48 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jax. ir». 



A kp:cokd-i?c)ok Is a thing I shouldn't like to 

 be without. I've started mine for 1S91 already. 

 1 keep in it all sorts of niemoianda of interest. 

 Mine's about 1.3 by (i, costs 25 cents, and lasts a 

 year for 300 or 400 colonies. Each colony has 

 Its place in numerical order, three colonies on a 

 page. 



••Obsekver," in Cauddlun Bee Jourmtl. 

 thinks too much time was taken up at Keokuk 

 with "tlowery nothings." I always did think 

 "Observer" was a person of good judgment. 

 But, "Observer." it isn't pretty to say. -Ameri- 

 cans pay but little heed to any thing Canadians 

 want." What do you want? 



Incorpokation of the North American 

 under State laws, troubles the Canadian Bee 

 Journal. It thinks incorporation by Congress 

 would make it more what its name signifies. 

 Why, bless you, Mac. the point of incorpoi-ation 

 doesn't limit its field of occupation. Washing- 

 ton isn't as near Canada as Springfield. 



A GOOD OXE on A. I. Root! Cheshire says, 

 '•My own bee-house long since came under the 

 chopper: but Mr. Root thinks well of the house- 

 apiary." and then quotes about a page in its 

 favor" from the A B C. Friend Root. I don't 

 pity you one bit. You've no business to let such 

 misleading things stand in a standard work. 



Bee-jovrnals at cost is what the Review 

 hints every bee-paper but the Review is. Some 

 have undoubtedly been issued at less than cost, 

 but the standard journals, at least part of them, 

 either lie egregiously or they make a good thing 

 of it, independently of the supply-trade. I'm 

 sure they give us both sides of every question 

 too. Look here, W. Z.. you keep on making a 

 good paper, and let the others alone. If you 

 don't, I'll tell on you about advertising " cream " 

 for sale, and then not even furnishing skim- 

 milk. The others furnish the supplies they ad- 

 vertise. 



MocNTAiN laurei., Kalmla latifulia. is the 

 plant that yields poisonous honey. Cheshire 

 says it grows in "damp places.'' and adds, 

 •'Hapj)ily, our American cousins are now never 

 likely thus to suffer, thanks to drainage, the 

 plow, and the bee-farm." For a man who is so 

 exacting as to other authors, isn't that a bit 

 reckless"? If he were to see it growing among 

 the rocks of my native hills in Western Penn- 

 sylvania, he'd' change his views. "Damp 

 places." where the ground runs ncnirly straight 

 up ! Some of those pebbles 6 feet through would 

 hinder a plow. 



Temperature ix cellars is higher at top 

 than at bottom. Macpherson, of Canadian 

 Bee Journal, reports a visit to Allen Pringle's 

 cellar, wh(>re two thermometers are kept, one 

 at top. the other at bottom. At top it was 48°: 

 at bottom. 42°: a diffcj'ence of 0°. I never found 

 so much difference as this and othei- reports 

 make. I have just been trying my cellar. I 

 put in two thermometers. Each showed 4()°. 

 Then the thermometers changed places. Top, 

 48°: bottom. 44°— a difference, you see, of 2° be- 

 tween the top and bottom of cellar, and a dif- 

 ference of 2° in the thermometers. 



[Now, look here, doctor. You have been thus 

 far verv quiet and peaceable, and, as a rule, re- 

 spectful, bundling around among your "straws;" 

 but when you say that you do not believe a 

 word of something I tell you. and which has 

 been told for years in the ABC book, I think it 

 time to stir a little myself. A good many times 

 a new swarm will hang on the outside of the 

 hive, and not go to work. In such a case I 

 would put a comb with a little unsealed brood 

 inside, then with a smoker make them crawl in: 

 and when they find the brood, and find what a 



nice place they have, they usually pitch in and 

 behave as the orthodox have always done with 

 the "shining" hour. Another thing, our good 

 friend Cheshire made a mistake and you tui'ned 

 right in with him. If both of you will read the 

 opening i-emarks in regard to the honse-apiary, 

 you will find a string of objections, and some- 

 thing like the following: "Most apiarists pre- 

 fer to woi'k in the open air, to being cramped 

 up in a building." Again, "In a building we 

 are obliged to get the bees out of the room 

 every time we open a hive, and bees are very 

 untidy when crushed by careless footsteps," 

 etc. What rickety thermometers you must 

 keep in your cellarl I hope yon did not buy 

 them of any respectable su])ply-dealer.] 



gENER^Ii 0©RREgP©NDE]^CE. 



SEVERAL QUESTIONS IN ftUEEN-REARING 

 ANS'WERED. 



doolittle reviews the matter. 



The following questions have been sent in 

 for answers; and to simplify matters I will 

 number the questions and answers. 



1. Why does not all the progeny of a black queen, 

 mated with an Italian drone, or an Italian queen 

 mated with a black drone, show the same marking's? 



2. Will the e^ga and larvae of a queen two inouths 

 old produce as g-ood queens as if she were one or 

 two years old ? If not, why not V 



3. If we make a colony queenless. removing- all 

 the egg's and brood, and g-ive this <iueenless colony a 

 comb containing lOOii eggs, not nearly as many 

 queen-cells and cells of cai>ped brood will be found 

 on the tenth day as we gave eggs. What becomes 

 of the eggs? If destroyed, why? If used in the 

 .ielly given the queen larva, would the eggs of a 

 black queen affect the coloring of the young queen 

 reared from Italian larva ? 



■4. What is the least number of days after hatching, 

 the weather lieing favorable, required before a 

 young queen will leave the hive for fertilization ? 



.5. Will there be any difference in the time of 

 leaving the hive for fertilization, between ;i queen 

 hatched in 10 and one hatched in 16 days? 



6. How manj- days after hatching, before the 

 worker-bee leaves for labor ? 



7. In what does their tlrst outdoor labor consist- 

 gathering honey, pollen, water, or propolis ? 



8. Will a (jueen reared from an old queen about to 

 be superseded be as good as when reared f lom the 

 same queen in her piime? 



1. For the satue reason that no "blood " of 

 two different colorings can be mixed and have 

 the progeny of the mixture show a uniform 

 coloring. Take any of our animals, the sheep, 

 the hog, the cattle, horse, dog, cat. etc.: birds 

 of all colors as to feathering: or the vegetable 

 kingdom, and we find the same laws governing 

 them in this matter of coloring, just t lie same 

 as w(> find regarding the bees. Plant Marble- 

 head and Hubbard squashes side by side, so 

 that the bees can mix the pollen in the blossoms 

 of each, and see what a mixture of color you 

 will get as a result. If the progeny of a mis- 

 mated queen should show a uniformity of col- 

 oring, bees would be an exception to the laws 

 governing the most of animated creation. 



2. According to the prevailing opinions of 

 others, no: but according to the most careful 

 observation on my part, yes. After years of 

 careful watching along this line, I fail to see 

 any difference between a queen raised from the 

 very first eggs laid by any queen, and those 

 laid by the same queen two years later: and I 

 do not believe there is any difference. Will 

 those who doubt this fact tell us wherein the 



