146 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



all together. A questioner wants to know 

 what to expect next. Dr. Miller shows 

 familiarity with disagreeable facts by the 

 following. 



"They ma.v cln>ter together and then each one 

 go hack to its own hive. They may cluster to- 

 gether anil the united cluster go to oue of the 

 hives. They in;iy go together or nepaiately ti) 

 some other hive from whicli a swarm liad lately 

 issued, and wnere a lot of returning btes are 

 making a loud call. They may break all up 

 and goal! sorts of ways. You see 1 put in that 

 'all sorts of ways' to cover •-ome new way that 

 yc^ur bees will invtnt A B. J , 122." 



A correspondent in A. B. J., 122, contri- 

 butes a very interesting experiment. 

 Five colonies of bees not fed lost in weight 

 during fall and the first part of winter an 

 average of 6 and 3-5 pounds. Ten colo- 

 nies fed lost in the same time an average 

 of 13 pounds. Variation was great in 

 this latter lot, the loss being nearly pro- 

 portionate to the amount fed. One fed 

 20 pounds lost 24^. Very possibly 4 

 pounds would have covered their loss had 

 they been let alone. In my opposition to 

 fall feeding, except when absolutely nec- 

 essary, I've been pretty lonesome in this 

 generation; but a hundred years hence 

 there'll be more of me. 



Chance for a fight. Is the heat inside 

 a hive moist heat or dry heat? A. B. J., 

 123. So nmcli water is brought in with 

 the nectar and evaporated that things 

 must be as moist as it is under the cover 

 of a steaming kettle — there now ! If the 

 air inside were saturated, or even nearly 

 saturated, the water aforesaid wouldn't 

 evaporate — there now ! 



In Progressive, 82, Doolittle comes out 

 flat footed in favor of unpainted hives — 

 the painting bill saved more than renews 

 the hive when an unpainted one plays 

 out, and painting is a positive damage to 

 the well being of the inmates. Wouldn't 

 have his single-wall hives painted if you'd 

 paint 'em for nothing and pay a dollar a 

 hive for the privilege. I rather suspect 

 friend D's head is level in this — and also 

 in the following. 



"1 can understand how anyone never having 

 used properly made wide frames, can use the 

 T supers, but I cannot understand how any per- 

 son after having used wide frames, couln lay 

 them one sid(\ and adopt the section liolders or 

 T supers." 



The Progressive has been freshening 

 up very decidedly of late. 



Stachelhausen says the queen is not of 

 herself able to eat pollen. Honey abso- 

 lutely alone will not support life. It fol- 

 lows that the queen would starve to death 

 if the workers did not feed her with di- 

 gested pollen products. Southland Queen, 

 271. 



And editor Bennett (Pacific Bee Jour- 

 nal, 44. ) thinks he is ahead of me on the 

 health movement. Has adopted the two 

 meals a day method. Well I was there 

 1 5 or 20 years ago — when a person had to 

 incur the odium of being an awful crank 

 by taking such a step. Now the very best 

 authorities in the country advise it for 

 nearly all except the most vigorous stom- 

 achs. After he has had 20 years of bene- 

 fit out of it, and old age gets to coming 

 on, he may find, as I do, that it is not 

 sufficient any more, and that something 

 else, he knows not what, needs to be done. 

 I am aware that a few make a success of 

 a one-meal-a-day method. Going to find 

 out whether it will work in my case. Get 

 my obituary straw written Dr. Miller. 

 Good by, unless — 



C. C. Greiner thinks buckwheat's hab- 

 it is to yield more honey when nearly 

 mature-than when it first begins to bloom. 

 Gleanings, 86. Is'nt it the advancing 

 coolness of the nights that really makes 

 the change ? Buckwheat begins to bloom 

 very soon after it conies up, in the hot 

 weather of August, and it seems never to 

 yield honey worth mentioning when it is 

 oppressively hot night and day. He 

 mentions also its habit of stopping secre- 

 tion in the afternoon, a trick often in 

 print before. Further on he protests 

 against making such a fuss about bees 

 hanging out — doubts whether there is any 

 harm in it; and thinks the conditions 

 that cause it are conditions that we can 

 not help. Perhaps he is more than half 

 right. Soii!eti>nes it's heat, or crowding, 

 or lack of ventilation — if so mend things. 

 Sometimes it signifies no more than the 

 sitting of a family of folks in their shady 

 front porch — let them alone. 



