906 



GLEANINGS IN BEK CULTURE. 



Dec. 15. 



tion iu my mind is whether these scientists 

 did not make a mistake ; and ought their 

 single scientific experiment to overbalance the 

 results of practical experience for years ? — Ed. ] 



I MELTED a finished pound section of honey, 

 collected the wax, and it made a marble a lit- 

 tle more than an inch in diameter. [Very 

 possibly the next section of honey that you 

 may have melted would have a larger or smaller 

 ball of wax. I know that several different 

 sections from different localities that I tested 

 years ago varied considerably. The lightest 

 comb came from Colorado, and the heaviest 

 from a locality where the honey .season was 

 slow and the bees had time to chink in wax. 

 — Ed.1 



"As TO THE LENGTH of time it takes for 

 the spores to develop into Bacillus alvei, no 

 one knows," says Gleanings, p. 8S3. Surely 

 Dr. Howard and Prof. Mackenzie, who raised 

 crops of bacilli from spores, ought to be able 

 to tell something about it. And while you're 

 about it, Mr. Editor, won't you please ask 

 them how long foul-broody honey should be 

 boiled to make it safe to feed healthy bees? 

 [All right. Prof. Mackenzie and Dr. Howard 

 will please take notice that we should be 

 pleased to have one or the other of them, or 

 both, tell us how long it takes spores to devel- 

 op into Bacillus alvei. — Ed. ] 



A WRITER in Brilish Bee Journal hints that 

 bees may be made immune to foul brood by 

 some sort of anti-toxin treatment. Sort o' 

 vaccinate 'em. [The vaccinating would have 

 to be done before the bees were ' born." I 

 know that a few claim that Bacillus alvei is 

 foimd in the stomachs of adult bees. It may 

 be that this germ life affects them adversely ; 

 but I could never see but that the bees in some 

 of our worst foul-broody colonies were just as 

 healthy as^ any we had in the yard. Foul 

 brood is a disease, as its name indicates, of the 

 brood ; then the anti-toxin would have to be 

 administered — well, when ? — Ed.] 



Cheshire says that, in a case he carefully 

 examined, the bees used a pound of wax in 

 constructing o5,000 cells; but an American 

 writer found 50,000 cells coufctructed from the 

 same amount of wax. That makes somewhere 

 from 2.6 to 3.8 ounces wax used for a Lang- 

 stroth frame, or from 21 oz. to nearly 2 lbs. 

 for an eight-frame hive. [This only empha- 

 sizes the point I made in answer to another 

 Straw in this issue, that the amount of wax for 

 a certain capacity of honey varies consider- 

 ably. I have no doubt that both Cheshire 

 and the American writer are entirely correct 

 in reporting 35,000 and 60,000 cells made from 

 one pound of wax. — Ed.] 



That point made by N. E. Doane, p. 883, 

 that bees are carried more safely if most of 

 them are bagged, is worth noting. The bees 

 in the bag haven't the same chance to overload 

 with honey and then spew it over themselves. 

 [Yes, since you speak of it, it strikes me that 

 more emphasis should have been placed on 

 this point. Bee keepers, when moving bees, 

 are inclined more and more to the use of a 

 screen leaving three or four incbes ah jve the 

 combs. If it is a very hot day the bees will 



leave the combs, and cluster in the space 

 above; and the danger of their overloading 

 and spewing all over each other is very much 

 less. — Ed.] 



.A.S postscript to your footnote, p 880, W. 

 Z. Hutchinson says he buys sections and ship- 

 ping-cases, but makes his hives. He is " near 

 planing-mills that have good machit;ery and 

 competent workmen," wiih lumber cheap, so 

 it costs him much less than to send to a bee- 

 hive factory. But that's hardly making his 

 own hives. I suppose the only difference 

 between him and me is that he gives special 

 instruction how his stuff shall be cut. He 

 sa^'s wisely that each one must decide for him- 

 self which is best for him. [W. Z. Hutchin- 

 .son does just the right thing ; but there are 

 few, comparatively, who are so favorably sit- 

 uated. By far the great majority are out of 

 the vicinity of cheap lumber. Indeed, Ihey 

 could buy the hives all made up in the flat 

 about as cheaply as they could buy the same 

 superficial surface of plain lumber. — Ed.] 



C. P. Dadant says, in American Bee Jour- 

 nal, that bees "fare much better, and keep 

 warmer, if the}' can keep the bulk of their 

 cluster b?low the honey, on empty eel's." 

 Our Canadian friends report good success with 

 combs .sealed .solid to the bottom. Now, who 

 can give positive testimony as to the relative 

 merits of the two plans tried side by side? [I 

 can not give any testimony either way. We 

 have wintered bees successfully on combs 

 built solid to the bottom-bar, and on combs 

 having a sort of clustering-nest below the 

 honey. I remember particularly one winter, 

 when, for some reason I do not now recall, we 

 fed late, and then fed in such large feederfuls 

 that the combs of some colonies were solid 

 slabs of s?aled stores. I did not intend to 

 give any of them quite so large doses, and I 

 was fearful that the following spring would 

 show losses; but I could not see but those col- 

 onies with solid combs of sealed stores winter- 

 ed as well as those that had time to prepare a 

 brood-nest. Notwithstanding, I believe the 

 ideal condition for good wintering is that 

 pointed out by C. P. Dadant. — Ed.] 



" In The e.\ting of extracted honey such a 

 large quantity of sweetness is brought in con- 

 tact with the organs of taste all at once as to 

 overtax them, so to speak. In eating comb 

 hone}' there is a gradual breaking-down of the 

 cells, the honey is released in small quantities, 

 and the ' sweetness long drawn out ' is not 

 only poetical but really real." So says Editor 

 Hutchinson. Bro. H., do you believe you can 

 detect the slightest difference between comb 

 and extracted when spread on bread or biscuit, 

 provided the honey is of the same quality in 

 each ? And when a chunk of comb honey 

 goes into my mouth, there's no cell by cell 

 breaking down or "long drawn out" sweet- 

 ness, but a grand crash of the whole structure 

 " at one fell swoop." [I can not give up the 

 idea that wax has a peculiar flavor of its own. 

 Whenever I go down into our wax-room and 

 place my nose close to some nice new founda- 

 tion I am reminded of boxes of scented soap. 

 Now, if the olfactory nerves can detect some- 

 thing in wax, why not the organs of taste? 



