1898 



GLEANINGS IN BER CULTURE. 



661 



THE AVERSION BEES HAVE FOR BLACK. 



Evidence is now beginning to accumulate, 

 showing almost conclusively that bees have a 

 decided dislike for black objects. Two or 

 three have written that they will attack a black 

 hat when they will not notice one of a lighter 

 color ; and one man writes that his hair is as 

 black as coal, and that they will strike for it 

 every time. Another one speaks of two black 

 spots in his veil, which his bees seem to re- 

 gard as legitimate objects of attack. 



I must confess I was loath to believe that 

 bees would be more vindictive toward one col- 

 or than another, but I presume I shall have to 

 give up to Dr. Miller. 



STARTERS vs. FULL SHEETS. 

 Since the question has arisen regarding the 

 advisability of using full sheets or starters in 

 sections, I have been paying particular atten- 

 tion to the honey that has come in ; and while, 

 of course, I do not know positiveh' what the 

 bee-keeper who produced the honey in ques- 

 tion used, I think I can detect almost every 

 section that had only starters in the first place. 

 For instance, when I see the top edge all 

 worker and the rest all drone, I draw the con- 

 clusion that only a starter was used. Such 

 boxes, to my eye, present a motley appear- 

 ance. As nearly as I can judge, at least 33 

 per cent of the comb honey built off from 

 starters will have, near the top, worker-cells, 

 and the rest drone. 



THOSE HONEY LEAFLETS. 



Now is the time to distribute the honey- 

 leaflets. They were written with special ref- 

 erence to the consumer who has been persist- 

 enth^ educated to the notion that all comb 

 howQy is " manufactured stuff," aid that ex- 

 tracted is always adulterated. Among other 

 things they show that honey is more palatable 

 and wholesome than any other sweet in the 

 world, and how it may be used in cooker)'. 

 The leaflets are sold on the basis of cost, as it 

 is to our interest, as well as to that of bee- 

 keepers in general, that they be scattered 

 broadcast over the country. 



For a year back we have been inclo.sing 

 them in all letters that have gone out from our 

 office, and there are others who are doing the 

 same ; besides, there are a good many who 

 put a leaflet in every crate of honey and in 

 every package of extracted where it is possible 

 to do so. 



DRONE COMB IN SECTIONS INFERIOR IN 

 APPEAR.\NCE, AND WHY. 



I HAVE just been looking over several lots 

 of comb honey that have come in. Quite a 

 number of the sections are built out with 

 drone comb, and are in ever}' way inferior in 

 looks and whiteness to the worker. I do not 



see hojv anybody can think one looks as 

 well as the other. I asked one of our men, 

 who did not know what I was driving at, to 

 point out those boxes that, in his estimation, 

 looked the prettier. He placed his finger on 

 the worker-cell comb every time. I asked 

 him why. "Why," said he, "I do not like 

 the looks of those great big cells." There is 

 another thing that may have something to do 

 with the matter. Cappings of worker comb 

 are apt to be a little thicker, and therefore 

 whiter. The capping of drone is quite liable 

 to be water-soaked or thinner. 



RAISING CELLS A LA DOOLITTLE. 

 I HAVE already told you in these columns 

 that we were meeting with marked success in 

 raising cells by the Doolittle method. Else- 

 where in this issue I take pleasure in present- 

 ing you a half-tone reproduction of one lot of 

 cells that our Mr. Wardell secured — not nec- 

 essarily the best lot, but, if I am any judge, a 

 fair average of what he has produced. As all 

 of our readers may not have Doolittle's book 

 on queen-rearing, I have thought best to re- 

 produce a few paragraphs from that book that 

 will give the modus operandi in a nutshell. 

 This is the way he makes his cell-cups: 



While thinking of this matter, it came to me— why 

 not dip the cells, the same as my mother used to dip 

 candles ? This thought so waked me up that I won- 

 dered at myself for not thinking of it before, and im- 

 mediately I had sonie wax in a small dish, over a 

 lamp, to melt. While this was melting, I hunted up 

 the old stick that I used in forming the cells at my 

 first trial, which was nothing more than a tooth out 

 of a common hand hay-rake. This tooth was now fit- 

 ted to a queen-cup, as perfectly as I could do it with 

 knife and sandpaper, while a mark was made around 

 the tooth where the open end of the cell should come, 

 so that I could know just how deep I wanted it to go 

 in the wax, to give me the desired depth of cell. 



By this time the wax had melte • . 1 then got a dish 

 of cold water, and, after dipping the end of the stick 

 into the water (up to wheie it was marked, or a little 

 deeper), and giving it a quick jerk, to throw off the 

 water not needed, it was quickly lowered into the wax 

 up to the mark, and as q jickly lifted out, twirling it 

 around and around in my fingers, so as to cause the 

 wax to be equally distributed over the wood. I now 

 had a film of wa.x over the stick, so frail that 

 it could not be handled, but in it I saw the commence- 

 ment of a queen-cell, which would, I was sure, be a 

 boon to ray fellow bee-keepers, for the wax much re- 

 sembled the very outer edge of a queen-cup built on 

 new comb. 



I then dipped it again, not allowing it to go as deep 

 within one-sixteenth of an inch as before, and in 

 twirling the stick after taking it out, the end having 

 the wax on was held lower than the other, so that the 

 lower end, or the base, would be the thickest, as the 

 wax would flow toward the lowest point. As soon as 

 the wax on the cell was cool enough to set, it was 

 again dipped, not allowing it to go as deep in tlie wax 

 as it did the previous time, by about a thirty-second of 

 an inch, when it was cooled as before. In this way I 

 dipped it from six to eight times, when I had a queen- 

 cup that pleased me, as the outer edge was thinner 

 than the bees made theirs, while the base was so 

 thick that it would stand much more rough usage 

 than would cells built by the bees. I now held it in 

 the water, twirling it so that it would cool quickly, 

 and, when cold, it was very easily taken off of the 

 stick or form, by twisting it" a little. It could then be 

 fastened to a comb, by dipping in melted wax, the 

 same as I did with one of the cups. 



This is how he fastens them to cross-sticks 

 fastened in brood-frames: 



My next idea was to have all of my queen-cells built 

 on a stick, or piece of frame-stuff, tlie same as I had 

 read about; so when I again made some, in.stead of 

 taking the cup off the form, I loosened it only enough 

 so that it would slip off the stick easily, when it was 



