18t« 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



235 



results. For this piirpdst' no cscapi" si'cms to 

 work any lit-ttcr than a coinhination of tlic four- 

 point nihhcrn and t.lic later Rccso (sucii as I 

 mail yon to-iiayl. To still more facilitatt' tin- 

 worU. I nrovitic a rase near the rcnlrr part of 

 thcstai'K with a v iiolc at each side, plai'iiitr a 

 wirc-i'loth I'oni' over cai'h. It will not he lontr 

 bffori' I'vcry brc w ill have h'ft the su|)rrs. 



11. Many of us liavo bo<'n siico(>ssfnl in win- 

 tcriiifi in chatT liivi's by jiiving iipward viMitila- 

 tion ihronjih a thick idiatV nishion: and it 

 sccnis to nic we onfilit to jzo very slow in chang- 

 ing our nii'thod. The ohjcH-tion of cushit)ns 

 getting wot and cold docs not hold true so far 

 as I iiave obsorv(>d. Only the upper part of tiie 

 cushion gathers iiioistun^ and l)ccoiii(\s wet : all 

 the rest remains dry and warm. ]iy raising or 

 removing the roof on a fair day. litis ccMidensed 

 moisture can (>asily be made to disapi)ear. 

 Wlien upward ventilation is given I think it is 

 best to close up tlt'e entrance to within two 

 inches: when not. giving full entrance is per- 

 haps the better. A board stood up leaning 

 against the liiv<^ in front of enti'ance, to break 

 tlie force of tlie w ind. also to shield against the 

 rays of tiie sun. is of advantage. 



\2. I wish to speak of a bee-cellar with a 

 ccnxentcd floor, which a friend of mine in this 

 viciidty tises with good success. Two we(>ks 

 ago the l.'iu colonies therein were in line sha[)e, 

 apparently, only a few dead bees being on the 

 Hoor. A few years ago this same cellar had 10 

 or 12 inches of water in it nearly all winter: 

 still the bees came out all right in the spring. 



13. If a colony of bees arrives at its inaxiinum 

 strenctli any length of time before the honey- 

 tlow commences, it will not do nearly as well as 

 some other colony just getting there as the sea- 

 son liegins. This is i)articularly the case with 

 such as have oklei- ()ueens. 



14. Machines foi- ftdding sections will not be 

 the desideratum with me until, by a happy 

 combination with the foundation-fastener, the 

 starters can be also fastened in by the same 

 operation. If I can not save time, nor do the 

 work better by using a machine, why use it? 



1.1. Dr. Miller says, in Feb. 1st (ti.kaxings: 

 •■ liut is it true, that bees do not become field- 

 workers till If) days old? I have seen bees ;") 

 days old carrying' pollen." Then Dr. M. does 

 not accept the sixteen-day theory, does he? I 

 am pretty sure that, under normal conditions, 

 bees do not become field-workers until Ki days 

 old. What they may do under other conditions 

 I have not observed. The A B C tells us. •■ Bees 

 become lield-workers when two weeks old, 

 sometimes when but one."" Prof. Cook is unde- 

 cided: he gives the age as two weeks, but 

 thinks that, under abnormal conditions, they 

 may go into the fields when one week old. 

 James Heddon teaclies. " Bees become active 

 workers in gatheiing honey whiMi from 4 to 8 

 days old." According to (i. M. I)., this is not 

 the case until they are u; days old. Why so 

 much indecision and differences in opinion, 

 when the facts may I'a-ily be ascertained? A 

 few experiments thoroughly carried on woidd 

 tell tlie story. 



\'ogel t-onducted an experiment of this kind 

 some 1.") yars ago. He arrived a1 the same con- 

 clusion ii. M. D. did. The experiment of V'ogel 

 is so far all llie more interesting, as he formed 

 his experimental colony by the use of brood- 

 combs co!itaining only sealed and liaLciiing 

 brood, so no old hees could possil)ly be in the 

 hive. By tlie experiment. Vogel learned in the 

 first place that bees iKsed no education or train- 

 ing to perform the funi'tions which are per- 

 formed inside of a hive of bees. Tlu^ faculty is 

 born in them for nursing the brood, building 

 comb. etc. Fui'ther. he observed that no bee 

 left the hive for any piniiose until the sixth day 



from the lime (d' the lii-st br'i- emerging from the 

 cell. On that day. In the afternoon, a few came 

 out for a |)lays|)ell; after this the hivi^ became 

 perfectly ipiiet. The next day in the afternoon, 

 more bees came out for a playspell. and so on. 

 more and more every t'()nseculi\e day. but al- 

 ways becomintr (|uiev after the playspell: not a 

 bee went foraging until the sixteenth day in 

 tiie afternoon, after the usual playspell, then 

 just a few bees were seen to return w ith their 

 I)ollen-i)askets load(>d. From this time on, the 

 colony liecanie more and more active. Some 

 time during the coiu'se of the experiment the 

 colony was depriveil of its combs and jjrovision: 

 still, iiot one bee would go out in search of food, 

 although the day was fair, and nature furnish- 

 ed both pollen and honey. The bees were near- 

 ly exhausted when their provisioned combs 

 were returned to them, and they were thus 

 saved from starvation. 



Since Vogel is one of tlie best authorities of 

 the present day. I have no reason to doubt his 

 statements: still, there may be others who 

 have not the faith in liim, considering what 

 other authorities claim, and I would suggest 

 that a number of our ablest men conduct such 

 experiments as they may think best. I wish I 

 could induce Dr. Miller, Mr. Green, the man- 

 ager of the National Expi-riment, I{ee-station, 

 and some others to take this matter in hand. 

 Of cours(\ that would not hinder some of us 

 dabblers from experimenting along this line. It 

 would indeed be funnv if we did not settle this 

 thing definitely by the time the International 

 meets next fall. " F. GREfNER. 



Naples. N. Y.. March 12. 



OBJECTIONS TO THE USE OF HONEY. 



A m:\vsi' aim: It ( i.ii'i'ixG i-'rom dr. j. m. kki,- 



!.()(;«. IX JiKO.VRD TO THE USE OF HONEY 



AS food: an If.I,rSTRATI(>N OF THE 



WAY IN WHICH GREAT MEN 



SO.METIMES .MISEEAD. 



The following, from Dr. Kellogg, is clipped 

 from a newspaper, and sent us by one of our 

 correspondents: 



Honey, in its best estate, is not a pure sweet, and 

 conseiiiiently is open to greater objections than , 

 free sugar. " The bLn's uie not very nice in their 

 haljits, and gatlier tlieir store in all sorts of pliiccs, 

 sometimes lioveriiif? ovei- that which is very loath- 

 some and unclean. In gMthering the nectar from 

 floweis, the bee rubs off ninri! or less of the pollen 

 and carries it home with Inm and dejiosits it with 

 tiie honey. If t he ])olleii happens to be poisonous, 

 tlie honey is jioisoned. At Trebizond, Turkey, poi- 

 sonous tlowers abound so tliat the honey at that 

 point is always i)oisonous. Further, tlie bee always 

 l)Uts in a certain quantity of poison from the i«)l- 

 soii-bag, formic acid, to preserve the honey. If the 

 bees are very much disturbed while at their work, 

 they inject an unusual amount of this formic acid 

 into their product, and so the honey becomes 

 "rank." A person who eats "rank" honey will be 

 taken sick, and likely break out with a rash similar 

 to iiettleiash, formic; acid being the poison in both 

 instances. These facts liave all been determined 

 l).\ scientitic invest ig'ations. 



We have great respect for Dr. Kellogg; but. 

 like other great men, he has made some bad 

 blunders. And. by the way. " big doctors," it 

 seems to me, are too apt to make positive asser- 

 tions in regard to things a little outside of their 

 field, that are only mere conjecture. His ex- 

 pression. " Bees are not very nice in their hab- 

 its,"" may be true in a narrow sense;, but the 

 statement is mostly misleading as it stands, as 

 any one conversant with honey-bees knows. 

 Again, he says, "If the pollen hapjiens to be 

 lioisonous, the honey is poisoned."' This re- 

 minds us of the fearful blunder made by the 



