GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Stray Stravs^s 



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



Richardson's hive-stands, p. 664, look 

 good. Bottom-boai-ds will not rot as they 

 will on wood, and hives will not tumble off 

 as they will on stakes. 



The British Bee Journal, p. 307, says, 

 "The average profit ])er hive from proper- 

 ly managed British bees is 20s." That's 

 about $0.00 — better than we can do on this 

 side. 



E. S. Hudson gets comb honey built be- 

 tween brood-combs, p. 638. That's all 

 right if the brood-combs are new ; but next 

 to old black combs I've had honey sealed 

 very dark. 



C. M. Hicks, you say, p. 635, that bee- 

 way sections Avithout separators are harder 

 to "handle than plain ones. Please iday 

 fair. Were the plain sections also without 

 separators or fences? 



Louis Scholl, you say, p. 652, that you 

 advertise "as exclusive comb-honey pro- 

 ducers" when you sell honey that is one- 

 third extracted. What would you advertise 

 if you produced no extracted? 



P. C. Chadwick, p. 616, even if bees do 

 prefer small entrances, does that prove 

 that small entrances are best for you? Do 

 they not swarm more with small entrances? 

 [Small entrances in summer don't work 

 well here. — Ed.] 



Your surmise, Mr. Editor, p.- 646, is 

 that the cjueen, Avhen crowded, drops eggs 

 promiscuously, and the workers put them 

 in the cells. My guess is that the queen 

 lierself lays in cells already occupied. I 

 wish we could know for certain. 



C. H. Hablan, radiator-pipes make your 

 cellar too warm for the bees, p. 638. Ever 

 try wrapping two or three thicknesses of 

 asbestos paper around the pipes? [Such 

 protection will answer on furnace pipes, 

 but not on steam or hot-water pipes. — 

 Ed.] 



Mention is made in the last Straw, p. 

 649, of a "package of bees without brood 

 or bees." If that is the work of "the 

 intelligent compositor" he should be dis- 

 charged instanter. If it was in the manu- 

 script — well — er — any one is liable to make 

 mistakes. 



J. Warren Arthur, you like side start- 

 ers in sections better than fidl sheets of 

 foundation, p. 638. But don't the bees 

 build drone comb in your sections? And 

 doesn't that injure the looks of the sec- 

 tions? And, unless you use excluders, 

 don't queens lay in that drone comb? 



Lewis P. Tanton's story, page 581, sets 

 one ty thinking. In some cases such as he 

 mentions, tlie disappointing delay is worse 

 than if the amount of money involved had 

 been stolen outright. If it's right to give 

 the name of a common thief, wliy isn't it 

 right to give the name of one who is worse 

 than a common thief? 



A French physician. Dr. Carton, has 

 written a brochure in which he denounces 

 as tlie three most deadly aliments, alcohol, 

 meat, and sugar. — L' A pi culture, 272. And 

 I suppose eating sugar does more harm in 

 this count ly than in France, since more 

 sugar is eaten here. [The world is full of 

 extremists, and Dr. Carton appears to be 

 no excejition. We never knew of a hus- 

 band and father who, after buying meat 

 or sugar, abused his family or deprived 

 them of support. — Ed.] 



G. M. Doolittle, you say, page 508, 

 "There is no i^rettier sight than a super 

 of sections all alike in advancement, with 

 not a cell yet sealed." Isn't that same 

 superful jirettier after the sections are all 

 sealed snowy white? Yet I'm like you; 

 that super of unsealed sections, every sec- 

 tion just alike, thrills me with delight 

 as does no lot of finished sections. I sup- 

 pose it's because of the evidence of the 

 strong force of bees at work, and the flood 

 of honey that a good God is giving us. 



Some things P. C. Chadwick says, p. 

 651, suggest that bee-inspectors might be 

 worth their keep if for nothing else than 

 to spread information among beekeepers 

 that Avill hardly be reached in any other 

 Avay — I mean aside from foul brood. [It 

 is certainly true that bee inspectors do a 

 great deal of good aside from the service 

 they render in the elimination of bee dis- 

 ease. Many do not read any books or 

 papers, and yet they are always glad to 

 get advice by word of mouth. The helpful 

 advice given by the bee inspectors is worth 

 all it costs to send them around, even if 

 no service were rendered in combating bee 

 disease. — Ed.] 



H. H. ROOT^ you say, p. 90, that "bees 

 do scarcely any work in a comb-honey 

 super three stories high." I wonder if 

 that means just what it says. At this 

 ]n-esent moment half my colonies with sec- 

 tion-supers are working in supers three 

 or more stories high, and they were higher 

 a week or two ago. [In this particular I 

 was taking Mr. Anthony's statement, and 

 possibly I put the matter a little too strong. 



