■58 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 15. 



course, it was a great deal of work to do all 

 this with several tons of honey each year, but 

 we did much of it evenings. Children and all 

 helping, we could turn out quite a lot in one 

 night. The crating had to be done bj' day- 

 light the next morning. One can not well 

 grade by lamplight. 



The people hereabout must be different 

 from what they are with Bro. Aikin, for I find 

 but few who like their honey without some 

 wax. Indeed, I do not know one person who 

 prefers extracted honey to that in the comb. 

 It is my opinion that honey out of the comb 

 soon loses that fine aroma peculiar to it when 

 in the comb, or when first extracted; and after 

 it has granulated and is liquefied again, all 

 the fine qualities it had once are then gone, 

 even when the liquefying has been done with 

 the greatest of care. My faithful better half, 

 for instance, dislikes liquefied honey, while 

 she rather enjoys the new article. Thus our 

 experience is contrary to Bro. Doolittle's, who 

 recently made the claim that extracted honey 

 improves by liquefying. 



PLAIN SECTIONS SATISFACTORY, BUT NOT PER- 

 CEPTIBLY BETTER FILLED OUT THAN 

 THE OLD STYLE. 



My plain sections are not filled perceptibly 

 better than the others, but we have had a 

 very scant honey flow all around, and of short 

 duration at thac. The cappings of the sections 

 used in connection with the fence are perfectly 

 level, except in a few instances where a space 

 in the fence had by accident become wider 

 than the two-twelfths inch. Here I can notice 

 a slightly wavy appearance. I am more fa- 

 vorably impressed with the plain section than 

 I am with the fence, although the fence works 

 all right. I intend to use whole cleated sep- 

 arators by the side of the fence, and in the 

 same cases, too, in order to be better able to 

 determine more correctly how far the fence 

 may be relied upon as giving us better-filled- 

 out sections I find there is not any more 

 dang ^r of injuring the plain section in han- 

 dling t!ian the scalloped. If there is any dif- 

 ference it is in favor of the plain. They have 

 no projections to catch into the next section. 

 It may be necessary to use followers with 

 them in the shipping-cases, for it is diflficult 

 to get the first sections out of a crate without 

 this convenience. 



Naples, N. Y., Aug. 10. 



[We down here in Ohio do not know of any 

 method whereby worker comb can be general- 

 ly secured from a mere starter in the section 

 box. Over half of the combs will be finished 

 drone, and these will be more " gobby " eat- 

 ing than comb hone}' from full sheets of work- 

 er foundation. Or, to put it another way, if 

 we use only starters we shall have more drone 

 than worker ; and natural -built comb is less 

 friable than worker comb from full sheets of 

 foundation. 



It is possible that honey, when extracted, 

 loses some of the delicate aroma that it has 

 while in the comb. Wax of itself has a beau- 

 tiful aroma, even when there is no honey in 

 it. Over and over again, persons when visit- 

 ing our wax-room call attention to the beauti- 



ful honey flavor that they smell, notwith- 

 standing there may not be an ounce of honey 

 in the room. Now, then, if wax has a flavor 

 or aroma peculiarly its own, this, when added 

 to honey, would give a combined effect that 

 is pleasanter to the eater than the same honey 

 free of wax. — Ed.] 



THE ARENA; THE COMBAT BETWEEN DR. MIL- 

 LER AND MR. DOOLITTLE. 



Large Entrances vs. Small Ones; Some Interesting 

 Observations Regarding the Internal Tem- 

 perature of Brood-nests. 



On page 023 I am informed by Bro. Doolit- 

 tle that not only am I to be driven from the 

 arena along with a sympathizing friend, but 

 the arena itself is to be annihilated. Before 

 he gets through, Bro. D. informs us that the 

 editor, " true to his manner of always being 

 with the man who can shout the loudest," 

 "has already climbed away from Dr. Miller's 

 side in his haste to get over on the other side." 

 I suppose, however, the fence is still left. 

 Being left friendless and arenaless, how am I 

 to make any further struggle, with only a 

 fence as a field on which to operate? Hardly 

 worth while to try. 



After he has smashed the arena, leaving me 

 dangling on the fence, he apparently fits up 

 another arena on which to knock me out as to 

 Nature's plan and things "along that line" 

 in spring. Allow me to ask here, b}- way of 

 parenthesis, friend Doolittle, whether 3'ou 

 think it's just the right thing, when the ed- 

 itor agreed to furnish " the arena," for you to 

 smash his property without paying damages 

 for the same. 



I raised the question whether Nature's plan 

 was wrong, and now you raise the question 

 whether I have the right conception of what 

 is Nature's plan. I hadn't supposed there 

 would be any dispute between us as to what is 

 meant by Nature's plan, but I'm not so sure 

 of it now. By Nature's plan I meant what 

 the bees would do if left 10 themselves with- 

 out any interference on the part of the bee- 

 keeper. 



You ask, " Where are the Jirs/ eggs deposit- 

 ed — in the center of the cluster, or on the 

 outside of it? " and then you make me reply, 

 " In the center, always." I wish you wouldn't 

 make me say that, for it isn't true. Likely, 

 however, you mean in the spring, in which 

 case the answer is all right. Then you say, 

 "Then that's Nature's way, is it not?" Cer- 

 tainly it's Nature's way to have the first eggs 

 there, for that's the only place warm enough 

 at that time; but it isn't Nature's way to lay 

 any more eggs in the center for the next three 

 weeks. It's Nature's way to let those eggs 

 stay right there in the center till they become 

 larvte and mature bees; and if any intermed- 

 dling bee-keeper comes along pulling the 

 frames apart and putting an empty comb in 

 the middle he is making a distinct interference 

 with Nature's plan. It's Nature's plan to lay 

 eggs anywhere in the brood-nest that's warm 

 enough ; and I don't need to prove, as you 

 suggest, that the queen would naturally lay 



