1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



495 



what. I do not think I am boasting when I 

 say that I have seen perhaps fifty imported 

 queens where Doolittle or yourself have seen 

 one ; for we import from 50 to 75 every year. 

 Years ago, as you say, Doolittle went on 

 record as saying that he believed further im- 

 portation was unnecessary, so I take it he has 

 not seen an imported queen for some time. 

 The color-bands, both on bees and queens, are 

 what are generally called " leather" color. I 

 never saw one queen or bee direct from Italy 

 that had bands that were either chestnut or 

 maroon. Maroon? my, oh my! what's the 

 matter with Doolittle's eyes ? To my notion 

 these colors are the same as those given in 

 the Standard Dictionary, the latest and best 

 in the English language, under the heading 

 of "Spectrum." Strictly speaking, the yel- 

 low on the Italians is not exactly yellow, but 

 leather-colored ; but when we use the term 

 " yellow " we usually mean it in the broadest 

 sense, and that may mean from a leather color 

 to a lemon yellow. To say that Italian queens 

 and bees do not have any yellow on them is 

 to pervert the word from its ordinarily accepted 

 meaning. We say that the sun rites in the 

 morning. While the statement is not correct, 

 the phrase has an accepted meaning ; in the 

 same way, yellow, when applied to Italians, 

 conveys an impression to the average person 

 that is not misleading. — Ed.] 



£piaZJTJSTG& 



<£f/lOM OUR NEIGHBORS FIELDS. 



" Bring out your guns, all you that has 'em. 

 And blaze away with enthusiasm ! 

 The basswoods now their nectar ooze," 

 Says Drone, " and we have not an hour to lose." 



\i, 



BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



Dr. C. C. Miller corrects himself by saying 

 the " Adel " bees are a strain of Carniolans 

 instead of Italians. 



\h 



In cases of dysentery among bees, Dr. Mil - 

 ler says he has found a temperature of 60 or 

 80 degrees in the cellar productive of no bad 

 results. The bees make a loud roaring, but 

 settle down quietly afterward. 

 \ii 



C.Davenport says: "Empty hives should 

 be kept in a cool place at swarming-time, but 

 not in a cellar unless it is very dry." "To 

 have bees contented, so they will work freely, 

 and not attempt to desert, they should be 

 given plenty of room when they are hived." 

 vt/ 



Dr. Mason says he has paid big prices for 

 queens from noted queen-breeders, but never 

 bought one that was as good as his own rear- 

 ing by the dequeening method ; but for good 

 queens, easily reared, he prefers Mr. Doolit- 

 tle's method of artificial cells furnished with 

 royal jelly having a newly hatched larva 

 placed in it. 



Mr. Hutchinson is inclined to adhere in the 

 main to the common spelling. He says: "So 

 long as a system is radically wrong, we gain 

 very little by tinkering with minor results." 

 Further down he says, touching the fashions, 

 " Girls' plaid shirt-waists must be laid aside 

 for stripped ones." " Stripped " — how so,, 

 Mr. H.? 



\ii 



Mr. Adrian Getaz, of Knoxville, Tenn., 

 says he has no doubt that really strong colo- 

 nies, sufficiently packed, could be wintered 

 successfully out of doors, anywhere this side 

 of the Klondike ; but he is equally satisfied 

 that small colonies would die out, no matter 

 how protected, if the cold weather is of long 

 duration. He thinks a cellar is necessary for 

 small colonies. 



v»/ 



Dr. Miller very pertinently asks the editor : 

 "As a matter of curiosity would you be willing 

 to explain why Mr. Taylor pays so little at- 

 tention to the errors in the Review compared 

 with that of other bee journals? Surely an 

 error in the Review will do more harm to its 

 readers than one in a paper they never see. 

 And he can find errors in the Review if he 

 wants to see them." Good! let's have these 

 errors "stripped" and exposed. Mr. Hutch- 

 inson says he has often asked Mr. Taylor to 

 criticise the Review. Perhaps too many of 

 us are doing it now. I make my criticisms to 

 Mr. H. by letter. 



\\i 



I am sure all will be filled with a sense of 

 deep pleasure to learn that Mrs. Hutchinson's 

 physical health is quite good, and that her 

 mind is becoming stronger and clearer. For 

 the last six months she has had charge of the 

 books at the library of the asylum, and has 

 permission to go where she pleases. Mr. H. 

 has put up a pair of type-cases in one corner 

 of the library, and here Mrs. H. sets some 

 three pages of the Reviezv every week. He 

 goes to see her every Saturday, and keeps her 

 at home over Sunday, carrying the type back 

 and forth. Her conduct is entirely normal, 

 not even the doctors being able to detect any 

 thing that would indicate mental aberration. 

 Such news is a source of great joy to all of Mr. 

 Hutchinson's friends. 



\\i 



Mr. R. L. Taylor's department is unusually 

 interesting this month. Some time ago I 

 asked why hives can not be discussed as 

 calmly as the weather. Mr. Taylor says it is 

 because I said the Standard Dictionary is the 

 latest and by far the best of its kind ever 

 printed. I'm ready to be corrected on that 

 point if Mr. Taylor will mention the name ; 

 but still the wrangle and ill temper about 

 hives began long before I mentioned diction- 

 aries, and hence I fail to see the force of his 

 reasoning. He laments the great amount of 

 space occupied in GLEANINGS by Dr. Miller 

 on grammar. If am not wrong, it was Mr. 

 Taylor himself who pulled the leg from under 

 the table when the crockery came down on 

 his own head and the hot tea down his back. 

 Does Mr. Taylor still object to the word 



