1894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



2(57 



ton, that across the line in the United States is 

 our best market. The closest market is the 

 best, and we mnst keep our hands clean, and 

 have a pure article, to give us the best advan- 

 tage there." Mr. Pringle stated that he had 

 been hampered by a spccilic duty of twenty 

 cents per gallon on honey. On comb it had 

 been figured out by a "peculiar arithmetic and 

 guessing "to be from two to three cents per 

 pound. Referring to the so-called sugar honey, 

 he is reported to say that, under these circum- 

 stances, the advantages of Canada would be 

 seen in the United States markets, not only for 

 extracted, but for comb honey, so long as we 

 keep it pure and undefiled. He could take a 

 hundred tons of Canadian honey to Chicago to- 

 morrow, and sell it readily at excellent prices. 

 It may seem hard to our Canadian brethren to 

 have a duty imposed upon their products; but 

 so long as they consent to have their foreign 

 policy (rvar) dictated by rulers over the sea, se- 

 cret enemies of our institutions, they can hard- 

 ly expect us to use our resources in such a way 

 as to develop their strength. 



ROOT PERFORATED ZINC A SUCCESS. 



We have used a good deal of the Root perfo- 

 rated zinc for the purpose of keeping the queen 

 confined to one story when extracting, and at 

 other times, and it is a success. A few queens 

 escape, but usually it is found either that the 

 queen has passed through some opening imper- 

 fectly closed outside of the zinc, or that she is 

 undersized. It would hardly seem advisable to 

 change the size of the perforations for general 

 purposes. We have not been successful in keep- 

 ing two or more queens in the same hive. Even 

 caged virgin queens in queenless stocks are not 

 as well cared for as they ought to be. 



TAYLOR'S FOUNDATION EXPERIMENTS. 



The experiments of Mr. Taylor, on comb 

 foundation, are very interesting, and, if contin- 

 ued, will be very profitable to producers of comb 

 honey. Of course, one trial determines little. 

 I shall expect, with further experimenting, that 

 Mr. Taylor will reverse his opinion that old 

 foundation is as good as new: also that the 

 thickness of the base in foundation has little 

 influence on the thickness of the base in finish- 

 ed comb. Further experimenting will probably 

 also decide that, within reasonable limits, the 

 less wax put into foundation, the better. Not 

 only is the cost much less, but the comb honey 

 is much better. Comb can be converted into 

 wax. but wax can not be converted into flaky 

 comb. The wax in drawn - out foundation 

 chews up into wads, while chewed comb is brit- 

 tle or in flakes. Where the bees thoroughly 

 work over the foundation, as is oftener done 

 with flat-bottom and Given foundation than 

 with any thing else I have tried, there seems to 

 be less of this objectionable toughness. The 

 quality of the wax used also makes a very 

 great difTerence in this respect. The Given 

 press is a success in making brood foundation. 



After the frames are wired, foundation can be 

 made with it as fast as or faster than other 

 kinds of foundation can be fastened into empty 

 or wired frames. The press sent me was not ad- 

 justed nicely enough for surplus foundation: 

 Besides, there was the difTicully of dipping 

 sheets of uniform thickness throughout. The 

 bees work this foundation quickly, but I can 

 not say whether the base of the heavy side 

 walls is always thinned down as much as is de- 

 sirable for comb honey. Our method of wiring 

 frames is to have the top and bottom bars saw- 

 ed in two pieces. Then place fifty or more of 

 these pieces side by side on a flat surface, with 

 a lath frame over them having the slats the 

 same distance apart as the wires are to be. A 

 sharp knife is then drawn down alongside of 

 each slat. The frames are next nailed together, 

 using but the one creased piece at top and bot- 

 tom. The knife-cuts make a fine place for lay- 

 ing in the wires: and, immediately after wir- 

 ing, the other piece of the top and bottom bar 

 is nailed on. We use a lath form of similar con- 

 struction for cutting up foundation. 



A NEW FACT ON BEES AS FERTILIZERS. 



By all means, give us the facts on the fertili- 

 zation of flowers by the honey-bee. Bees are 

 an assistant in fertilization. With a few flow- 

 ers they are a necessity. They are always val- 

 uable and never harmful. Any attempt to 

 prove them so is but a waste of ink. Mr. 

 Crane's article can not be too highly commend- 

 ed as a compendium of the main facts in the 

 case. Especial attention is called to the in- 

 creased vigor arising from cross-fertilization in 

 contrast with fertilization from the flowers of 

 the same plant or tree. Mr. Cheshire says 

 (page 323, Vol. I., "Bees and Bee-keeping"), 

 "The apple, as its blossom indicates, is strictly 

 a fusion of five fruits into one— hence called 

 pseudosyncarpons—smA demands for its pro- 

 duction in perfection no less than five independ- 

 ent fertilizations. If none are eflfected, the'calyx, 

 which really forms the flesh of the fruit, in- 

 stead of swelling, dries, and soon drops. An 

 apple often develops, however, though imper- 

 fectly, if four only of the stigmas have been 

 pollen dusted: but it rarely hangs long enough 

 to ripen. The first severe storm sends it to the 

 pigs as a windfall. I had two hundred apples, 

 that had dropped during a gale, gathered pro- 

 miscuously for a lecture illustration; and the 

 cause of failing, in every case but eight, was 

 traceable to imperfect fertilization. These 

 fruits may be generally known by a deformity 

 —one part has failed to grow because there has 

 been no diversion of nutrition toward it. Cut- 

 ting it across with a knife, we find its hollow 

 cheek lies opposite the unfertilized dissepi- 

 ment." Frank Benton is in a position to thor- 

 oughly write up this subject and have it sent 

 all over the country by bulletin from his de- 

 partment. A general knowledge of this sub- 

 ject would give prestige to our business, and be 



