492 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15. 



two weeks put the old hive on new stand, giv- 

 ing it a queen or cell. Too long a wait, though. 



M. M. Baldridge says in a very positive 

 manner, in A. B. J., that Mahan was not the 

 first to import Italian bees, and quotes Lang- 

 stroth to prove that bees belonging to Wagner, 

 Colvin, and Langstroth, preceded those of Ma- 

 han. Baldridge seems to know what he is talk- 

 ing about. 



Gravenhorst says that, although so many 

 foundation-presses are in use in Germany, they 

 are used only by those who make for themselves. 

 Hot wax poured into the presses makes the 

 foundation brittle, and unfit for shipping, so 

 the foundation of commerce is made on mills. 

 [We infer that the hot-wax home-made foun- 

 dation is not as good because of its brittleness. 

 —Ed.] 



B. Taylor {Review) thinks my plan of having 

 sections cleaned by allowing entrance to them 

 for one bee at a time makes them sting every 

 thing in sight. (Taylor, you're a— a— well, just 

 wait till I see you.) His plan is just the oppo- 

 site. Give full access to top and bottom, and 

 have sections enough for all. The philosophy 

 is the same. I have few bees in proportion to 

 the honey; he has much honey for the bees. 

 With enough sections I believe his plan's best. 



I'lt, cripple that printer that put "not " in 

 11th line, p. 4.54. The comparative merits of T 

 supers and wide frames is one of the few things 

 I do know about, and then to have him put in 

 a fiendish "not" ! Or, say, did 7" put it in? 

 [Our mistake, Doctor. By the way, what a pity 

 it is that we can not take that word which we 

 did not want, and give it to Bro. York to put in 

 the first line on page 648 of his issue for May 34! 

 Bro. Y. never meant to say that " the bee-keep- 

 ing world can spare Dr. Miller just yet." It's a 

 naughty not. — Ed.] 



A WRITER in Success, also one in American 

 B. K., credits me with being " Somnambulist" 

 of Progressive. Quite a compliment, but you 

 must guess again, friends. My trouble's the 

 other way. I've too hard work getting asleep 

 to fool away my time tramping around after 

 I get to sleep. [If you can't sleep, no wonder. 

 You have been threatened with brain trouble. 

 Make the brain work less during the day and 

 it will work less at night, is the advice of the 

 editor, who speaks for his readers, we are sure. 

 Get on to that bicycle and you will sleep. Try 

 it and see. — Ed.] 



I don't paint hive-bodies, because paint 

 won't let moisture out through the walls. 

 Painted covers won'l let moisture in. Without 

 paint, the cover warps; the body doesn't. [How 

 do you Imoiv moisture will go through unpaint- 

 ed hive-sides? We haven't any positive knowl- 

 edge on this point, but strongly suspect that 

 there would be no practical dilference regard- 

 ing this moisture passing between the painted 



and unpainted sides. On the other hand, we 

 do know that the unpainted hive-bodies won't 

 last nearly as long; and, besides, will fail to be 

 bee-tight sooner or later.— Ed.] 



[The following were received shortly after 

 the foregoing came to had. We suppose the 

 doctor thought they were too long to be called 

 "Straws," hence he calls them "Overgrown 

 Straws."— Ed.] 



Try this. Beat up an egg in a tea-cup, yolk 

 and white; put in sugar and cream proper for a 

 cup of coffee, then fill up with boiling coffee. 

 Some don't like it, and some are very fond it. 

 It's nourishing, and easy of digestion. 



Try BUTTERMILK, friend Root, in your "ro- 

 tation " of diet. There are cases in which 

 buttermilk does a good deal better than sweet 

 milk. I've been using it a good deal lately, 

 and, although I'm inclined to " sour stomach."' 

 it seems to agree better than sweet milR. A 

 glass of cold sour butermilk sweetened, with ;i 

 very little dissolved saleratus rapidly stirred in, 

 makes an effervescing drink that is very re- 

 freshing. It's food, and should be taken about 

 meal time. 



The WOMEN-FOLKS, and sometimes the men- 

 folks, make an awkward job of planting in the 

 ground plants in pots. Here's a good way: Dig 

 a hole deep enough, and plant pot and all. 

 Pack the earth firmly and closely about the pot, 

 having the surface of the earth in the pot on a 

 level with the surface outside. Now lift out 

 the pot carefully, turn it upside down, knock 

 the now under rim of the pot upon the top of a 

 box or something solid, when, if the ground is 

 not too wet, it will fall out in a compact ball. 

 Set this in the hole, jab your trowel all around 

 it, pack the ground, water it, and sprinkle dry 

 earth on top. 



Bits of comb attached to separators, as men- 

 tioned in sixth item on p. 470, I suspect, is a 

 different thing from the trouble mentioned by 

 P. W., p. 469. Your answer to P. W. is all 

 right, and I may add that I have no trouble of 

 that kind since using bottom starters. He'll 

 find the trouble worse when storing is slow. 

 But I've sometimes had trouble with " bits of 

 comb " built on the separator, entirely separate 

 from the sections, the bees seeming to have a 

 surplus of wax they didn't know what else to do 

 with — sometimes honey in the little combs, 

 oftener not. I don't know that the kind of 

 separator has any thing to do with it. 



A POUND OF wax takes 20 pounds of honey, 

 or 7, or 3, or something else, and some have 

 said you can't have wax from honey without 

 pollen. These varying opinions may be under- 

 stood if we accept as true what Julius Steigel 

 says in a German bee-journal. He says that 

 grains of pollen are protected by an envelop of 

 wax. In consuming pollen, bees get also the 

 wax, which is then reproduced in scales if need- 

 ed; and if not needed, it is thrown out as excre- 



