262 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 



All things considered, no. L. C. Root. 



Yes; but worker comb is preferable. 



H. R. BOARDMAN. 



No. There is not an apiarist among- ten thousand 

 who wants drone foundation for any purpose. 



Dadant & Son. 



Worker foundations are generally filled first; and 

 it is my opinion that they are the most profitable to 

 use in the surplus apartment. Chas. F. Muth. 



No; foi- with me the queen is sure to go into the 

 surplus if there is drone comb, unless a queen-ex- 

 cludinfr board is used. Dr. A. B. Mason. 



For comb honey T think worker comb looks best. 

 1 don't think drone comb in the surplus apartment 

 for extracted honey is any detriment. 



E. France. 



1 think not. Honey in small cells looks best. 

 Possibly if one is to keep combs exclusively for ex- 

 tracting it might pay; but I should prefer all work- 

 er combs. A.J.Cook. 



I think I wouldn't use it. There are quite a num- 

 ber of reasons that we will not take space to give 

 here. Certainly I would never use it without the 

 queen-excluding honey-board, and I wouldn't use 

 it any way. James Heddon. 



I think I would never use drone foundation any- 

 where. In sections, drone comb doesn't look as 

 well. For extracting', I would rather have every 

 comb so it roi/W be used in the brood-chamber; but 

 if I already had drone combs for extracting, I 

 would not melt them up. C. C. MiLtEK. 



I have had no experience with drone foundation. 

 My idea is, that it does well when the nectar to be 

 put in it is thick ; but when, as it often happens, the 

 nectar is very thin, it refuses to stay in. and makes 

 the bees trouble. If this idea is correct it is never 

 wise to g-ive drone foundation for surplus— many 

 bees having to stay at home simply to hold the 

 nectar until it is evaporated enough to stay in the 

 large cells. E. E. Hasty. 



Pi obably not. Drone comb does not look quite as 

 well when sealed. Foreign bee-keepers just now 

 are talking a good deal about a size larger than 

 drone, in which the queen will not breed, and no 

 pollen be stored. The original "Long " foundation 

 was of a size intermediate between drone and work- 

 er, and it shut out brood and pollen pretty well. I 

 tear that the bees will not work as well on an un- 

 natural size of cell. It might be well for some of the 

 Hutchinson school to try drone founiiation in sec- 

 tions, with the expectation that it might lessen the 

 amount of bee-bread in boxes and the amount of 

 drone comb in the brood-chamber. 



P. H. Er>woou. 



And on this (iiiestion, too, there seems to 

 be a remarkable uniformitj; of opinion. 

 Friend Hasty's suggestion is indeed novel— 

 that the bees have to stay at liome to keep 

 the hoiiej; in the cells until it evaporates. 

 This reminds me of the good old lady who 

 wanted lier l)oy to go to tlie store for some 

 clothe.spins. It was freezing weather at the 

 time, and he suggested that she might hold 

 the clothes a little wliile, and then they 

 would freeze fast to the line, thus saving the 

 necessity of the pins. AVell, friend II., sup- 

 pose it should liappen that the honey ripens 

 faster in the large cells. I would remind 

 friend Elwood that we, years ago, made a 

 test of cells a little larger than drone-cells ; 



but the bees avoided it, evidently having 

 ideas of their own about going beyond cer- 

 tain limits. We also made a good many 

 htindred pounds of foundation of tlie Long 

 size. Some of our customers thouglit at the 

 time it was just the thing; but sooner or 

 later tliey decided they didn't want any 

 more. We have for a good wliile felt some- 

 what as the Dadants do— that, when a man 

 ordered a considerable (piantity of drone 

 comb, we feared lie did not exactly know 

 what lie did want. 



Bee Ent@M0i^@6Y, 



Or Enemies of Bees Among the Insect Tribe. 



bee-killing spider. 

 BELIEVE that most people enjoy hating the 



t spider, even if not possessed of the senseless 



t dread which is felt by most for these harmless 

 animals. It seems Uncle Samuel is no excep- 

 tion, ifwemaj' judge by the condition of the 

 spider sent by Mr. I. WykofT, Cameron, Pa. The 

 mails left a sorry-looking creature of him; and 

 were it not for his more solid head-thorax I should 

 not be able todiagnosc him at all. Spiders are quite 

 different from insects. They have ri>j|it legs in- 

 stead of six; have no transformation; thus a baby- 

 spider, instead of being a grub, maggot, caterpillar, 

 is only a little spider, and, except for size, looks 

 just about like lis mother-spider. Again, as all 

 have noticed, the spiders have only two divisions of 

 the bodj'— head-ihora.v and al)domen, instead of 

 three— head, thorax, and abdomen, as have our bees 

 and other insects. Spiders arc also without an- 

 tenna», or the horn-like organs so familiar in all 

 insects. Spiders arc also without the beautiful 

 compound eyes which we admire so greatly in 

 wasps— at a distance— and in most twowiiiged Hies, 

 or diptera. The spiders have several simple eyes, 

 usually eight, the arrangement of which is much 

 used in classifying this group of animals. The jaws 

 and feet of many spiders are very peculiar, and 

 well worth study by any one curious as to Na- 

 ture's wonders. 



The spider sent me belongs to the genus Salticus. 

 or the jumping spiders. These do not spin a web, 

 but hide in some crevice; and when their victim 

 comes nigh they jump and fasten on its back and 

 soon crush or suck its life from its bodi". Mr. 

 Wykoff says this one kills a bee in less than a 

 minute. It is said, that these spiders, when thej' 

 jump, always leave a thread, so that, if they miss 

 their prey, they can have a tight rope to aid them 

 in regaining their place of concealment. These arc 

 among the most agile and swift of spiders. 



I wish Mr. W. would send me four or five of these 

 this spring, by mail. Insects and spiders should 

 not be sent in glass bottles or pasteboard boxes. 

 The heavy mail-pouches are too much for either 

 kind of package. I shall hope to get many insects 

 this summer from bee-keepers in all parts of the 

 country, and I hope they will be sent either in tin 

 or wooden boxes. A very nice box is made by bor- 

 ing with a bit into a small piece of wood. Bj' taking 

 a piece of board four or five inches long, two or 

 three inches wide, and one inch thick, several holes 

 can be bored in the same block. This makes a very 

 nice, cheap, and safe transporting-eage. 



Ag'l College ,Mich. A. J. CooK, 



