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Jour 



• DELVoT 



•To'Be:_ _ 



•ANdHoNEV- , 

 •ANDHOMEL- ■•< 



•lNTE.F^ESTsS 



Vol. XX. 



^^perVeai^ \^ 



i-KooT- 



jinaOhiO 



APRIL 15, 1892. 



No. 8. 



Stray Straws 



FROM DR. C. C. MILLER. 



Is it a success for wir- 

 Wcll. I never: 



nun 



Hkks comk out of cellar to-day. April 



lloU "^ KI.KI IHlf ITV 



inK".' 



Onion - plants h\ 

 What next? 



I). A. .IoNi-;s"s name is ajiain at the masthead 

 of tlie ('. B. J. Long may it slay thei-el 



I GOT A i.KTTKR fiom Medina written by a 

 phonogra|)li. I conld read it as easy as any let- 

 tPi-. 



Si.AN(i is something I don't use vei'y often: 

 hnt yon will pafdon me for saying that tlie 

 Daisy fonndation-fastenef is a (hilsij. 



(."AMKoiiMA is a gi-eat place forall gniinsand 

 fiMiits: and if that on page :.'4:.' is a fair sample, 

 they raises the best quality of "straw " there. 



TiiK Ainerifan Bee-keeper is doing missionary 

 worl< by sending free copies of an article from 

 Ihirtur's W'reklii on "• lietter country roads.'" 

 A good move. 



PUKVKN TION OF AFTER-SWAIiMS IS tllUS Secur- 

 ed by T. Heiss (A. B. J.): Next day after 

 swarming, run in a virgin (jueen between the 

 combs and sheMl destroy all cells. 



Now iHAT 1^ahi!Ai;kk has got out of his 

 shell, let's !)(- sociable with him. I think he 

 told me that only one man had responded to his 

 re(4nest for subjects proper for experiment. 



R?;v. W. F. Cf.ahkk has reduced "the bad 

 live" to the "'big four." but he doesn't say 

 which one of the live has bf^en expelled. He 

 talks real cross in the (\ B. J. about the other 

 four. 



Vol- WANT A I'o.STAi, right away, friend Root, 

 telling how m:iny colonies liave wintered. How 

 am I to know without stirring them all up 

 down cellar'.' 'I'bey are all quiet tliere this (ith 

 of April. 



Dadant. referring to (rerstung's theory of tlie 

 queen having periodic intermissions of "laying, 

 says that, in constant examinations when en- 

 gaged in ijueen-rearing. he has never obsc'rved 

 any thing of the kind. 



(»i,i) sKfTioNs that are so dry as to break 

 when being made up I have always thought 

 were best treated by bi-ing left down cellar for 

 some time. This spring I had to give up. that 

 hot-water tn-atment is better. 



Onion-skts. friend Root says, need right seed, 

 right soil, and all that sort of thing. " Wlien I 

 was a hoy they just planted them so thick that 

 they couldn't grow big and tiiat was all there 

 was tp it. They were good sets, weren't they'? 



That's a cjood AHTin.K by .1. A. Buchanan, 

 page -y.Vl: but isn't lie off when he thinks he 

 s(Mls more honey on account of the adulterated 

 stutf'.' And wliy should he wish " to bring to 

 justice these robbers." the adulterators. If they 

 are lielping his sales'? 



I always iTiofoiiT lOlwood knew a good 

 deal, but that article on p. :.".'s shows he knows 

 more than I thought he did. His head is espe- 

 cially level when h(i says then^ will never be 

 satisfactory work done in the government api- 

 cultural department till it is independent, and 

 in charge of a bei^- keeper. 



Tiii<; ^//ic/v'c(M( liee-heepcr sent inquiries to 

 .5(X)() bee-keepers, asking the number and style 

 of hives. I should have said that one hive in 

 twenty might have i)een of box persuasion; 

 but they make the startling statement, " We 

 find that a very largi' majority of the hives 

 used are of the old box style." 



Fkiknd Root, if you will look a little closer 

 you'll see that Dr. Kellogg is all right on p. 235. 

 He says that the bee rubs pollen off the flowers, 

 " and carries it home with lihn." You see it's 

 the he-bees lie is talking about. Now. yon just 

 eat some of the pollrni a drone carries home 

 with him. and see if it doesn't poison y(m. 



Too HAD my bees can't have a chanoe to work 

 on tiie soft nuiples which are in full bloom 

 since April 1; Imt it's too windy, cloudy, and 

 rainy to set them out. although the thermome- 

 ter has l)een ui) to 7r.*°. Hesides, it's not certain 

 spring is here to stay, so the bees will just have 

 to stay where they are. and roar if they want to. 



TiiosK HKi HKK-MKN of New York are all 

 right and sensible, Mr. ralifornia-Man,' not to 

 report their big crops. In reply to your other 

 question, the reasons applicable to bee-men ni'e 

 used by otheis. A man who has hor.ses, cows, 

 or any other live stock except b<'es, secures con- 

 trol of the tei-ritory on whidi they feed, and 

 why sliouldn't liee-men ? 



To fiKK SK( Tio.NS that are so dry as to break 

 when put together, leave tliem in the box and 

 pour ijoiling water .so it will run down througli 

 the whole box. Don't have your tea-kettle too 

 full, and pour in a stream a lion t as large as a 

 goose quill, moving slowly along the three lines 

 of joints where they are to be broken. Don't 

 get any w ater on the dovetails. 



I M.w sAV to friend (Jreiner. that, while I be- 

 lieve young bees as a ruli' do not work in th(i 

 field till If) days old, I knoir that the rule may 

 be broken by circnmstanci's. I made the same 

 experiment as Vogel, using only sealed and 

 hatching brood, and at live (lays of age workers 

 were carrying in pollen. Now. if t^^iise pressure 

 made such a difference in this case, is it not 

 possible that sufficient pressure often occurs to 

 vary the rule more or less'.' 



