18il2 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



453 



in that line. When I was a boy about 15 y»nus 

 old I lived with mv luu-le in HtM-Uimcr Co., 

 X. Y. Nearly all of the neighbors, as well as 

 my uncle, kept a few hives of bees. On my 

 uncle's farm, in th(> hack pasture, w;is a grov(> 

 of timber, live or six acres. Among the small 

 timber tlien> were a few iai'ge trees. I think now 

 about :.'0. One liot day in the summer I went 

 over there to catch the horsi's. Tlu-y were in 

 the grove. I heard a great roaring of t)ees, as I 

 tliouglit. I came to the conclusion that there 

 was a swarm of bees there somewhere. When 

 I got to the house I told what I had hoard in 

 the grove. My uncle w(Mit witli me to the 

 grove to see what we could tiud. When we got 

 there the roaring was as loud as ever. He 

 thougiit as I did. that there were bees there. 

 We looked all the large trees over for bee-trees, 

 but found none, and gave it up for the present. 

 The next day was the 4th of duly. I remember 

 that all the family except me went off to a. 

 picnic. I had to go over to that grove. I would 

 rather go there than to the picnic. I wanted to 

 find out what made that humming over there. 

 I hunted a while for bee-trees. There was one 

 tree about the center of the grove that was big- 

 ger and taller than any other tree in the grove. 

 I saw that I could climb that tree, clear to the 

 top, if I could get up the first 20 feet. There 

 was a small tree near that I could fall against 

 the large one. I went back, got an ax, and fell 

 the small tree against the large one. It lodged 

 against the large tree good and strong. Then 

 up I went, to the top of the large tree. The top 

 of the large tree was in such shape that I could 

 get my head above all the foliage in the grove. 

 I sat and rested awhile. The humming was 

 still loud, but appeared to be mostly overhead. 

 Pretty soon I saw a drone bee alight on a 

 branch near me. Very soon another stopped on 

 another branch, and. by looking close, I could 

 see '20 or 30 perched on the top twigs of the trees 

 about me. I don't think that any one of them 

 rested more than half a minute at a time. As 

 other drones or flies passed they would give 

 chase. Soon others, or the same ones, would be 

 back again. So they kept it up, having a play- 

 spell— a regular Fourth of July. I stayed over 

 two hours in that tree-top. watching them. I 

 enjoyed the sport better than going to the pic- 

 nic. I have heard that same kind of humming 

 in the woods a great many times since, and am 

 satisfied that drones do have their playgrounds 

 where they congregate, and I have no doubt 

 that the queens are attracted then; by the noise, 

 or, perhaps, by the scent, of so many drones 

 flying together. 



MV WINTEi; liKPOKT. 



Our bees have wintered as well as usual. I 

 lost very few. About all the loss came; from 

 queenless colonies. We have looked over one 

 yard and clipped the queens. We expect to 

 clip all queens this week. After that we can 

 tell better how they are doing, and how many 

 we have. 



Four, BROOD. 



In the Wisconsin Fanner I read an article, a 

 clipping from the Canddian Bee Journ<il, by 

 John Gates, of Ovid. Pa. He says, extracting 

 from the brood -chambers is one great cause of 

 foul brood. It throws out the larval food, 

 leaving the larvie bare. The bees can not re- 



f)lace this food as it was, in time to save the 

 arvie, so of course it dies, causing foul brood, 

 elc^ 



Now. I don't believe that extracting honey 

 from combs that contain larvie will cause foul 

 brood, from the fact that we have done it right 

 along every year for over 20 years, f have ex- 

 tracted thecombs from 300 to .500 colonies three 

 to five times in a season, and have never had a 



case of foul brood yet. I don't say that all the 

 combs that we extract contain larviii, but some 

 of them do contain brood in all stages, from the 

 egg up to hatcliing bees. 



When we commenced to extract the first time 

 for the season we want to take out every bit of 

 honey that the combs contain, for the reason 

 that the honey gathered in the fall and early 

 spring is daik. We get it just ahead of the 

 white-clover honey, and it is important to get 

 the dark honey out as close as possible. If we 

 leave any of it, it will come out with our 

 second extracting; and a little dark honciy 

 mixed with a good deal of white will cut down 

 the price of the white a cent or two a pound. 

 To get rid of th(; dark at this time, we have to 

 extract combs that contain brood. We are 

 careful not to whirl them too hard, and I don't 

 think it hurts the brood as much as Mr. Gates 

 tries to make out. E. France. 



Platteville, Wis., May 30. 



[The above illustrates with what painstaking 

 care friend France verifies his statements. We 

 have had so many reports fi'om eye-witnesses, 

 to the effect that drones do congregate, we maj'' 

 now safely put it down as a fact, although fur- 

 ther corroborative testimony is always interest- 

 ing, as in the case of Mr. France. 



Although we have refuted it again and again, 

 it seems as if the theory of spontaneous genera- 

 tion, or, in other words, that dead larva? will 

 develop into foul brood, must now and then 

 crop out. It is wholly unscientific, and not in 

 accordance with theory or fact. As we have 

 said before, corn can never grow where no corn 

 was ever planted; neither can the germs of 

 Bacillus alvel generate spontaneously in living 

 or dead larvie.J 



^ I ^ 



GLEANINGS AND PATENTS. 



ADULTERATION OF HONEY, AND ITS ANALYSIS. 



I was very much pleased to read what you 

 wrote on page 385. on the above topic. There 

 has been a great deal of confusion nnd misun- 

 derstanding regarding the attitude oleanings 

 assumes toward patents. Now we are told, 

 practically, that that class of results of mental 

 labor secured by patents is property; that is, as 

 we understand it. Now there will be no dispute 

 in regard to the moral right for one to dictate 

 the terms upon which he will dispose of his 

 property. Now the whole controversy is ended. 



THE PURE-FOOD BILL. 



Bee-keepers have a moral interest in this bill, 

 and they likewise have also a business interest 

 in its passage. I do not think there is rot)m for 

 any discussion among any of us with regard to 

 its being right, and to our interest; but there is 

 one factor connected with it— one no doubt seen 

 and well understood by our legislators at Wash- 

 ington — which usually their constituents do not 

 comprehend. Law is always an evil; but very 

 many of our laws ai-e necessary evils, and there 

 is no dispute regarding the necessity of law and 

 order; but from tli(! fact that all laws can-y 

 more or less evil consequences, I am opposed to 

 any law that we can possibly get along without. 

 I do not believe that any of our food is adulter- 

 ated with any thing injurious. All that talk I 

 believe to tie sensational; it is simply food for 

 newspapers. The Wiley reports are right in 

 line, and of just the nature of a thousand oth- 

 ers, about other food than honey. The terrible (?) 

 mixtures found in coffee, tea, and spices, are 

 similar fabrications. Full in the faith that 

 adulterants in pepper and other spices are not 

 of an injurious nature. I do not want any 

 guardian to protect me from the avarice of my 



