GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



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



When I read^ p. 375, that it remains to 

 be seen how the fight for bee territory will 

 be settled in California, I couldn't help 

 thinking how much nicer it would be if pas- 

 turage for bees were owned the same as 

 pasturage for cattle. 



J. E. Hand has it about level as to swarm 

 cells and supersedure cells, p. 267. Bees 

 may start swarm cells, and then there's a 

 let-up in the flow and they sui^ersede', or 

 they may start supersedure cells and a good 

 flow comes on and they swarm. But they're 

 the same cells in either case. 



F. DuNDAS Todd writes that two years 

 ago Henry Kacer, near the mouth of the 

 Fraser River, B. C, took 400 pounds of 

 honey from one colony, and netted $72.00 

 for it ! That would be $7200 from 100 colo- 

 nies. Looks like a scheme of that man Todd 

 to cajole some of our best beekeepers across 

 the line. 



Editor Herrod^ British B. J., p. 53, ad- 

 vises beeway sections 41/4x41/4x1 15-16. 

 Couldn't you concede that 1-16, Bro. Her- 

 rod, making the width 1%> so as to keep 

 company with your Yankee cousins? [Our 

 British cousins use almost exclusively the 

 sections referred to by Mr. Herrod. It is 

 their standard. Why should they change 

 their standard just to please their Yankee 

 cousins'? — ^Ed.] 



White clover still keeps at its best, July 

 13, and colonies may yet average better 

 than usual. Even so, there will not be half 

 a crop, for the bees are lacking to gather it. 

 [If the clover season is as backward about 

 developing in your locality as it was here, 

 you may yet secure a crop of clover. It 

 yielded here nearly three weeks befoi'e it 

 made much of a showing. Then all at once 

 it began to pour in. — Ed.] 



Bee-poison is spoken of in Gleanings 

 as formic acid; but Dr. Langer found 

 that the poison was something separate and 

 aiDart from formic acid, and latest research 

 shows that formic acid is develor^ed in iion- 

 ey by mere exposure to air. [This confirms 

 the work of other investigators if we avo 

 correct. There has been altogether too much 

 loose talk about formic acid in honey being 

 derived from the bee-sting. We never had 

 any patience with the old sting-trowel the- 

 ory; and the older we crow the less in- 

 clined we feel to accept any theory unless 

 it comes from a well-trained scientific in an 

 who is also a practical beekeeper. Some of 



our bee literature of the jiast is ridiculous 

 in the light of modern scienf'fic investiga- 

 tion. — Ed.] 



"It is quite an easy matter to have a lot 

 of choice and vigorous queens reared by the 

 time the swarming season begins," p. 380. 

 I wonder if we could find out how generally 

 that ajjplies. How is it at Medina? In 

 this locality I wouldn't give two cents apiece 

 for queens reared thus early. [A good deal 

 will depend on when the honey-flow comes 

 on. It is possible to rear good queens be- 

 fore the honey-flow in Ohio, and, in fact, 

 most of the Northern States. We venture 

 to say that most of the Northern queen- 

 breeders rear 25 per cent of their best 

 queens before the main flow. You say you 

 would not give two cents for early-reared 

 queens. You possibly have in mind queens 

 reared from cells built during chilly or cold 

 weather, when the colony can not protect 

 them properly. Such queens, if they live 

 and lay, would not be worth much more than 

 two cents; but in our locality we usually 

 have conditions so we can raise the finest 

 kind of queens, and have them laying before 

 June 10 or 15, when our first flow comes on. 

 —Ed.] 



According to figures given by Alex. As- 

 tor, L' Apiculteur , 180, there are, in 1 lb. 

 avoirdupois, 4536 young bees just born ; 

 5040 field bees in April; 5465 field bees in 

 May; 6043 robbers in time of dearth; 2926 

 gorged bees secreting wax. According to 

 those two last items a bee may carry a trifle 

 more than its own weight of honey. [Fig- 

 ures made by Profs. B. F. Koons, Lazenby, 

 and Gillette do not altogether confirm 

 those here given. They find that bees bring- 

 ing in nectar run about 4000 to the pound, 

 and empty bees a trifle over 5000. While 

 the figures here given indicate that a bee 

 can carry more than its own weight of hon- 

 ey, the figures made by Koons show that 

 the most that a bee can carry would be half 

 its own weight. On the other hand, we have 

 seen a single bee carry away its own com- 

 rade; and if the honey-sac would distend 

 enough it might carry its own weight of 

 nectar. But while the bees can carry one of 

 their own conu-ades in flight, it carries it 

 only a short distance, and when it is fresh. 

 But no bee could carry one of its own com- 

 panions probably a mile or a mile and a 

 half after having flown, we will say, a mile 

 or more to get its load and then carry a 

 weight equal to its own body. — Ed.] 



