July 26, 1900. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNA' 



469 



combs in the old hive, which is a thinjj I object to. I never 

 could understand the logic which calls for the destroying of 

 good, straight worker-combs for the sake of making the 

 wax which comes from them into foundation, fitting the 

 same into frames, obliging the bees to draw it out, and add 

 more was to it in the process, that we might have only 

 good, straight worker-combs again. If any wish to go thru 

 this process, of course I have no objections ; but I want 

 them to understand what they are doing before they start 

 in the matter, and not do it ignorantly, because some one 

 recommended the plan without giving the whole logical 

 outcome of the matter. 



Fruit-bloom is a good time to transfer bees by the old 

 way ; in fact, so transferring at that time, where their own 

 combs are fitted into frames, seems to give the bees re- 

 newed vigor, so that the colonies become better fitted for 

 gathering surplus honey than do those of the same strength 

 that are left undisturbed. In case any colony has very 

 crooked combs I should leave them until just after the 

 honey harvest, when it would be well to use the Heddon 

 plan, feeding if necessary to prepare them properly for win- 

 ter. Or, if the old hive is not suited for obtaining surplus 

 honey from it, this transferring could be done at the com- 

 mencement of the harvest, when, by using the Heddon plan 

 of preventing after-swarms, the first " drive " might store 

 some surplus honey. Onondaga Co., N. Y. 



a^rih_ i 



O l ) O « ' O I ) O ( ) o t , o t I o t I o t ^>o .• •< o f ^ o f s o ( , o C 



The "Old Reliable" seen thru New and Unreliable Glasses. 

 By E. E. HASTY, Richards, Ohio. 



BKE-STOMACHS — HONEY VS. SUGAR FOR INVALIDS. 



An apparent slip occurs in the able article of Prof. 

 Cook, page 370, where he says that the true stomach of the 

 bee is larger than the honey-stomach. Very likely this is 

 the visible appearance, when both are empty ; but the fact 

 that the latter when full is more than half the weight of an 

 unloaded bee, rather makes it impossible that the former 

 should have the greater capacity. 



Say, Prof. Cook, I'm getting weak in the faith about 

 honey being prac/icai/y better food for invalids than granu- 

 lated sugar. After a long period of valetudinarianism, in- 

 tentionally consuming much sweet, and with my prejudice 

 (if I had any prejudice) in favor of honey, you will see me 

 eating sugar as a horse eats oats, and not much honey. Sad 

 case of backsliding, isn't it ? And Gleanings in Bee-Cul- 

 ture, not very long ago, holding me up to the world as its 

 champion honey-eater I 



LOCUST BLOOM AND TREE. 



That spray of locust bloom, page 369, is very lifelike. 

 One disadvantage of the locust that Mr. Schmidt left out is 

 its creeping roots, which infest sandy soil somewhat in the 

 style of an arboreal Canada thistle. 



SALTING BEES. 



The man who lets cattle get at his home-apiary till they 

 find out that salt can be had by licking at the hive-en- 

 trances — I rather guess he's a gone case, as a bee-keeper, 

 and that we need not waste sj'mpathy on his woes. Possibly 

 in some out-apiaries the matter may stand somewhat dif- 

 ferently. Somebody else's hired men may have to be de- 

 pended upon to shut the gaps they open. Better omit salt 

 in such situations — and perhaps Editor Root is too penny- 

 wise in objecting to the cost of sulphate of copper for them. 

 A barrel of salt to serve 400 colonies for two years — a quar- 

 ter of a cent per colony per year is " too awfully cheap." 

 Page 376. 



HAULING HOME EXTRACTING-COMBS OF HONEY. 



Aikin's new style of hauling the combs of honey home 

 from the out-apiary before extracting seems to have just 

 one drawback — needs 300 extra combs to work it. The full 

 double set of combs are supposed to be sufficiently hard to 

 get — and keep — without these extras. Where there's a will 

 there's a way, however. His Ku-klux horse with canvass 

 all over him, head and ears — well, if the horse doesn't ob- 



ject to it the rest of us needn't. May perhaps be the best 

 waj' to deal with a serious difficulty. Page 377. 



A NON-SWARMING METHOD. 



The Blakely non-swarming method seems to be a prac- 

 tical one — don't tell us to use a great lot of combs of brood 

 without bees " wherever they are needed," as I was getting 

 ready to hear as I read it. The objection is that the ex- 

 tracted-honej' part of the business is boomed, and the sec- 

 tion-honey part deprest. With good runs of honey at the 

 right time it might prove quite satisfactory. Page 381. 



CLEANING BEESWAX OFF TIN. 



A jet of hot steam for cleaning the beeswax off bright 

 tin is probablj' an excellent idea- -except for the large sec- 

 tion of us who haven't got the jet of steam. My working 

 idea, in this regard, is to devote certain tin utensils to use 

 in beeswax «■«(/ absolutely nothinf; else, and then let the films 

 of wax remain on. Keep 'em bottom up when not in use, to 

 avoid adhering dust. Page 381. 



THE MIDDLE SECTIONS IN A SUPER. 



The question is raised, page 382, whether sections 

 stored directly over the middle of the brood do not incline 

 to have a more sodden appearance than those at the edges. 

 Worth wrestling with. I'll guess off hand that it's mainly 

 accident. They don't store at all at the far edges except- 

 ing when the honey-flow is quite good ; and a good flow 

 favors fine appearance. 



AVERAGE AGE OF QUEEN-MATING. 



Thirty German queens mated at an average age of six 

 days. The range was from four days to nine. The result 

 with a lot of American queens nearly the same — average 

 a little older. We should refresh our memories with these 

 fundamental facts once in awhile. And let's see, I believe 

 we are taught that the time betvceen mating and commen- 

 cing to lay is very short, so that the total time from emerg- 

 ing to laying is usually a little over a week, but sometimes 

 less. Page 382. 



THOSE TWO "WEST"-ERN WOMEN. 



And what have we here, page 385 ? Mrs. West, and a 

 daughter bigger than herself, and the plump statement un- 

 derneath that Mrs. W. does all the work. Guess that's a 

 slip of some sort — notwithstanding that our observations in 

 this lazy, butterfly world prepare us to believe just that. 

 Too honest and resolute a look on the younger woman's 

 face — and printed on her costume. The ladies have a beau- 

 tiful spot. They believe in porticos (which more than half 

 of us have discarded.) And they manifestly believe in hav- 

 ing things snug. None of your spread-all-round-for-a-mile 

 tactics in their lemonade. 



TOO SCIENTIFIC TERMS IN QUEEN-REARING. 



Glad Doolittle didn't stop with saying the bulk of a B 

 shot in royal jelly for cells. Some of us, like myself, don't 

 know " B " from " bull's foot " in the terms of a sport which 

 we care not a fig for. But four turnip seeds, ah, that's com- 

 ing to terms of precision ! And the jelly, it seems, is to be 

 well shaken before being taken — careful there not to break 

 the bottle ! Seal up the natural cell yourself (with no queen 

 in it), and keep the jelly for use for two weeks if you need. 

 None but the experienced hand could have told us that. 

 Hardly expected Doolittle to aver so decidedly the useless- 

 ness of meal and flour as pollen substitutes — but I have no 

 protests to put in. Page 386. 



THE APPLE AND EVOLUTION. 



Mr. JoUey is a little extreme in his evolution teachings, 

 page 386. We can hardly depend upon seedlings from 

 cross-fertilized seed bearing fruit " in all probability " bet- 

 ter than the parents. " Occasionally " is all that can be 

 truthfully said there. And about the apple being developt 

 from the wild rose, I guess none of the great masters of 

 evolution would quite consent to back him there. If we 

 can stand the evolutionary millions of j-ears, it comes to 

 this, that the apple and the rose were both developt from a 

 common parent (not now in existence at all), not that the 

 apple was developt from the rose, or the rose from the apple. 

 Better say the apple sprang from one or more of the crabs 

 of the eastern continent — and not try to unwind the evolu- 

 tionary ball any further than that. 



BROOD-CHAMBERS FOR EXTRACTING AND FOR SECTIONS. 



And so Aikin thinks a hive for extracting should have 

 a larger brood-chamber than if run for section honey. May 



