204 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15. 



bees on cellar bottom, p. 141. I did notice it, 

 and started after you with a Straw, but I 

 thought that was too light a weapon for so 

 heavy an offense, and started a club by a lat- 

 er mail. [You need not cUib me, because I 

 take it all back, doctor. The type did not let 

 me say what I wanted to. My tongue has a 

 fashion of telling things t'other side to ; and 

 the worst part of it is, the shorthand notes take 

 me for what I sav and not for what I mean. — 

 Ed.] 



Spacing-staples are used in Germany with 

 one leg % as long, and cut square off. They've 

 been advertised su much and so long that I 

 suppose they must be considered better. I 

 wonder why. Possibly because there's less 

 danger they'll be pushed in deeper when in the 

 hive. [I should not be surprised if that short- 

 legged staple would be a good thing. The ob ■ 

 ject of having one leg shorter, and cut square 

 off, is, I presume, as you suggest, that there 

 may be less danger of their being pushed deep- 

 er into the wood when pressure is exerted on 

 them en uiasse. — Ed.] 



The editor wants me to hit Mr. Neece, p. 

 183. Nary a hit. Mr. N. is not the kind I'm 

 hitting. It's the fellows who sell 15 oz. for a 

 pound. A section so light it can't go for a 

 pound is all right. And I've a very kind feel- 

 ing toward a section as thin as bees left to 

 their own sweet wills would build. [You mix 

 me all up, doctor. You have just ordered 15,- 

 OUO sections 1 ^,^ wide, old style. Now. 1 "s 

 will not hold a pound, but will run from 14 to 

 15 ounces. To make j'our preaching and 

 practice coincide, you either ought to ixse 2- 

 inch sections or else those 1)4 or \y% wide. — 

 Ed.] 



Say, Mr. Editor, on p. 182 you tell W. B. 

 Ranson a 5x4 '4 section would have to be so 

 ' ' thin as to render old section-holders useless. ' ' 

 Why, bless your heart ! what does he care for 

 your " old section-holders " ? He's a T-super 

 man ! You didn't mean to be so unfair, did 

 you ? [I shall have to acknowledge the corn. 

 I had forgotten the fact, temporaril}', that he 

 was a T-super man. But how about the real 

 point, that a 5x4>4 section would be too thin ? 

 There is such a thing as a nice golden mean ; 

 but too much of a good thing is sometimes 

 bad. Either a 5x4 J4' section would have to 

 hold more than a pound, or else be so thin 

 that it would topple over with the least sug- 

 gestion. — Ed.] 



DOOLITTI.E is emphatic that field-bees give 

 their honey to nurse-bees, the latter storing it 

 in cells. J. A. Golden says in Revieiv\.\\2i\. he 

 has spent much time watching his bees, and, 

 when furnished a proper passageway, the great 

 mass of his field bees make straight for the 

 supers. Can't these brethren come to some 

 kind of understanding so that we can continue 

 to believe both? [Now, doctor, you did not 

 tell us what T6)/^ thought about it ; and for fear 

 you may throw the same insinuation in my 

 face, I will venture a guess that they do both 

 ways. If they are both honest and accurate 

 in their observation, then it is fair to suppose 

 that bees follow no invariable rule in the mat- 

 ter.— Ed.] 



Cleats on fence are said to be two-twelfths 

 inch thick. I'm puzzled to know why one- 

 .sixth wouldn't do as well. [Yes, J does seem 

 more reasonable ; but when we take the di- 

 mensions in the fence we have to deal with jJj, 

 f2, and ,\- It is easier to see that j-j is 7-3 of 

 j-'g than that \ bears the same proportion to ^4. 

 In the Canadian journals I know it seems to 

 be the rule to talk in y'^ths, g^ds, or y,^oths. If, 

 for instance, they are talking in y^ths, the 

 same denominator is carried clear through, 

 and only the numerator is changed ; that is, 

 they have the same noun, but change the ad- 

 jective. For instance, a certain thing is ygtlis 

 one way, and I'gths another. — Ed.] 



That STICKER, p. 170. Wouldn't less read- 

 ing be more sure of attention ? Might amend 

 in this way: 



Handle with extra care. 

 No Hand-trucks. 

 'Set down eas}'. 

 Haul only on Springs. 



If they are set down easy, they'll hardly 

 dump or drop. The finger ought to point to 

 bow or locomotive, but hardly to horse, un- 

 less the horse walks beside wagon. [Your 

 idea of less reading is just right ; but as to 

 whether the finger should point to the horse or 

 not, some say one way and some another. Let 

 us have a show of hands. — Ed.] 



Hasty's been trying different diets for 

 "bodily and mental off-the-track-ness." One 

 of the last reported was a daily ration of 12 oz. 

 candied honey to 10 oz. granola and crackers 

 and a cup of milk. He sa}^s he's going to try 

 some more things. I hope not too many. I 

 like Hasty, and should miss him. [If Hasty 

 can stand -'4 lb. of honey at a meal, for three 

 meals a day, day after day, he can stand more 

 sweet or more honey than any other person I 

 have yet come across. The editor of ^h^Busy 

 Bee tells about eating lots of honey ; but I do 

 not think he ever stated just how much he 

 could take care of at a ration day after day. — 

 Ed.] 



The Busy Bee man disagrees with Glean- 

 ings. He says locality and season have noth- 

 ing to do with it ; he's eaten sweet-clover hon- 

 ey from all parts of the country, from New 

 Y'ork to Utah, gathered at all seasons when 

 sweet-clover blooms, "and it is always the 

 same — just as fine as it can be." I got a GO-lb. 

 can that Editor York thought finest in quality. 

 I didn't think it remarkably fine, and others 

 thought it disagreeable. I've sampled other 

 that I thought delicious, but it may not have 

 been true to name. The quality of sweet-clo- 

 ver honey seems as yet an indeterminate quan- 

 tity. [My notion of sweet-clover honey is the 

 same as Dr. Miller's. — Ed] 



Seems hard to stop an erroneous state- 

 ment once it gets started. Nov. 15, it was said 

 in Gleanings that an old-style separator " af- 

 ter being used a year had to be discarded," 

 and that the fence was good for years, when 

 any one who has had good old-style separators 

 ought to know that they are also "good for 

 years. ' ' Yet here comes, three months later, 

 the same error, slightly modified, in American 

 B. J., "the old-style separator, which, after 



