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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 15. 



You speak, p. 573, of having some one 

 with the necessary micrometer measure dor- 

 sata, Mr. Editor. When you find the microm- 

 eter, couldn't you get the difference in di- 

 ameter between worker cells freshly built 

 and those in combs 25 years old ? I think the 

 chief reason why British bee-keepers think 

 comb too old after five years is because they 

 think the cells become too small, and I doubt 

 if there's any appreciable difference. [We 

 have micrometers now that will measure the 

 inside diameter of any worker-cell to the ten- 

 thousandth of an inch. Bring on your comb 

 25 years old, and we will caliper it, and show 

 if there is any difference between that and 

 comb recently built. But, say ; the cells of 

 some bees are larger than the cells of others, 

 by a trifle. How do we know that the bees of 

 25 years ago (probably blacks) built just the 

 same size of cell that the bees of to-day do? 

 How are we going to prove any thing by 

 measuring ? — Ed.] 



Tastes differ. Niver and other New 

 Yorkers like to see on a plate a section of 

 honey that is nice and dry, because no cells 

 are filled next the wood. To me it looks far 

 more luscious if the cut cells show, and it is 

 surrounded by some of its own rich gravy. 

 [When Niver presented his view I was inclined 

 to think he was right; and now you have pre- 

 sented your notion, I have flopped again. 

 There is no denying the fact that a chunk of 

 dripping crystal honey has a sort of luscious- 

 ness about it that makes one's mouth water. 

 A chunk of comb swimming in its own crystal 

 sweetness reminds one strongly of the good 

 old days gone by, and of how our fathers and 

 grandfathers used to dish out honey in great 

 chunks smeared "in its own rich gravy." 

 Every one to his notion ; and in saying this it 

 is proper to remark that one can with plain 

 sections and fences have either sort of feeling. 

 If it is desired to have the cells filled clear out 

 to the wood, then crowd the bees for room. 

 If it is not desired, then give them another 

 super as soon as the first one is pretty well 

 under way. — Ed.] 



I don't quite SEE, Mr. Editor, what you're 

 getting at, p. 571, where you think larvae in 

 drone-cells must be first given to queenless 

 bees to start queen cells. Why, with the Doo- 

 little plan it's the royal jelly, and not the size 

 of the cup, that makes the difference. Why 

 shouldn't they start in the drone-cells just the 

 same as in the artificial cups? I know they 

 will in worker-cells, for I've tried it. [No, 

 sir, 'ee ! That is where you are wrong, 

 doctor, or at least I think so. Royal jelly is 

 something to be desired ; but you will find, I 

 think, that a very large portion, if not a ma- 

 jority, of drone-cells having royal jelly in 

 them would not be converted into queen-cells 

 if placed in a colony with a normal laying 

 queen. The Doolittle cell- cups, although they 

 are artificial, have the shape and general ap- 

 pearance of real queen cell cups ; while the 

 drone-cells sawn off are any thing but queen- 

 cups. Why should they start with drone- 

 eel's? All I know is that we have tried it, 

 and the bees having a queen do not take to 



them ; and, moreover, those who advocate the 

 plan, or at least one who uses the method, 

 speaks of being obliged to put these drone- 

 cells with royal jelly, in queenless colonies to 

 get them started first. But you know we are 

 getting Doolittle cell-cups accepted in colonies 

 having a laving queen. Does this not show 

 that the shape of the cell has something to do 

 with the matter? But, say ; we have recently 

 discovered that we can get Doolittle cell cups 

 accepted having a larva and the food of the 

 ordinary worker-cell in it, thus showing that 

 royal jelly does not have so much to do with 

 the matter as one might suppose. I say we 

 have been successful, although we do not 

 know that we shall always be. I'd like to see 

 you get drone-cells with worker-larva food ac- 

 cepted, and worked into queen-cells. See an- 

 swer to H. L. Jones, in this issue. — Ed.] 



I don't know, Mr. Editor ; but I think 

 you're falsely accusing the bees' feet when 

 you say, p. 575, "I have seen entrances of 

 hives that were pretty badly smeared up with 

 yellow, and have naturally concluded that 

 this yellow was the so-called travel-stain, that 

 came direct from the bees' feet." Now tell 

 me, where did the bees get that dirt, that was 

 so thick on their feet that it daubed the en- 

 trance? Yes, I've seen entrances daubed, and 

 haven't you noticed that it's ten times worse 

 at the entrance of a colony that's being rob- 

 bed ? When I've allowed bees to clean out 

 supers, with an entrance for only one bee at a 

 time, that entrance has become dark and 

 sticky. I think it's the feces that the bees 

 expel on reaching the open air, and the dark- 

 ening of the combs is, as Cheshire says, from 

 the contents of the bowels of the young bee 

 in the cell [Dirt from bees' feet ! Did I 

 say any thing about dirt ? I did say that the 

 entrances of many hives I noticed were yel- 

 lowed up; and this yellow, I think, is pollen 

 and not dirt. If you take a strong magnify- 

 ing-glass, and look at a bee as it comes in 

 from the field in pollen time, you may find it 

 has pollen all over it, even on its feet. Now, 

 why could not this pollen be smeared on the 

 surface of white combs? If so, wouldn't this 

 be real travel-stain ? But methinks bees walk- 

 ing over the bottom of their bottom-boards, 

 and over black combs, sometimes carry over 

 the surface of their beautiful sections some 

 particles that are not pollen. May be it is- 

 dirt. But granting all this, I am quite willing 

 to concede that some of this discoloration may 

 come from the feces the bees expel. — Ed.] 



"The fact that, in the generality of cases, 

 the coloring of foreign matter goes clear 

 through the cappings," say you, Mr. Editor, 

 p. 575. Don't you think you'd better make 

 that " generality " "minority"? In my sec- 

 tions that are darkened. I don't believe there's 

 one case in a hundred where the cappings are 

 dark clear through. At any rate, I do know 

 this: Let a section that's capped white as 

 snow remain on the hive long enough, espe- 

 cially in the center of the super, and it will 

 become dark. Now, don't you believe the 

 white capping still remains white, with a dark 

 coating over it ? But I don't believe the feet 



