122 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 15. 



that the dark color is caused by the first de- 

 jections of the young bees, which are of such 

 intense yellow as to appear black. 



Honey-baths, according to Bienen- 1 ~ater, 

 are very much in fashion in Paris to give full- 

 ness to ladies beginning to fade. [I do not 

 take much stock in offering a good thing on 

 the outside. Good nutrition and an unclogged 

 condition of the alimentary canal will do more 

 to take out the fade than any thing else ; and 

 more to keep off grip than all the medicines 

 that were ever concocted. Don't you think 

 so, doctor? — Ed.] 



According to some interesting figures given 

 by G. M. Doolittle, in Amer. Bee-keeper, hon- 

 ey brings 35 per cent as much to-day as it did 

 25 years ago, while supply-dealers get only 20 

 per cent as much for sections; this, too, with 

 the extra burden of now making two sections 

 for 2 pounds of honey instead of the former 

 one section. Evidently supply-manufacturers 

 have done their share toward meeting low 

 prices. [See Pickings. — Ed.] 



The Trouble about raising money for the 

 Langstroth monument is the false pride that 

 prevents a man contributing unless he can 

 give a large sum. French bee-keepers are 

 giving 10 cts. and upward for a monument to 

 de Layens, and have reached nearly S300. 

 [That is the way, of course, to raise the mon- 

 ument fund. While we have a few small sub- 

 scriptions for the Langstroth monument, some 

 of them are as large as $25.00. — Ed.] 



If L. STACHELHAUSEN is correct, as I think 

 he is, as to the effect of baits in supers, p. 85, 

 then they form quite a factor in prevention of 

 swarming. Forcing bees to begin on raw 

 foundation in super by the crowded condition 

 of the brood-nest is forcing them just so much 

 toward swarming. [This is a good point. It 

 is one of the golden nuggets that appear in 

 the ordinary articles of some of our contribut- 

 ors, but which the editor had not seen. I now 

 desire to give it all the prominence I can, as I 

 believe there is a good deal in it. — Ed.] 



Hasty is incorrigible. The idea of his talk- 

 ing the way he does on page 81, when a faith- 

 ful friend tries to mend his manners !■ The 

 worst thing is the evil of his bad example. 

 The editor had begun trying to reform, and 

 now with Hasty's vicious lead there's no tell- 

 ing where he'll go. [Hasty is all right ; but I 

 suppose I shall have to take middle ground 

 now. At least nine-tenths of the ABC book, 

 last edition, has adopted the neuter pronoun, 

 and it is too much of a job now to change 

 back, hunting out all the its and making them 

 he again. As it is, I have a mortal fear that 

 in some places it may read it and she both. 

 Indeed, I know it does on two or three pages, 

 greatly to my mortification; so if you see the 

 inconsistencies, do not say any thing about it 

 until I get a chance to rectify them. — Ed.] 



One reason I want cleats on hives to go 

 clear across is to strengthen the weak place 

 left by the rabbet. Another is that I want to 

 be able to take hold at any part, and some- 

 times two of us want to carry one hive. 

 [Running a cleat clear across the front and 

 rear of the regular Dovetailed hive with its 



cleated cover would not strengthen the weak 

 place left by the rabbet, for the reason that 

 the cover cleats drop down y^ inch, nearly, 

 and consequently the lifting cleat would have 

 to drop down % inch, and that would bring 

 the top edge at a point just about on a level 

 with the bottom of the rabbet. On the other 

 hand, doctor, your hive-covers are cleated in 

 such a way that there are no downward pro- 

 jections. This allows cleats to come clear up 

 flush with the top edge of the hive. I can 

 not see what other advantage there is in hav- 

 ing cleats reach clear acioss the hive-front 

 unless it is where two persons carry hives 

 with the rope lift, such as }o,u use. Isn't it 

 true that the average bee keeper uses a wheel- 

 barrow ? Hives with Hoffman or self-spacing 

 frames don't require to be handled like eggs. 

 —Ed.] 



I Tried on a large scale that plan of pre- 

 venting increase, p. 90, by /deluding the 

 queen with an ^.rcluder so as to let the young 

 queens fight it out. I could stand the sulk- 

 ing if that was all. They would swarm so 

 repeatedly, and get so desperate about it, that 

 nearly all the bees from five or six strong col- 

 onies would hang in a single bunch, some- 

 times nearly all day, and only too often a 

 queen would get out, and then there would 

 be trouble. The queens were not small 

 either. [Since you speak of it, I now recall 

 that, when I tried the same plan, the bees 

 became desperate. They not only sulked, 

 but kept swarming out every day or two. So 

 far as their usefulness for honey was con- 

 cerned that season, I might just as well have 

 brimstoned them. In handling this matter of 

 swarming it will not do to thwart the bees — 

 that is, once let them get the desire and then 

 forestall them. The thing to do is to keep 

 away the desire. Control of increase based 

 on any other plan is almost sure to be a fail- 

 ure. "To keep away the desire." Right 

 here Stenog, who is taking down these an- 

 swers, stops long enough to observe: "There 

 is a great sermon in those words; for what 

 evils have not been hatched by a failure to 

 kill the brood by crushing out that desire?" 

 -Ed.] 



L'Apicoi/TORE says wax is purest cooled 

 slowly, but of best color when cooled rapidly. 

 It advises slow cooling, scraping off the bot- 

 tom of the cake, then a second heating, fol- 

 lowed by putting the dish in cold water to. cool 

 immediately. Is it possible that the second 

 cooling will give it a better color than it had 

 before ? [You may put this down as an axiom 

 in the wax business : The longer the wax is 

 kept hot, the darker will be the color when it 

 cools; but it is true that, when it is cooled 

 slowly, impurities settle to the bottom of the 

 receptacle. It is our practice to melt up about 

 1000 lbs. of wax at a time, and then we let it 

 cool just as slowly as possible. Just before it 

 congeals it is drawn off into cans; after that it 

 is melted but once, and kept in that condition 

 only long enough to bring it to a sheeted 

 condition, and that usually is less than an 

 hour. The trouble with the old methods of 

 making foundation is that the) 7 required the 

 old-fashioned dipping-tank, a vessel that had 



