561, 

 telling us the average Ontario crop is 63 

 lbs. per colony, Avithout saying whether 

 comb or extracted. You may know what 

 kind, but not every one else does. [There 

 are times when we can not be specific in 

 regard to comb and extracted honey. The 

 reports sent out by the Ontario Beekeepers' 

 Association did not say whether the 63 lbs. 

 average was comb or extracted. The bee- 

 keei^ers of the country very seldom specify 

 the number of pounds of comb or extracted 

 honey. We should judge that most of the 

 honey produced in Canada is extracted — 

 Ijossibly three-fourths of it. — Ed.] 



P. C. Chadwick, you're wise to return 

 to the book-record system, p. 600. You can 

 lie on a lounge at home with your book, and 

 lay out a program for the day's work in an 

 out-apiary, saving time and avoiding blun- 

 ders. Or, if you're too busy for that, yon 

 can do your planning on the way out. 

 Then, too, it often happens that one wants 

 to know exactly how something was 5, 10, 

 or 20 years ago, when memory would be 

 hazy about it. I believe the time is coming 

 when every forward-looking beekeeper will 

 count the improvement of his stock a point 

 of the highest importance ; and I don't quite 

 see how much can be done in that line with- 

 out an exact record. 



J. E. Crane, why didn't you ask that 

 question before about having trouble with 

 young queens hatching if a colony was left 

 ten days, p. 564? I had the answer all 

 ready a year ago, and it was this : " For at 

 least 40 years I've followed the rule that a 

 queen-cell could not be started and a queen 

 hatched from it inside of ten days, and I 

 never knew it to fail. I've tried it hundreds 

 — yes, thousands — of times, with never an 

 exception. When I give a comb of eggs 

 and young larvce to a queenless colony to 

 have cells started, I know I'm safe if I cut 

 the cells in ten days. No, friend Crane, 

 that's one of the things I know, and know 



for certain, that with me there is no excep- 

 tion to that rule." But I can't use that 

 answer now. This summer I went to cut a 

 batch of cells ten days after gi^dng the 

 comb, and found the oldest virgin already 

 out and beginning the slaughter of her baby 

 sisters in their cradles. So my answer now 

 must be, "Never? well, hardly ever." 



" It is probable that there is no great 

 amount of nectar at any one time in the 

 sweet-clover blossoms," p. 557. Is that the 

 testimony of those who have sweet clover 

 in large quantity? I had always supposed 

 it an abundant yielder, from the fact that 

 the bees are found in such numbers upon it. 



P. S. — Just been out watching bees on 

 sweet clover. Besides being thick on it, 

 they seemed to spend at least as much time 

 on each blossom as they do on white clover. 

 [Perhaps the statement in question was a 

 little too strong. There are times and places 

 when sweet clover does jdeld considerable 

 nectar ; but in most localities in the East it 

 does not yield a large amount of surplus, 

 for the simple reason that the plants are 

 scattered in long rows along railways and 

 common roads. It is seldom found in solid 

 compact masses or areas. As the agricul- 

 (ural press is now beginning to wake up to 

 the value of this plant the probabilites are 

 that sweet clover will be very much more in 

 evidence in the future than it has been in 

 the past. — Ed.] 



A. I. Root, old friend, aren't you a wee 

 bit off in thinking that just because that 

 beautiful first Psalm is so brightly hopeful 

 it must have been written when David was 

 comparatively young, p. 585? When he 

 was old, and yet had never seen the right- 

 eous forsaken, hadn't he a more substantial 

 foundation on which to base his hopeful- 

 ness? Besides, look at j^ourself. Are you 

 any less hopeful as years increase? I'm 

 sure it isn't so " in this locality." [Thank 

 you, dear old friend, for your kindly sug- 

 gestions. Yes, I do think that as we gTow 

 older we should grow more hopeful. The 

 hope of a mature Christian, however, is a 

 little different from that of boyhood ; and 

 I still think, but perhaps I can not explain 

 why, David wrote that first Psalm when he 

 was young — say before he got into Satan's 

 toils and had deliberately broken two if not 

 more of God's holy commands. I am glad 

 to know, old friend, that j'our faith in 

 God's promises grows stronger and stronger 

 as the yeai's pile up. May God grant that 

 the same may be true with each and all of 

 the old " scarred veterans." — A. I. R.] 



