422 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1. 



My bottom starters in sections are 5s. 

 The bees seem to gnaw down a shallow starter 

 more. I have some trouble with starters 

 curling over, but not much. There's % inch 

 or less between top and bottom starters, and 

 the first thing the bees do is to fasten the two 

 together. Then they can't topple over. [Start- 

 ers 5s inch high ! In our locality every one 

 would tt:mble over. Saj', doctor, do you use 

 brood foundation, or what, for these bottom 

 strips? — Ed.] 



I'm afraid, Ernest, you'll be misunder- 

 stood in that footnote, p. 391. There's no 

 essence, not even the smallest dilution, of 

 Christianity in the most intelligent selfishness, 

 so long as it has only self in view. [Perhaps 

 so ; but in the sense in which I use the word 

 "selfishness" it is a little different from the 

 sense in which it is ordinaril)- used. I meant 

 the kind of selfishness — well, if I go to split- 

 ting hairs on fine distinctions I am afraid I 

 shall be more misunderstood than ever. — Ed.] 



When I GOT some 18-to-i he-foot foundation 

 I said, " Wh}' in the world have they sent me 

 just common thin foundation ? " and I had to 

 look some time before I realized that the se- 

 cret was in the very thin sep'um. At a hast}' 

 glance it looks just like common thin founda- 

 tion. It is a big thing, if it works right. 

 [Yes, the 18 foot article looks like any ordina- 

 ry thin ; but there is a decided difference in 

 the thickness of the bases when tested by a 

 delicate micrometer. Of course, the scales 

 show a difference. — Ed.] 



R. C. Reed, 30 miles south of Medina, who 

 has now loO colonies, has been using tall nar- 

 row sections (5''sx-4>^xl)^ ) for 13 years with- 

 out separators, and he thinks he has not more 

 than 100 bulged sections in a ton. W. B. 

 Ranson, the man who uses no separators, and 

 depends on level hives, had 21 bulgers in 1000; 

 but 7 of these were baits. Is it just possible, 

 if we knew how, we could discard both fence 

 and separator? [Yes, I think it barely possi- 

 ble that the expert bee-keeper 'might do so ; 

 but the beginner and the careless, never. — 

 Ed.] 



" I COVER my sections with an inner cleated 

 cover with a bee-space. The wax in sections 

 is sometimes brought almost to the melting- 

 point beneath single board covers." — R. C. 

 Aikin, American Bee Journal, 217. Every 

 now and then it comes to light that some 

 practical bee-keeper is using a cover with 

 dead air-space, covered with tin, and it seems 

 a little strange that manufacturers offer noth- 

 ing of the kind. [Any bee-keeper may get 

 the same thing b}' taking our ordinary venti- 

 lated cover and closing up the two side open- 

 ings. This would leave the dead air space 

 over the thin cover. But is not ventilation 

 preferable to dead hot air? — Ed.] 



Honey shortcake.— Sift together three 

 cupfuls of flour, two teaspoonfuls of baking- 

 powder, and a teaspoon of salt. Put two 

 rounded tablespoonfuls of butter into the 

 flour, mix with one and one-half cupfuls of 

 milk. Roll out quickly on a slightly floured 

 board, and bake in a quick oven for twenty 

 minutes. When baked, split open while hot. 



using two forks placed back to back; spread 

 the lower half with butter, and the upper half 

 with a half pound of finely flavored honey. 

 If the honey is too hard to spread easily it 

 should be slightly warmed. Let the short- 

 cake stand for a few moments after spreading, 

 that the honey may melt gradually and the 

 flavor permeate the cake. Serve with milk, 

 or cream if you have it. — Chicago Record. 



Judge Hasty has pronounced sentence of 

 fine and imprisonment on E R. Root for libel, 

 accusing said Hasty of consuming an unrea- 

 sonable amount of honey, when he used only 

 12 ounces daily, 2 meals, 6 ounces each. He 

 now meditates coming down to one meal a 

 day. Let's see — say 3 months at 6 ounces per 

 day, about 34 lbs. of honey. Might cost less 

 to buy a pistol. Hasty. [If Hasty can eat 

 even 12 ounces of honey daily, I will not re- 

 tract — not one bit. About 2 or 3 ounces a 

 day, 3 or 4 times a week, would be a great 

 plenty for me. — Ed ] 



It's only fair to say that I've had a good 

 many colonies swarm with two stories, some- 

 times with little but empty combs in the lower 

 story. [Yes, doctor, but hadn't the colony 

 got into the craze for swarming before you 

 gave them the extra room ? Here is a condi- 

 tion : A colony at our out-yard has a clipped 

 queen. It has tried twice, neighbors tell me, 

 to swarm. I went down, scattered their brood 

 in two stories, and gave them empty combs 

 between the frames of brood ; destroyed all 

 the queen-cells, and yet the neighbors tell me 

 these bees have been trying to swarm just the 

 same ; that is, they fly out and then back 

 again. But if this colony had in the first 

 place been in quarters large enough to hold 

 them, so that the notion of swarming did not 

 get possession of them, they would, if I had 

 gone down and given them more room, have 

 never thought of swarming the whole season. 

 My experience is that, if a colony gets into 

 the notion of swarming, it is almost impossi- 

 ble to get that notion out of them until they 

 have had a good swarming-out, and landed in 

 new quarters. — F!d.] 



W. B. Ranson, instead of using a single 

 bait in a super, proposes to use a full super of 

 baits ; then when the colony gets started on 

 the second super (with foundation), move the 

 bait-super to a new hive, and so on. It will 

 probably work all right with enough baits, 

 providing colonies are not equal in strength. 

 And it's possible that it will not be necessary 

 to get a colony started in empty super before 

 removing baits ; for, once started in bait-su- 

 per, they might promptly occupy any thing 

 taking its place. [I believe Ranson's plan is 

 all right. I have noticed this : That, when a 

 colony once gets started in the first super, it 

 seems to be much easier for it to go into other 

 supers, whether bait is used or not ; and, right 

 here, this disinclination on the part of the 

 bees to go into the ordinary comb-honey su- 

 pers containing little bits of rooms, as it were, 

 boxed off tight, led me to believe that the bees 

 might be more ready to accept a comb-honey 

 super permitting free passageways back and 

 forth and sidewise, on the principle of the 



