262 



Gleanings in Bee Culture 



Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo. 111. 



Tetrachloride of carbon — has any one 

 tried it in this country? and is it better than 

 bisulphide of carbon? [We should be glad 

 to get reports. — Ed.] 



Which is the right side of a hive? Say 

 a hive faces south; is the east or the west the 

 right side? I think it's the west side, but I 

 don't know. [Ask something easier. — Ed.] 



Balling. The ABC and X Y Z instructs, 

 "Lift the ball out of the hive and blow 

 smoke on it until the bees come off one by 

 one." To this should be added: " Hold the 

 smoker far enough from the ball so the 

 smoke will be cool. Hot smoke will make 

 the bees kill the queen." But I like better 

 to throw the ball in water. 



According to a table given in Schweiz. 

 Bztg., p. 467, here are the numbers of colo- 

 nies of bees per hundred inhabitants in the 

 following countries: Norway, 1.0; Belgium, 

 1.6; Austria, 8.8; Hungary, 4 2; Germany, 

 4.6; Denmark, 4.8; United States, 5.4; Swit- 

 zerland, 6.5. [According to the figures of 

 the last census, the United States would 

 probably drop back a little. — Ed.] 



Irish Bee Journal, p. 24, reports a bee- 

 keeper in the Isle of Man who took from one 

 hive in one season 334 lbs., which, at6d. per 

 lb., would bring nearly $42.00, and says, 

 " Think of that, O Gleanings! as an average 

 for one colony ! " That was, almost surely, 

 extracted honey. " In this locality " a single 

 colony in one season yielded 300 lbs. of comb 

 honey, which, at 15 cts. a \h., makes $45.00. 

 Think of that, O /. B. J. ! as an average for 

 one colony ! 



Dr. C. D. Cheney has sent me a modifi- 

 cation of the Root hive-tool that has a good 

 look. The right-hand corner of the chisel 

 end is rounding, and the other corner is left 

 square, as usual. That gives all the advan- 

 tage of the full rounded end to be forced un- 

 der a super, and also of the sharp angle. At 

 a distance oi\% inches from the chisel end 

 there is a slight curve, raising the hand a 

 little above the point of entrance. This 

 gives one more power, I should think, than 

 to push in a perfectly horizontal direction. 



G. M. DooLiTTLE, you seem to favor cut- 

 ting out the best of the old combs to be used 

 over again in brood-combs, p. 192. What 

 an old fogy you are! Don't you know that 

 bees reared in that old comb will be dwarfed 

 in size, and that part of the combs in a hive 

 should be renewed each year to avoid that 

 dwarfing? The trouble is that the bees are 

 just as old fogy as you are. Give them an 

 equal choice between new and old comb, and 

 they'll take the old every time. Come to 

 think of it, in 50 years I've never renewed a 

 comb on account of age, and I have som§ 

 fair-sized bees yet. 



Parcels post is so nearly in sight that it 

 is about time to be talking about the best 

 packages for carrying comb, bulk-comb, and 

 extracted honey by mail. They should be 

 of different sizes up to 11 pounds each, and 

 of such material and construction as not to 

 leak and get honey ruled out of the mails, 

 and at the same time as inexpensive as 

 possible. [Do not be too sure. It is one of 

 the tricks of the politicians to make us 

 think that they are going to pass the legis- 

 lation we want; and then w^nen we are off 

 our guard they stick in an amendment, or 

 several of them, that utterly nullify the 

 original measure. Better keep on sending 

 postal cards to your senators and represent- 

 atives, urging them to support parcels post. 

 —Ed.] 



I HAVE HELD that the most vigorous bees 

 best resist Eurojiean foul brood, whether 

 Italians or blacks. Now comes Canadian 

 Bee Journal, 55, claiming that immunity 

 is a thing separate and apart from vigor. 

 Asiatics have developed ability to resist dis- 

 ease to which stronger whites would suc- 

 cumb — and more of that sort. Sad as it 

 may be to crawfish at the behest of that 

 Kanuck, I can't muster any satisfactory re- 

 ply. But I wonder if I can't, at least for a 

 while, hold on to this position: In case of a 

 light attack of European " foul brood, the 

 bees sometimes, if not often, clean out the 

 disease of their own accord, and in such 

 case it's the most vigorous colonies that do 

 the best work. Now let's see what that Ka- 

 nuck will do to me. 



This morning, INIarch 28, at 8 a. m. the 

 sun shone brightly, temperature outdoors 

 40 degrees; in cellar, a shade above 50. The 

 bees have been in cellar 136 days (4>^ 

 months) . Doors had been open all night; 

 door opening from furnace- room into bee- 

 room. It was light enough at the pile of 

 hives nearest the door, with entrances di- 

 rectly facing the door, so that at those en- 

 trances I could read with little difficulty 

 print like this page (I used a page of Straws 

 to try it) . Although it had been open like 

 this all morning, the bees were very quiet, 

 not a bee flying out. The point I want to 

 emphasize is that, with doors wide open, 

 the air was about the same as outdoors, only 

 warmer, and with hive entrances 2x12 the 

 bees didn't need to stir to ventilate hives. 

 Whatever else you do or don't do in cellar- 

 ing bees, do all you can to give thQxn. pure 

 air in aJnmdance. [You are just right, doc- 

 tor. If a cellar is reasonably dry, with plen- 

 ty of good pure air, bees will stand extremes 

 of temperature very much better than when 

 air is poor and damp. You can not emi)ha- 

 size too strongly the importance of pure air. 

 -Ed.] 



