612 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Stray StraAvs 



De. C. C. Miller, Marengo, 111. 



Editor Gerstung adds formic acid to su- 

 jjar syruj) lo aid inversion. - — Deutsche 

 Bzcht., XII. 



Bees are reported as going down 70 feet 

 into a well after water. — South African B. 

 J., 74. [This seems doubtful.— Ed.] 



The first Rietsche foundation-press was 

 sent out in 1883. In 1909 the number had 

 reached b^mO.—Schweiz. Bztg., p. 198. 



''A bird dog at Mount Vernon attacked a 

 beehive in a playful mood. The bees stung 

 the dog to death." — Ch\Q,AgoBecord-Herald. 

 ISext time that dog feels like attacking a 

 beeliive it will first inquire whether the bee- 

 hive is in a playful mood. Also whether 

 there are any bees in it. 



Editor Gerstung says, B. Bzcht., 87, 

 that bees generally supersede their queens 

 during the time of building up in the 

 spring. I think that for every one of my 

 queens superseded before the harvest, 10, if 

 not 20, are superseded after it. How is it 

 with others, and what should make the dif- 

 ference? [Same here. — Ed.] 



C. P. Palmer writes the same thing that 

 N. Fred Gardiner says, p. 525: If a man 

 faces the south Ms right side will be toward 

 the west, and it's the same with a hive. No 

 doubt that's right, and it's a good thing 

 to have it settled, for sometimes that side 

 is called the right side that is at one's right 

 hand as he stands facing the hive. 



Chas. H. Walker, p. 417, you'll prob- 

 ably never produce sections without a good 

 many unsealed cells next the wood; and if 

 "one or two cells" are enough to drip in 

 handling, then these cells are not fit to 

 ship. The remedy is to keep them in a 

 place so hot and dry that the honey in the 

 unsealed cells will become too thick to drip. 

 Franz Richter, the wide-awake lookout 

 man of Bienen-Vater, has my thanks for 

 helping out about who originated that way 

 of getting cells built in a horizontal frame. 

 It should be labeled "Made in Austria," 

 not "Germany." J. Stumvoll was the orig- 

 iiiator, and I got it from Bienen-Vater and 

 mentioned it in a Straw, April 15, 1909, p. 

 224. 



Young bees gone astray are the worst 

 stingers. So one is likely to be stung when 

 working at a hive while the young bees are 

 at play, for then they are thrown astray and 

 become cross. — Leipz. Bztg., 77. That's 

 given on the authority of Weygandt and 

 the editor; but has any one noticed any 

 thing of the kind on this side? [We have 

 had no such experience. — Ed.] 



Iron in the blood is a matter of the 

 greatest importance. The great trouble, 

 where it is lacking, is to administer it in 

 such form as to be assimilable. You may 

 feed a man a keg of nails without getting 

 much iron in his blood. It is not as well 

 known as it should be that honey contains 

 iron in shape to pass directly into the cir- 

 culation. As shown in a table, Schweiz. 

 Bztg. J 158, honey also contains phospho- 

 ous, clilorine, lime, sulphur, magnesia, sili- 

 con, potassium, natron, and manganese. 

 Some or all of these are needed in the human 

 system, and here they are in just the right 

 shape. That makes honej'' in all cases a 

 valuable food, and in some cases a valuable 

 medicine. Sugar can not fully take its 

 l)lace, either for folks or bees. 



There is not so much danger of giving 

 too manjf empty sections to a colony if you 

 keep in mind to wait until the bees have 

 at least made a start in the outside sections 

 of the supei-s already on. When the first 

 super is only a quarter filled, if it's over- 

 flowing with bees, and every prospect of a 

 big yield for many days, there's not such a 

 very big risk in putting an empty super 

 under — and even another on top — provided 

 the bees have made a good start on all the 

 sections clear out to the corner's. But if 

 there is still untouched foundation at the 

 outsides, and you add another empty, the 

 bees are likely to begin in the center of the 

 new super before starting the outside sec- 

 tions of the old, and there will be a ten- 

 dency in both to have sealed sections in the 

 center, and empty foundation at the out- 

 side. 



Edw^ard Hastings, p. 418, rural mail d^ 

 livery must be exceptional with you. "In 

 this locality" carriers could double or quad- 

 ruple their loads without increase of time 

 or pay, and take just as long trips; and if 

 the business should so increase that extra 

 teams should be needed, there would still be 

 money in it at the price charged per pound, 

 I suspect parcels post will prove cheaper 

 than you think, and that country merchants 

 will be surprised to find it an advantage. 

 [What you say concerning the possibility 

 of rural mail-delivei-y carriers being able to 

 carry double or treble the loads they now 

 carry, Mathout any increase of time or pay, 

 would apply in this locality so far as we 

 have observed. In driving to and from our 

 beeyards in all directions we meet mail-car- 

 riers every day, and therefore we have a 

 fair opportunity of forming an opinion. — 

 Ed.] 



