42 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 15. 



that a qiieen reare 1 in the fall will be fertiliz- 

 ed in the spring? [I might as well be frank, 

 and confess that my statement on page 777 is 

 stronger than I meant it to be. I meant to 

 say there was a chance of late-reared queens 

 being fertilized in the spring. I based part of 

 my authority on the fact that Doolittle said 

 so, and that our own experience has seemed 

 to indicate it pretty strongly. — Ed.] 



No, DECiDKDLY, positively, and emphatical- 

 ly, an entrance "/^ deep, and the whole wddth 

 of the hive, is not enough to satisfy me. A 

 chance for a current clear through is needed. 

 For comb hone)', "s front, back and sides, is 

 none too much ; for extracted, "/% at front and 

 ^ at top of back end. [I almost believe you 

 are right, doctor, although I do not want to 

 believe it. But what would be the harm of 

 having an entrance at both ends, "s inch deep? 

 If you are right, beyond a question, then we 

 supply-dealers had better make our hives so 

 there will be an entrance at both ends of the 

 bottom-board. Now, who will be the smart 

 inventor to get up something to close tip the 

 rear entrance neatly and quickly? — Ed.] 



Quite generally it is supposed that late 

 feeding induces late laying. G. de Layens 

 says this is a mistake, according to some cases 

 he has noted, the intensity of the laying fad- 

 ing out toward the close of the season, not to 

 be rekindled again even by a late natural 

 honey-fiow. Possibly this point needs fresh 

 investigation. [My own experience in feed- 

 ing would lead me to think that G. de Layens 

 was probably right. Some 3'ears ago we prac- 

 ticed stimulative feeding late to get brood- 

 rearing started for the purpose of getting bees 

 in colonies that were made up almost entirel}- 

 of old bees. But such colonies would not 

 commence brood-rearing, nevertheless. They 

 simply stored the feed, capped it over, and 

 made preparation generally for winter. — Ed.] 



Joseph Langer, according to Ccntralblatt, 

 has been investigating the poison of the honey- 

 bee, and finds its poison proper not formic 

 acid, as heretofore supposed, but an organic 

 base whose exact composition is not yet 

 known. The sting of a bee was kept for six 

 weeks at the temperature of boiling water, 

 and then applied to the eye of a dog. The 

 phenomena produced were identical with 

 those of the fresh poison. Those who were 

 skeptical as to my statement a few years ago, 

 that the sting from a bee that died in the fall 

 was effective in mid-winter, may gag a little 

 at that last statement. [I am glad that some- 

 body has taken up this question. We know 

 too little about the poison from bee-stings, 

 and I hope Herr Langer will pursue his inves- 

 tigations further. — Ed.] 



Isn't that advice, p. 17, to extract and 

 level unfinished sections, rather dangerous ? If 

 granulation has not already commenced, it 

 surely will commence in the honey left after 

 extracting, and that will spoil any honey the 

 bees may store in the sections. Better sell 

 those sections cheap, or else melt 'em up. [I 

 implied in that advice, on page 17, or meant 

 to, at least, that, after the honey was extract- 

 ed, the bees should be allowed to have access 



to the combs, and clean them out, after which 

 they may be leveled down. I do not believe 

 it is good policy generally to put second and 

 third rate honey on the market, even if we do 

 sell it cheap. Better extract it. I know that 

 is the policy of most of the York Staters, and 

 I have come to believe that they generally do 

 things about right. — Ed.] 



Veneers in shipping-cases are talked about 

 as a necessity with no-bee-way sections. Now, 

 really, are they a necessity ? I've been shov- 

 ing some Danzy sections around on a table, 

 and I can't see any chance of spoiling them 

 so long as they keep on the table. The only 

 danger I see is when you slide the last row in 

 the case ; but a single veneer would do as well 

 for that as more ; and, with care, would even 

 one be needed? [Perhaps you could get along 

 without veneers, doctor ; but all producers 

 may not have their honey as solidly fastened 

 to their sections as you do ; and, moreover, 

 freight-handlers may some day dump your 

 hone}-, and make you wish that veneers had 

 been stuck in between the rows of your cased 

 honey. The best way to convince you, doc- 

 tor, is to go into the business of buying and 

 selling honey ; then you'd sa^', " Producers 

 can not take too much caution." — Ed.] 



I've just been e.-vTing the most delicious 

 honey caramels I ever tasted. The secret is 

 in having them a trifle underdone. Too much 

 cooking hurts the delicate honey fiavor. [You 

 did not say, doctor, that the honey caramels 

 you were telling about were made after your 

 recipe, in the honey-leaflet written by your- 

 self. We have had a good many reports from 

 those who have tried your honey-caramel rec- 

 ipe, and they all say " it works to perfection." 

 By the way, I am not sure but some enter- 

 prising baker or candy-maker might develop 

 quite a business in making and selling honey 

 caramels. If some one will do it we will give 

 him a two-inch advertisement thr^e insertions 

 free. Now, here is a chance for some enter- 

 prising man or woman to make a little money. 

 I should like to have people know that honey 

 caramels are the nicest caramels in the world. 

 —Ed.] 



When swarms cluster on a high limb, and 

 you wani to shake down the cluster, the Aus- 

 tralian Bee Bulletin says, tie a stone on the 

 end of a rope, throw the stone over the limb, 

 then shake. Is that meant as a blow to bee- 

 keeping by women ? [Throwing a stone over 

 a high limb \\4th a cord attached to it is quite 

 an idea. I know it will work with almost any 

 man or boy. In hiving swarms into a hiving- 

 basket, I have sometimes found it necessarj' 

 to keep the limb, upon which the bees have 

 previously clustered, on a continual joggle, 

 because bees are almost determined to go 

 back to the original limb. Sometimes, in 

 dislodging the swarm from a high position 

 into a basket, and then carrying it down 

 laboriously from the tree, quite a lot of bees 

 will still go back to the old limb. Well, now, 

 if a rope were attached so that some one could 

 jerk continuously, these same bees would go 

 where the rest of the swarm was — into the 

 hiving-basket. vSay, doctor, what makes you 



