GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Stray Straw^s 



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



Elias Fox^ I'm with you, p. 564. I 

 believe I can more successfully combat the 

 faults of a bad cellar than of a bad out- 

 doors. 



W. G. Sawyer faces his hives toward the 

 cellar wall, p. 564. I've always faced 'em 

 t'other way — thought it gave them warmer 

 air. I wonder which is better. 



Gr. M. DooLiTTLE_, you say, p. 617, that 

 opening cellar doors at night always seems 

 worse than nothing when the air outside 

 is warmer than that inside. Not in "this 

 locality." But your head is level and your 

 heart right on the liquor question, p. ,643. 



The Canadian Bee Journal is crowing 

 over the acquisition of F. W. L. Sladen, 

 F.E.S., as assistant in apieultui'e to Domin- 

 ion Department of Agriculture. I'd crow 

 too. In fact, I feel like crowing that he 

 is on this side the ocean. Those Canucks 

 can't keep him all to themselves, you know. 

 He's too big a man. 



This year is the record one for long- 

 continued blooming of white clover. Be- 

 ginning the last end of June it has bloomed 

 continuously till now, Sept. 30, when a 

 good deal is still to be seen in bloom. But 

 I don't know when it stopped yielding. 

 [Clover continued up until late here; nor 

 do we know just when it ceased to vield. 

 —Ed.] 



This season began in a hopeless style. 

 I fed in June to prevent starving. Then 

 about June 25 white clover began to bloom, 

 and, except for wet days, there was no let- 

 up in the flow from clover or something 

 else until about Sept. 20. Four colonies 

 have given respectively 191, 192, 198, and 

 198 sections. Not so bad for a season be- 

 ginning June 25. 



Charges for the new parcels post, ef- 

 fective Jan. 1, 1913, are a little confusing. 

 I figure it this way : City deliver}^, or on a 

 rural route, 1 ct. a pound, and 4 ets. extra 

 on each package; within 50 miles in a bee- 

 line, 3 ets. a pound and 2 ets. extra; with- 

 in 150 miles, 4 ets. a pound and 2 ets. 

 extra; 300 miles, 5 ets. a pound and 2 ets. 

 extra; 600 miles, 6 ets. a pound and 2 ets. 

 extra; 1200 miles, 7 ets. a pound and 2 

 ets. extra; 1400 miles, 9 ets. a pound and 

 1 ct. extra; 1800 miles or more, 12 ets. a 

 pound. [See editorial columns. — Ed.] 



A. I. Root, that alfalfa business, p. 569, 

 looks i-evolutionary and almost like 

 romance. Think of plants set 2 feet by 3 

 feet 8 inches apart! I've been out and 

 measured and co;j;,ed carefully an average 



spot of my alfalfa, and there are 20 plants 

 to the square foot. That means 147 plants 

 for every one that ought to be. Then 

 think of transplanting an acre (5940 

 plants) in a trifle less than an hour! 

 What's that transplanter like, and what 

 does it cost? 



The Practical Farmer, page 491, says, 

 "Some States have proscribed sweet clover 

 as a weed, and have imposed penalties up- 

 on those who allow it to grow." Can you 

 tell what States? [Sweet clover is included 

 among the noxious weeds in Ohio. We do 

 rot know about other States; but we infer 

 from reports that have come in that two- 

 tliirds of the other States in the North, at 

 least, have a similar law. — Ed.] 



A correspondent asks how to winter a 

 weak colony in Tennessee. If very weak, 

 say bees covering three combs, I would 

 unite with another colony. Otherwise I 

 would winter on summer stand, protected, 

 if only by cornstalks — better a box — open 

 in front and well protected on tojD. 

 [Something will depend on the locality. 

 In the colder climates, the^ cellar is the 

 place to put weak colonies; but in a cli- 

 mate like that of Tennessee the doctor's ad- 

 vice is all right. Oftentimes, and perhaps 

 in most cases, south of the Ohio River, 

 single-walled hives that are protected by 

 windbreaks will winter almost as well as 

 hives with protection. — Ed.] 



Elmer Hutchinson, Review, 328, thinks 

 temi3erature a secondary matter in a very 

 dry cellar, with good stores and plenty of 

 good healthy bees. In one of his cellars 

 thermometer varied little from 34 degrees 

 from fore part of January till the last 

 week of March, and in 30 years he had 

 never had bees winter better nor consume 

 less stores. I've had the same experience 

 with 50 degrees or higher. No one thing 

 in cellar is more important than air — air, 

 pure air, lots of air. Good for bees, babies, 

 and big bodies. [In all of our ex- 

 perience a temperature of 34 F. in a 

 bee-eellar, if long continued, has gen- 

 erally been very disastrous to the bees 

 before sjDring. As there is such a great 

 variation in thermometers we arise to ask 

 whether the thermometer that recorded 34 

 in the cellar under consideration had been 

 tested. We never could succeed in doing 

 good wintering in a temj^erature below 38, 

 and even then it must not stay there xevy 

 long. We can winter well with a tem- 

 perature varying from 40 to 60, providing 

 the ventilation is sufficient and the cellar 



