310 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aprii, 15. 



refer to the fact of his excellent Christian 

 character and great big conscience. All three 

 of these boys — Joha, Will, and Albert — were 

 earnest Christian young men, and never back- 

 ward in any work which would please the 

 Master. As we should expect, they were also 

 earnest students. I will let Will speak for 

 himself ; but the other two, Albert and John, 

 both of whom are now in the other world, 

 were among the best students I ever had. I 

 was glad to see the portraits you gave, and to 

 know that Mr. Porter- has such a delightful 

 family. What you say of their hospitality and 

 courtesy hardly need be said to any one who 

 knows Mr. Porter. If there ever is a signifi- 

 cant green tinge about my eyes it is when I 

 hear of such visits as } ou must have had with 

 the Porters in their Colorado home. Albert 

 and John seemed strong boys in Michigan. 

 They were certainly mentally and spiritually 

 strong, and, as we all supposed, were robust 

 physically ; but both have gone on to the bet- 

 ter world — like Lycidas, gone before their 

 time. I think that, without doubt, had they 

 gone to Colorado or Southern California, they 

 might have remained to bless the world up to 

 a ripe old age. I am very glad and thankful 

 that Will went to Colorado. He was at our 

 California convention a year ago, and aided 

 us not a little in our deliberations. 



Right here, Mr. Editor, I do not think you 

 can too strongly urge any of your readers who 

 are threatened with incipient lung trouble to 

 hie away at once to either Southern California 

 or Colorado. Such wise action almost insures 

 restored health, useful work for long life, and 

 blessing to the world. California is to day 

 full of grand men, the like of whom I have 

 rarely seen anywhere, who came here at the 

 beck of such ill health. To-day they are in 

 full strength and vigor, and are in almost all 

 cases a rich blessing to their neighborhoods. 



Claremont, Cal., Mar. 24. A. J. Cook. 



GREASY SECTIONS. 



Dr. Miller, on page 206, kindly asks why a 

 colon)' of Punics in his yard, working under 

 the same conditions, made greasy seciions all 

 through the season, while other colonies made 

 white ones. Now, I will be as frank as he 

 often is, and admit that I don't know. I nev- 

 er had such a colony of bees, and would want 

 them, or any other, under close obfervation 

 to be able to say any thing worthy of consid- 

 eration . 



I do not pretend to know all about this 

 matter cf greasy sections, but have noted 

 what has come under my observation, and in- 

 tend to continue the investigation as thor- 

 oughly as circumstances may permit, so as to 

 know, if possible, whether our good brethren 

 of the bee-keeping fraternity, like our mis- 

 guided ancestors, who honestly believed in 

 witchcraft, have been committing a very seri- 

 ous offense or not. 



I desire at this point, as questions are in 

 order, and as very ripe, heavy honey invaria- 

 bly goes with greasy sections, to ask whether 

 the queen should not have the credit for it. 

 I'm one who believes that bees viamifadure 



honey instead of simply gathering nectar, as 

 we are sometimes taught, and I am partial to 

 a queen that produces a strong colony of bees 

 which can juanufactiire thick waxy honey. 

 To say that they simply gather nectar is as 

 inaccurate as to say that the dairyman gath- 

 ers butter and cheese, and it would be most 

 gratifying to me to know just what part the 

 queen plays in this whole business. 



A superficial, indifferent observation de- 

 termines nothing of value in any line of re- 

 search or investigation ; and those who care 

 to get at the truth respecting this matter of 

 greasy or watery capped honey should give 

 the subject the most careful study possible. 

 To this end I desire to say to any who have 

 queens whose bees produce that kind of hon- 

 ey, if they will send such to the for experi- 

 ment I will note all the conditions as carefully 

 as I can, and report the results when the sea- 

 son is over. W. M. Whitney. 



Kankakee, 111., March 28. 



GREASY HONEY NOT DUE TO THE OUEEN ; 

 A CASE IN POINT ON THE OTHER SIDE. 



Dr. McLean, page 170, has solved a prob- 

 lem that puzzled me greatly. The past season 

 we had a considerable quantit}' of greasy 

 honey, usually mixed with white sections in 

 the same surplus ; but one surplus attracted 

 my special attention. The outside rows of 

 the sections were capped beautifully white, 

 while those on the inside were decidedly 

 greasy. Now, I fail to see how any logic can 

 be applied in this case to prove the queen or 

 strain responsible for the grease. Both white 

 and greasy were produced by the same bees, 

 from the same queen, the same season, and in 

 the same surplus-box. It must have been 

 owing to different conditions of weather, as 

 clearly set forth by Dr. McLean. 



John T. Siler. 



Berkelc}' Springs, W. Va. 



PARTIAL TO PLAIN SECTIONS. 



I am very partial to the 4>4 X 4^4^X1 >^ plain 

 sections and cleated fence separators. I am 

 satisfied in my own mind that, by the use of 

 the two together, the sections are more evenly 

 filled, and present a neater appearance on the 

 market by the side of the old style beeway 

 sections and tin separators. 



Cincinnatus, N. Y. Floyd Smith. 



ROACHES AND HOW TO GET RID OF THEM. 



I should like to know what to do about the 

 young roaches now in three hives I just 

 bought. Mrs. Annie P. Bennett. 



Patoka, 111. 



[Will some subscriber who knows please 

 answer? — Ed.] 



I prefer the ideal supers, holding 30 tall 

 sections, to any other I ever used with fences. 

 They are filled and sealed much nicer than 

 the 4^X4^, and sell more readily here. 



Hans C. Claberdebosh. 



Syracuse, N. Y. 



