918 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15. 



vestment in battle-ships, armies, and army 

 equipments, is more inclined to bluster than 

 one that is not blessed (or cursed) so much 

 with war equipments. — Ed.] 



Rummaging over the past, I find a question 

 by the " picker "of C. B. J., that I never an- 

 swered. He wants to know whether a small 

 cluster will not stand freezing if its space is 

 proportionately reduced. Friend Heise, take 

 a box holding a cubic inch, fill it with any 

 proportion of bees and stores, keep it at zero 

 for a week, and see how many bees will be 

 alive. And I suppose they'd be just as dead 

 if the box held 100 cubic in. and was filled. 



Wm. Muth-Rasmussen, may I guess what 

 your queens are doing in supers when they 

 don't lay there, as mentioned page 884? In 

 most cases they're looking for drone-cells. If 

 you have sections filled with foundation, then 

 they find no drone-cells there; but if you have 

 only small starters in sections, then I've miss- 

 ed. I've known a queen to pass over a brood- 

 comb that had no eggs nor brood in it to lay 

 in a comb that had drone-cells; and I've known 

 a vacant place in a section to be filled out with 

 drone-comb and not a drop of honey put in it 

 when the rest of the section was filled, appar- 

 ently waiting for the queen to come up to lay 

 there. 



" The regular T supfr is a general favor- 

 ite with a large class ; but within a few years 

 the section-holder arrangement seems to be 

 getting the larger share of patronage," p. 894. 

 Exactly; and why? Because so large a pro- 

 portion of orders come from beginners, and 

 they take your word that section-holders are 

 best. Honest Indian, Ernest, if you had said 

 during the same years that T supers were best, 

 how do you think the proportion would have 

 been ? [The proportion might have been dif- 

 ferent ; but, say, doctor, the T super is not in 

 my judgment nearly as good an arrangement 

 as the section-holder. Would you have me 

 try to " push " a poorer thing for a better? I 

 may be wrong, but, to be consistent, I must 

 advocate what I believe in. — Ed.] 



" Put no TRUST in drugs for the cure of 

 foul brood ' ' seems to be the watchword on 

 this side the ocean, while on the other side 

 there are constant reports of apparently au- 

 thentic cures by drugs. Is it not possible that, 

 where the disease has long been known, a de- 

 gree of immunity prevails among the bees ? 

 Again, a strong colony with favoring condi- 

 tions withstands the disease long, while a weak 

 colony with bad conditions promptly suc- 

 cumbs. May it not be that in some cases the 

 bees come so near resisting the disease that 

 the addition of a germicide will turn the scales 

 in favor of the bees? [Drugs may and prob- 

 ably do have a wonderful effect ; but in the 

 hands of beginners they are worse than use- 

 less. The average beginner, in this country 

 at least, had better not fuss with any method 

 but the drugless cures. — Ed.] 



Dr. Mason shortens "odd" into "od," 

 and Stenog (879) wants.it " ahd." Say, Sten- 

 og, what principle are you going on, anyway ? 

 Would you spell "not," by the same rule, 

 ' naht " ? In other words, would you use 



"ah" to represent short of If so, deliver 

 me from such shorter spelling. [Nothing se- 

 rious, doctor — simply a joke. Yes, the Ger- 

 man word "Naht," aseam, is pronounced just 

 like our word not. Our short o, as in on, is 

 continually represented by broad a, as in all, 

 in my German textbooks. There is no differ- 

 ence between Olive and Ahliv and Awliv in 

 practice. We can make a slight distinction, 

 but do not in common talk (or kahmon tok if 

 you please). I would not use ah for short o, 

 as it is longer; but in point of sound, one is F 

 sharp and the other G flat — no difference. — 

 St.] 



Put empty combs in moth-proof boxes to 

 freeze, is the advice given p. 890. Never mind 

 the " moth-proof " in this " locality." Mine 

 stay out in hives in the open all winter with 

 free entrance for moths, and after standing 

 thus through the winter it's a rare thing for 

 moths to trouble them the following summer. 

 [Locality ! there it goes again. Here at Me- 

 dina it is necessary for us to render moth-proof 

 hives or boxes holding combs after they are 

 frozen ; but in Colorado the situation is en- 

 tirely different. The moth worm and miller 

 are unknown there. Combs and comb honey 

 may be stored at any time without the least 

 fear of their depredations. Similarly the 

 black bee is not seen in Colorado. Is there 

 any connection between the two, or is it sim- 

 ply because altitude (a mile high) and climat- 

 ic conditions are unfavorable to the develop- 

 ment of the moth-miller? — Ed.] 



What a fali, this has been ! In the last 

 week in November my bees flew four days in 

 succession. Dec. 1 and 2 they were taken into 

 the cellar ; and to-day, Dec. 4, it has not been 

 above 25° all day, and the ground is covered 

 with snow. Yes, indeed, I'm glad they're in 

 the cellar. — Dec. 5, 12° above zero. [In and 

 around Denver, during the time of which you 

 speak, there was weather of the shirtsleeve 

 kind — a day with a genuine western dust- 

 storm, another with a snow-storm, followed by 

 weather 10 above zero; but it was remarkable 

 that it was cold and yet it was not cold. It is 

 the low temperature with moisture that makes 

 one catch cold and feel chilly ; and it is the 

 low temperatrue with moisture that kills the 

 bees. For that reason the Coloradoans winter 

 in single-walled hives outdoors, notwithstand- 

 ing they probably average as many degrees of 

 cold as we. — Ed.] 



THE MICHIGAN STATE BEE-KEEPERS' CONVENTION. 



The next annual session of this society will be held 

 at Thompsonville, Jan. 1 and 2. Reduced rates on all 

 railroads have been secured, and the very low rate of 

 75 cts. a day at any of the three hotels, providing that 

 two sleep in one bed. Thompsonville is 100 miles 

 north of Grand Rapids, and at the Junction of the F. 

 & P. M. and C. & \V. M. Railrords; and, what is more, 

 it is right in the heart of the willow-herb and rasp- 

 berry country. The President, Hon. George E. Hilton, 

 is leaving no stone unturned to make this one of the 

 best and most profitable conventions the bee-keepers 

 of Michigan have ever had, and all indications point 

 to the fact that there will be a large attendance. One 

 and possibly two members of the Root Co. will be 

 present— J. T. Calvert and perhaps A. I. Root. 



