168 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 1. 



Taking advantage of my youth and in- 

 experience, Mr. Editor, you always try to shut 

 me up when I say any thing about long 

 tongues. Now here's my chance again. If 

 Prof. Koons found (p. 132) that No. 6 had a 

 tongue just one sixth longer than No. 12, don't 

 you believe that, by always measuring and 

 breeding from the longest tongued colonies, 

 the lengih of tongue might be materially in- 

 creased? Yes, I know I've already said a 

 good deal about it, but then you know I have 

 a pretty long tongue myself. 



H. GuEHLER, the German honey - dealer, 

 perhaps leads the world in his line. He has 

 1600 places of sale in Berlin and other places. 

 In Gravenhorst's Bztg. he says that, because 

 much American honey is atrocious in charac- 

 ter on account of lack of intelligence and 

 cleanliness in handling, it is generally consid- 

 ered adulterated. But after very many analy- 

 ses he asserts it is just as pure as German hon- 

 ey. Of all the lots he has examined, only 

 three have been adulterated — one German, one 

 Hungarian, and one American. 



REPI.YING to Mr. Gibbs, p. 139, a frame 8 

 in. long and 12 deep would not be better than 

 the other way, because it would give too small 

 surface for supers, and would take 50 per cent 

 more time and 100 per cent more trouble to 

 lift out the combs. [A shallow frame has the 

 advantage of convenience in handling as well 

 as giving a large super area ; but theoretically 

 it is not as good for wintering bees as the deep 

 or square frame ; but practically, in the hands 

 of a good bee-keeper, bees seem to winter as 

 well on one frame as the other. — Ed.] 



" IE They [bees] are given larvae all of one 

 age, and that a suitable age, all of the queens 

 will be good queens. If there is any one thing 

 about queen-rearing that I knoiu, this is one 

 of them." — Editor Hutchinson. Let me put, 

 alongside of that, one of the things I know 

 that I know. I have given to queenless bees 

 larvcE all of one age, and that a suitable age, 

 under circumstances favorable for rearing 

 good queens, and some of the queens were 

 good and some were very poor. [When doc- 

 tors disagree, who shall decide? — Ed.] 



A RED PEPPER pod placed on the coals in a 

 smoker is recommended in Deutsche Imker 

 aus Boehnieyi to quiet bees. [To my notion it 

 would be too much of a good thing. A rea- 

 sonable amount of smoke will drive bees, and 

 why should we make the smoke so pungent as 

 to be positive cruelty to animals ? The moder- 

 ate use of a whip for a horse is not punish- 

 ment, but to assist in driving. The moderate 

 use of smoke is not to cause the bees blinding 

 pain, but to gently induce them to get out of 

 the way, or to quiet them if they show fight. 

 —Ed.] 



I STAND with Greiner, p. 131, in not seeing 

 any noticeable let-up in the breeding of bee- 

 moths throughout the season. From the time 

 warm weather comes till autumn frosts, I don't 

 believe there's a time when you will be safe 

 from moths if you expose a set of brood-combs 

 without bees. Catch a female moth any day 

 in the summer, pull off her head, and in a 



minute she'll begin to feel around with her 

 ovipositor ; and if you let it reach the crack 

 between your thumb and finger she'll lay eggs. 

 Possibly, however, each single moth has its 

 two broods. 



" You wiLi, REMEMBER that lie insisted that 

 a worker-bee should be designated by the fem- 

 inine pronoun," quoth ye editor, p. 117, re- 

 referring to this veracious correspondent. 

 Steady, Mr. Editor ; did I ever object to call- 

 ing it " it " ? I only insisted, insist now, and 

 expect always to insist, that if sex is intimated 

 it must be " she " and not "he." I revolt 

 against the absurdity of saying of a laying 

 worker, " He laid eggs." [Perhaps you never 

 objected to ^calling it /// but it was your rec- 

 ommendation and practice to refer to the 

 worker bee as she ; but what pleases me is to 

 see you voiv fall into line and designate her as 

 /A— Ed.] 



W. H. Pridgen says in Anier. Bee keeper 

 that those who condemn breeding for color 

 " are guilty of the same to the extent of keep- 

 ing up their chosen standard." Seems truth 

 in that. Fact is, color is about the only out- 

 side tag we can have to stand for good quali- 

 ties within, so it's right to breed to color ; but 

 breedingy'(?;' a different color without regard 

 to other characteristics is quite another thing. 

 [So far as I know, no one has condemned 

 breeding for color, providing other good qual- 

 ities were not lost sight of ; but a cry has been 

 raised against making color the only desidera- 

 tian — something that has been done too often. 

 —Ed.] 



Now THAT immediate danger of violence to 

 English spelling in Gleanings is no more, 

 and that Mr. Wanser, who wants spelling 

 progress to " emanate from our public schools 

 and colleges," may not be too severe if he 

 should happen to see " honor " for " honour," 

 or "dipt " for "clipped," it may be well to 

 say that the changes he opposes with so much 

 earnestness have not emanated from a few 

 cranky ignoramuses, but have emanated from 

 colleges. The changes were recommended by 

 some of the most eminent scholars of Ameri- 

 ca and England, among them professors in 

 Yale, Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, 

 St. Johns, Columbia, etc., in this country, and 

 in England in Oxford and Cambridge. 



Colorado bee keepers seem down on 

 short top-bars with end-spacing — say they 

 drop down. I've just been out to measure. 

 When one end remains stationary the other 

 end must be shoved to one side c>% inches be- 

 fore it drops. Possibly there is a little differ- 

 ence, due to my top-bars being 1^ wide at 

 end. I wouldn't go back to long top- bars for 

 a good deal. [I found the trouble with short 

 top-bars in Colorado was due to the fact that 

 there were two makes of hives in use, both 

 Langstroth, but one make % inch longer than 

 the other. This, of course, caused trouble. 

 It is unfortunate that standard Langstroth 

 measurements are not adopted by all manu- 

 facturers. But however this may be, a. princi- 

 ple right in itself should not be condemned 

 when obviously the trouble is somewhere else. 

 —Ed.] 



