1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



359 



the cushions and covers, leaving the hive en- 

 tirely open at tlie top. and the entrance open 

 the same as in the summer, with bottom-board 

 left on. and leave them in this condition until 

 about two weeks iiefore time to take them out 

 in the spring, then replace the cushions and 

 covers. 



Your plan of removing the bottom -boards 

 only may be equally good, but I doubt whether 

 yoii will have very much better sticcess in win- 

 tering: yet your jilan will allow a greater num- 

 ber of stands to lie winter(>d in a smaller room, 

 on account of being tiered up. In leaving the 

 hive entirely open at the top. it allows the 

 steam or animal heat to pass off. while tlie plan 

 of having the cover remain on the hive would, 

 it seems to me, have a tendency to create mois- 

 ture on the under side of the cover, consequent- 

 ly dampness in the hive. I observed this by 

 placing a piece of burlap on the hive after re- 

 moving the cover, allowing it to remain for 

 sevei'al days, and then on i-emoving it I found 

 that it was wet: but whether the moisture 

 came from the bees or from the cellar, it mat- 

 ters not: it would have the same bad effect on 

 the bees. The old saying, "Never swap horses 

 in the middle of thestream," holds good with 

 me in this case until another plan proves equaF- 

 ly successful. N.H.Bell. 



"Wahoo. Neb.. April '.•. 



NUBBINS. 



PKOF. COOK GIVES US SOME VALrABEE 

 THOVGIITS. 



Friend Root, please do not call my brevities 

 " Stray Straws." It does me too much honor, 

 and our d^ar friend ^lillei' injustice. Just dub 

 my driblet-^ plain nubbins. 



Glad to hear what Dr. Miller says of melilot. 

 as demonstrated in France, especially as we are 

 going to give it a big trial at the station here. 

 We are going to test its value for honey, for 

 food, green and dry. and for silage. We are 

 also going to test rape along the same lines. 



I must say that I am with Bro. Newman on 

 the -editorial" "we." Dr. 'SI., you know what 

 the good Quaker said to his wife — "My dear, 

 everybody but thee and ))ic is peculiar, and I 

 sometimes think thou art a little singular." 

 Now. when the doctor assaults universal cus- 

 tom — in other words, attacks essays at conven- 

 tions on this ••we." he is certainly the singular 

 man. "Honest Injun." doctor; isn"t it suspi- 

 cious when you and I are the only ones in all 

 the great human family who are righf? 



Friend Corneil is usually about right, but. 

 without doubt, drew it too fine when he was 

 going to have foundation sow microbes broad- 

 cast. Long exi)erience says, "No. no." 



You ask what I think about bees disliking 

 red. If it is true. I should say it is a case of 

 bee-taste. I say. // true. I have a friend who 

 wears a red shirt habitually in working witli 

 bees, yet rarely ever gets stung. I had always 

 supposed that bees were indifferent to color, 

 though much annoyed by any roughness like 

 fuzz on i-ough woolen cloth. I have heard it 

 said, that bees dislike dark colors. I never 

 could see that my bc(>s objected to my dark 

 clothes, unless rough and fuzzy. Why may not 

 bees have taste"? I like to see "a girl, if a bright 

 brunette, dressed in bright red; if a blonde, in 

 light blue: so. as I have taste in such matters, 

 far be it from me to diMiy a like peculiarity in 

 bees. Sir. John Lubbock's experiments plainly 

 show that bees can distinguish colors, and what 

 observing bee-keeper doubts if? 



I don't wonder, friend Root, that you hesitat- 

 ed at the snake-story. But I have seen it, and 



so know that young '"saugas'' do run for pro- 

 tection into the matei'nal mouth. You ask 

 about the breathing. I think snakes can man- 

 age for some time without breathing. In our 

 own case I do not sup|)ose cessation of breath- 

 ing would b(> fatal till the heart should stop 

 beating, which, with us, is in a very brief time. 

 Not so the snake. I have known a snake's 

 heart to beat for hours, even after it was taken 

 wholly out of the body. Insects are like snakes 

 in this respect. They will live a long time in a 

 very small close box. I never looked in to see 

 where the snakes went to, but I suppose they 

 went to the stomach: indeed, some years ago 

 some of our students killed a massasauga. and 

 actually reported finding the young snakes in 

 the mother's stomach. 1 feel quite certain that 

 I have seen more than a mouthful I'un into this 

 opening. 



1 always supposed that the very low gentle 

 hum of bees in winter was only a note of "all 

 right:" but a louder one. a murmur of •'too 

 close, more ventilation." I have often quieted 

 bees by opening the door on a cool night. 



Mr. E. France makes a good suggestion re- 

 garding wax secretion. I shall try some exper- 

 iments to prove or disprove his theory. In case 

 of Mr. Doolittle. I do not think the facts are 

 with him. Bees often do go loaded with wax 

 when swarming; but may they not have re- 

 mained quiet before"? we know that they do 

 rest somewliat before breaking up the old 

 home: and surely if hived on full combs, the 

 wax scales disappear at once. I doubt whether 

 Mr. Doolittle has the truth on his side. 



Why does our usually correct friend speak of 

 the scouts looking up a new home while the 

 bees are clustering"? As I state in my Bee- 

 Keepers Guide, I think the bees cluster to give 

 the queen a rest after trying her wings, which 

 ar<' unwonted to labor. I supposed it settled, 

 that bees look out a home before the swarm is- 

 sues. They certainly do .sometimes: and if so. 

 I guess always. 



Mr. Cowan is usually very accurate; but. is 

 digestion separating the food"? I should say di- 

 gestion is rendering food capable of being ab- 

 sorbed, and that absorption did the separating. 

 I wish to say. as I do say in my last edition of 

 Bee-keeper's Guide, that Cowan's book is very 

 excellent, and. I believe, very correct. 



Friend Root, don't misunderstand me regard- 

 ing granulated sugar for winter food, I believe, 

 that, if fed in the fall, it is a superb food for 

 bees. In this case it is digested, and is probably 

 equal to any honey, and superior to much honey 

 as a food: but I don't believe that it is a good 

 food for bees, if fed exclusively while bees are 

 in confinement, either in summer or winti-r. I 

 think your experiments should be more exten- 

 sive before you speak e.r <-nthedra on this point. 



Our bees wintered nicely on a diet of almost 

 exclusively fall honey. Yesterday, Apr. 17. they 

 worked in full force for the first time on soft 

 maple. They got the first pollen Ai)ril 13. 



Ag'l College*. Mich. A. J. Cook. 



[I ain very glad, friend C. that you are going 

 to test rape and melilot. Tell me when they 

 are furnishing honey to the best advantage, 

 and I think I shall be along to see it. See arti- 

 cl«" on i)age 3()0. in regard to melilot and alfalfa. 

 — It occuired to me. too. that, if that red I'ibbon 

 had been a little fuzzy, or if the bees found some 

 stray ravelings. the latter might have account- 

 ed somewhat for the number that pitched into 

 it. Yet I think the color must have had some- 

 thing to do with it. — Thank you for the instruc- 

 tion on just the point that seemed so strange 

 and astonishing to me about the snakes when 

 they were swallowed. How long did these 

 young saugas stay in the maternal mouth ? If 



