230 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1. 



or two after the virgin queen emerged he clip- 

 ped tt of an inch from both her wings, thus lim- 

 iting the time and distance of her flight, lessen- 

 ing the chance of mating with drones at a dis- 

 tance. In two or three cases he clipped J^ of 

 an inch with success. In some places this 

 would be practical isolation and control. [This 

 Is quite a point, and it might be well for our 

 queen-breeders to test it thoroughly.— Ed.] 



"I ALWAYS LIKE to read footnotes to any ar- 

 ticle, and they catch my eye first, for they are 

 generally the cream skimmed from the milk, 

 and many a time these short notes contain in 

 substance the sense of the entire article." — J. 

 M. Young, in A. B. J. [From a private letter 

 from Dr. Miller I am rather of the opinion that 

 he makes this quotation as a gentle reminder. 

 We have had so much good matter lately, await- 

 ing space in the journal, that I reduced the 

 length and number of the footnotes temporari- 

 ly; but if that is not the wish of our readers I 

 will start them in full blast again.— Ed.] 



Mixed. On p. 164 the editor quotes a passage 

 from Stilson, and then says it was Whitcomb. 

 In Review, p. 35, R. L. Taylor makes a slip, and 

 attributes Cheshire's views on foul-brood spores 

 in honey to Cowan. Or am I badly mixed my- 

 self? Say, Ernest, you and Taylor better have 

 that fish feast, and be sure to invite me. [I am 

 glad you caught Taylor. He is a man who is 

 not apt to make a slip, so I feel that I am in 

 good company. I discovered my mistake too 

 late, and wrote to Stilson, explaining that I 

 would call attention to the matter in our jour- 

 nal. This mention will set the matter right.— 

 Ed.] 



Experimenter Taylor reports in Review, 

 that from a colony badly diseased with foul 

 brood he took outside combs of honey and fed 

 to a colony busy rearing brood, without infect- 

 ing it. A queen from a rotten colony failed to 

 give the disease to a healthy one. He con- 

 cludes that not all honey and not all queens 

 will carry foul brood, and that perhaps germs 

 are not carried about by the action of the air 

 nor upon the bodies of the bees. [I myself 

 have also taken the queen from a foul-broody 

 colony, and put it into a healthy one— yes, 

 done it several times with different queens; 

 but never has the disease been so communicat- 

 ed, and I somewhat question whether it is ever 

 so carried. — Ed.] 



" I AM MORE THAN EVER Convinced that the 

 secret of successful wintering is to pack warm- 

 ly above frames, and that side packing between 

 the walls of hives is unnecessary. With plenty 

 of top packing and water-tight roofs, together 

 with plenty of food in store, no one need fear 

 the rigors of our winters." So says H. W. Brice 

 in B. B. J., and C. F. Muth preaches the same 

 doctrine. [Such advice will do very well for 

 mild climates, like that of England and the vi- 



cinity of Cincinnati; but it will not do for cli- 

 mates even as cold as our own. We have tried 

 exactly the winter packing above described, 

 and found we did not get as good results as 

 where there was packed space all around the 

 brood-nest. A few years ago I tried some col- 

 onies in single-walled hives with large cushions 

 on top; but some of them died, while those in 

 regular chaff hives came through in good condi- 

 tion.— Ed.] 



The Canadian Bee Journal has a report of 

 the late Ontario convention, and ii looks as if 

 our cousins across the line had given up quar- 

 reling and had spent the time in profitable dis- 

 cussion. The report is good reading. [The 

 Ontario association is in a flourishing condi- 

 tion. Besides a government grant, it is made 

 up of a lot of enterprising^ hard-working bee- 

 keepers. The geographical distances in Canada 

 are not nearly so great as in the United States; 

 that is, I mean that our neighbor bee-keepers 

 are not so scattered, and it is a very easy mat- 

 ter for tbem to get together and make a big 

 rousing enthusiastic convention. The Ontario 

 meetings are held from year to year at places 

 within comparatively few miles, while the 

 meetings of our equivalent association, the 

 North American, necessarily have to be scat- 

 tered at points a thousand or more miles apart. 

 For instance, last year the North American 

 met at Lincoln; this year it takes a big leap 

 over to Buffalo- a distance of about 1100 miles. 

 Very few of those present at Lincoln will be 

 present at Buffalo, and the consequence is there 

 is a " new crowd " at each meeting. 



An article by Dr. Bourgeois is being copied 

 in the French bee- journals, explaining how bees 

 hang suspended by means of suckers on their 

 feet. Cheshire says there's nothing of the kind, 

 but bees hang by hooks, except on a smooth 

 surface, and then they stick by means of a 

 clammy secretion, and they can't hang to the 

 under side of glass if it's wet. A sucker would 

 work all the better on wet glass. [Cheshire, al- 

 though marvelously accurate in some things, 

 made some errors. He may, perhaps, be right 

 in stating that there is no suction-pad to the 

 foot of a bee; but some authorities, I know, as- 

 sert that there is such a device, and I have seen 

 what looks like it in the microscope. When I 

 was studying microscopy, some eighteen or 

 nineteen years ago, I observed what has been 

 termed a little sucker, or "pulvillus." While 

 much more apparent in the foot of a fly, it ap- 

 pears, at least, to be present between the claws 

 of the bee. Bees do not usually try to walk on 

 glass; and in their efforts to fly through it they 

 buzz up and down as though they could not 

 stick ; but after they are a little tired out I have 

 seen them many times walk up the perpendicu- 

 lar surface of a piece of glass. How could they 

 do it without a sucker?— Ed.] 



