6 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 1. 



I think you are just a little wrong. I have 

 come to the conclusion that, where propolis is 

 very bad, a closed-end frame is better than the 

 Hoffman, and a metal- spaced one better than 

 either. But there are right and wrong ways 

 of using frames with closed uprights. I am in- 

 clined to think that such frames, close fitting — 

 that is, those whose end-bars reach to within yi 

 or iV of the ends of the hive — just room enough 

 for easy insertion and removal — would work 

 all right with you. I do not believe you ever 

 tried exactly that ; and if you have, you have 

 not tried it thoroughly enough. — Ed.] 



W. A. H. GiLSTRAP, p. 928, puts the annual 

 consumption of honey by a colony of bees at 

 100 or 200 pounds. I think Doolittle puts it 

 at 60. Quite likely it may be 40 pounds less 

 in New York than in California, for in New 

 York bees are nearly dormant for months. 

 Pity we can't "know somewhat definitely about 

 it. [As you intimate, it all depends on where 

 one lives. In Florida, and, in fact, nearly all 

 of the Southern States, where the winters are 

 more or less open, and the bees can fly every 

 day, the consumption of stores is very much 

 greater than in- the North, where the bees go 

 into their long winter sleep. — Ed.] 



L. STachelhausen raises a fresh question, 

 p. 925. He says the bee begins field work 

 when it is 18 days old. Tradition says 16. 

 He also makes 34 days the life of a worker. 

 Tradition says six weeks — eight days more. 

 Mr. S. is a man who generally knows what he 

 is talking about. Has he good ground for 

 thus lightly treating the traditions of the 

 fathers? [While there is a slight discrepancy 

 in the actual time, yet they are near enough 

 when we consider the influence of various con- 

 ditions and localities. I could readily see that 

 in Colorado, for instance, the average life of 

 the bees would be shorter than here, for the 

 reason that their honey seasons are much long- 

 er. Would not this alone explain the differ- 

 ence in the life of a worker? — Ed.] 



F. A. Snei^i. gives his bees a little smoke 

 before carrying in cellar ( p. 930 ) . That smoke 

 may do no harm, but I'd a little rather not 

 have it. If they trouble about coming out, I 

 wait till another time. If for any reason I 

 don't want to wait, I throw against the en- 

 trance a cloth dripping wet. The bees back 

 off from the cold thing, and in the cellar it 

 can be removed with no bees clinging to it. 

 [We winter now exclusively out of doors ; but 

 when we wintered indoors it was our practice 

 to loosen the hives shorth' beforehand, either 

 from the hive-stands or from the bottoms, so 

 when the hive was finally picked up to be car- 

 ried, there would be no snap or jar ; and if it 

 was handled quietly clear to the cellar no bees 

 would come out. Smoke was useful at times, 

 and we always had a smoker lighted for emer- 

 gency. — Ed.] 



Gladly would I receive information from 

 Wm. M. Whitney (p. 930), but I am obliged 

 to say that one of the things that I know, if I 

 know any thing about bees, is that, while 

 there are conditions that will make the same 

 colony produce sections whiter at one time 

 than at another, the chief difference is in the 



colonies themselves. I had some Punic or 

 Tunisian blood among my bees, and those bees 

 at any and all times made greasy-looking sec- 

 tions, no matter how white all the other bees 

 were working. They were good gatherers, 

 but their product brought 2 cents a pound less 

 than the rest of my honey, so I couldn't afford 

 to let their queens live. Last season No. 70, 

 from first to last, made sections distinctly 

 whiter than any other colony, although the 

 material and conditions seemed the same for^ 

 all. [Yes, I remembervery distinctly that the 

 Tunisian bees that we had made the greasiest- 

 looking comb honey of any bees we ever had 

 - — greasy because they daubed it all over with 

 propolis, giving it somewhat the appearance 

 of honey that had been badly soiled. — Ed.] 



Prof. Gaston Bonnier made some ex-. 

 haustive experiments, and found that, under 

 precisely the same conditions in other respects, 

 the difference of soil made a notable differ- 

 ence in the nectar of plants. White mustard 

 gives more nectar on calcareous than on argil- 

 laceous soils, while buckwheat is the reverse. 

 A good honey-plant in one country may be 

 worthless in another. [Exactly so. Buck- 

 wheat is a reliable honey -plant in New York ; 

 but in this State it may or may not yield. Al- 

 falfa yields immense quantities of honey in 

 Colorado and Arizona, but so far as I know it 

 has not distinguished itself in the East — part- 

 ly because so little of it is grown. But did 

 you ever know of a place where sweet clover 

 would not grow, and where the bees did not 

 work on it when in bloom ? It grows, and 

 yields honey in more States of our Union than 

 almost any other honey-plant that is known, 

 I believe ; but in only a few localities does it 

 yield enough to make a perceptible showing 

 in the supers. — Ed.] 



I have been profoundly moved by that 

 Home Talk, p. 94.3. Does the saloon power 

 hold by the throat all those elected to make 

 and to execute our laws ? I solemnly promise 

 that, so long as my life is spared, I will vote 

 for no man who is not pledged against the sa- 

 loon. Brother A. I. Root, will you join me? 

 [Yes, and no. When a candidate is not like- 

 ly to runup against the saloon question, I see 

 no reason why he should necessarily be made 

 to pledge himself. What I mean is this : 

 There is danger in flaunting the "red rag be- 

 fore the bull " unnecessarily. This stirs up 

 the animal, makes him fight, and harder to 

 kill. Instead of shooting our ammunition 

 away in everj- direction, and keeping almost 

 continually firing, I believe in the policy of 

 using and concentrating it at a time and place 

 where it is most needed. There are many of- 

 ficers who have more or less to do with the 

 liquor question. It is from them that I believe 

 in securing pledges ; and if the candidate does 

 not stand for God and the right, work to de- 

 feat him, no matter what his party. That's 

 what we have been doing. — Ed.] 



Somehow a wrong impression seems to pre- 

 vail, that, in getting bees to clean out unfin- 

 ished sections, the bees must be allowed to 

 get to them only gradually, as by giving a 

 small entrance or putting in a dark cellar. 



