8t6 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



Nov. 



bad words; but I did say, " Hail Columbia! where 

 is my best girlV" I was afraid she would be looking 

 around distractedly for nie; but that wonderful 

 apifuge was to be purchased, distra<-tion or no dis- 

 traction. The oils were obtained, and, wrapping 

 in many folds of paper, I put them in my inside 

 vest-pocket, and was soon on the fair- grounds 

 again. The best girl was somewhere in that crowd 

 of 8000 people. I ksked about a dozen persons if 

 they had seen a girl wearing a brown hat and white 

 feather. Yes, they had seen her right over there, 

 but I found it was some other chap's girl, every 

 time. Knowing her tastes quite well I looked over 

 the poultry, the sewing-machine, and cow depart- 

 ments, and was just about giving up the search in 

 a terribly bad state of mind, when, chancing to pass 

 an insignificant Punch and Judy show, I found my 

 best girl laughing as though her heart would break. 

 I felt indignant, clear down to my boots, and was 

 just going to say feomething severe, when she turn- 

 ed and smilingly beamed on me with her lustrous 

 black eyes, and I just laughed at Punch and Judy 

 too, harder than she did. 



Our conversation on our way home was somewhat 

 disjointed. I talked of apifuge, and she of the 

 great milking qualities of a certain cow on exhibi- 

 tion. 



The next morning found me early in my apiary. 

 The oils were mixed, and, rubbing some on my 

 hands and face. I was as aromatic as a fresh rose. 

 ] opened a beehive, and how remarkable it all 

 seemed, managing bees without smoke or veil! 

 " What a revolution this will make!" said I. I lifted 

 out a frame. A dozen bees prospected around on 

 my hand. One bumped against luy nose, and no 

 stings. I began to enthuse all over, and slung my 

 hat over the next bee-hive. But that was my Wa- 

 terloo, for a bee got into my hair. The killing of it, 

 and the consequent poisonous aroma, aroused tlie 

 whole swarm, and— the Palmer apifuge was no pro- 

 tection. To make a long story short, let me show 



THE RESULT OF THE JJEE-BA1.,M. 



you my picture taken the next morning. But the 

 saddest of all was'thejutter ruin of bright apifuge 

 dreams and hopes of the Ramblek. 



Now, friend R., there are two things 

 about your story, which I do not under- 

 stand. The first is, that I never knew there 

 was such a thing as tlie oil of goldenrod to 

 V}e had at any drugstore ; and even if there 

 is, I am not surprised to learn that it did 

 not have any eifect in mollifying the sting 

 of the bees. The other is, that the great big 

 State of New York should contain even one 

 girl that would not be ojTended to be neglect- 

 ed in the way you mention . I was breath- 

 less with excitement, in reading your narra- 



tion, to know whether, when you found her, 

 she turned the cold shoulder, and would not 

 recognize you at all, or whether she gave 

 you a reproof that was even worse than bee- 

 stings; and I was obliged to come to the 

 conclusion that she had tlie remarkable and 

 unusual grace to make the best of the situa- 

 tion, and enjoy herself in spiie of your bad 

 behavior. If so, she has perhaps uncon- 

 sciously tauglit a grand moral, not only for 

 all womankind, but mankind also. 



OLD COMBS VERSUS NEW. 



IS SIZE OF THE CELLS IN THE FORMER A LOSS? 



N regard to the question raised by Dr. Miller, 

 " When to melt old brood-combs," I will ven- 

 tui'e some remarks taken from personal ob- 

 servation, even though I should ditt'er from so 

 great authority as the editor of Gleanings. 

 The size of brood-nest, length of breeding season, 

 and number of batches of brood hatched in the 

 combs are of more importance than the mere 

 years the combs have been in use. But to discuss 

 these propositions seriatim would require much 

 too long a communication. 



That the cells are materially diminished in size, 

 and the bees are dwarfed for life in combs in which 

 many genei-ations of brood have been reared, is a 

 proposition easily demonstrated, if the apiarist will 

 carefully note and compare results. These little 

 ladies, which were laced too tightly in swaddling- 

 bands (cocoons), I surmise are responsible for the 

 notion that there are two kinds of black bees. I 

 have frequently noticed, when the mothers of these 

 little ladies changed habitations, that their daugh- 

 ters iirought up in roomy houses were as large as 

 other children, but their aunts were prim little 

 ladies like those who vacated with "grandma." I 

 have also observed in these hives, many bees with 

 crippled (imperfect) wings, some with only stubs of 

 wings. That there will occur cases of malforma- 

 tion in the young of all animated beings, admits of 

 no doubt; but when deformity occurs in a great 

 number of cases, it is evident that there is some- 

 thing wrong in the environments of embryonic 

 life. No one, 1 think, will dispute this proposition. 

 Many of these cripples are summarily expelled by 

 the perfect bees dragging them from the hive; 

 those not so disposed of are lost on the playgrounds; 

 but should any of them survive the first two weeks, 

 their career terminates when they start to the 

 fields. 



The raisings of such bees are a loss of time, hon- 

 ey, and money to the apiarist. When many of 

 those cripples appear, I would advise melting the 

 combs. If Dr. Miller wishes to determine the 

 amount of e.xuvife in the cells of different-aged 

 combs, let him put u piece of brood-comb 1, 2, 3, 4, 

 .5, and years old into a solar extractor and melt 

 the wax between the sides and base of the cells; 

 when the wax is all drained off, and the combs 

 have got cold, each old cell can be separated from 

 its fellow like so many grains of corn. Recent 

 cells, or those from which not more than one or 

 two batches of brood have hatched, will generally 

 collapse at the melting of its wax wall; but old 

 cells will present very firm cocoon walls, perhaps 

 much harder than the doctor Imagines. The later- 

 al diminution in size (to my eyes) is much greater 



