1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CUIvTURE. 



567 



Allow me to digress, and call your attention 

 to p. 569, where Mr. Niver puts this question: 

 "In one hundred cases, how many cases of 

 sections would you expect to find of that 

 kind ? " (sealed clear out to the wood or near- 

 ly so), and Mr. Root answers, "Perhaps one 

 or two." Why, if my bees didn't do better 

 than that I should feel considerably dis- 

 couraged. Last season 90 per cent of my sec- 

 tion honey in A%XA% sections were filled clear 

 out to the wood all around, and not a pop- 

 hole — a very poor season too ; and this, I be- 

 lieve, was due to the habits of my bees, and 

 also to the plain sections and fence which I 

 have adopted. I do not believe any better 

 showing can be made with the tall sections. 

 Where did this idea of a house-door or win- 

 dow-shaped section come from any way ? Did 

 some customer clamor for it ? or is it the out- 

 put of some manufacturer or producer who 

 has some new idea that he wishes the public 

 to adopt ? Can a better price be obtamed ? 

 If so, is it not for the reason that the customer 

 is deceived into beljeving that he is getting 

 more honey for his money ? and is this decep- 

 tion honorable ? Do you believe that the aver- 

 age customer would pay two cents a pound 

 more for the tall section on the basis of its 

 more attractive appearance ? 



As I have said, I believe in improvement ; 

 and when I am satisfied that it is better for 

 me to adopt the tall section I will do so; but I 

 believe it to be an unnecessary and expensive 

 change for bee-keepers to make. I believe 

 with you, Mr. Editor, that the 4>4^X4J4^ sec- 

 tion is about as near standard as any thing we 

 can get. 



I said I had adopted the plain sections and 

 fences. The sections are all right. The fences 

 are open to the objection that they are very 

 difiicult to clean ; and if they are accidentally 

 left out in the wet the glue will soften, and 

 the fence fall apart. The general principle 

 and theory of the fence is all- right ; but there 

 is yet, I think, quite a field for improvement. 

 I notice there is a tendency among some of 

 the brethren to get a little huffy over the mat- 

 ter of sections. Let us carry on these discus- 

 sions in a friendly manner. If there is a class 

 of people in the world who ought to be sweet- 

 tempered it is the bee-keepers. 



Bradford, N. Y. 



[The idea of the house- door comparison to 

 the tall section originated with the most ex- 

 tensive bee-keeper in the world, Capt. J. E. 

 Hetherington. It is the latter, I believe, who 

 has been getting from one to two cents a 

 pound above the market price, for his honey, 

 for a good many years ; and I believe he at- 

 tributes this difference largely to the shape of 

 the section. It was also Capt. Hetherington 

 who, I believe, started the tall section. Fads 

 and improvements are bound to come. Some 

 are good and some are bad. As you say, we 

 should proceed cautiously, and ascertain 

 whether our own locality, as well as the local 

 markets, will warrant the change. With re- 

 gard to plain sections and fences, the article 

 just following, by S. P. CuUey, is something 

 to the point. — Ed.] 



TRAVEL-STAIN; NON-SWARMING; FENCE SEP- 

 ARATORS. 



A Reply to J. E. Crane and Dr. C. C. Miller, 



BY S. P. CUUEY. 



In a late issue of Gi^eanings Mr. J. E. Crane 

 takes the writer in hand in an article of some 

 length on "travel-stain" and "non-swarm- 

 ing." We are glad that Mr. Crane was not 

 "squelched" by our former article, as that 

 was furthest from our intention. We both 

 write, we think, to advance the cause of truth. 



As to travel-stain, we now, as in our former 

 article, admit that there is pollen-stain, also 

 propolis-stain, and likewise old-cappings stain; 

 but also, as formerly, we claim that there is a 

 saliva-stain. To prove it, take a piece of 

 snow-white section, put pure clear syrup on it, 

 and let the bees lick it off with their tongues ; 

 repeat over and over, and you will see the 

 white wood grow yellow and more yellow each 

 time ; while if you put some of the same syr- 

 up on a similar piece of snow-white section 

 just as often, and wash it off with clean clear 

 water, instead of having the bees lick it off, 

 and note the difference in the way the pieces 

 of white wood are stained, you will be sur- 

 prised. The ones the bees licked will develop 

 the genuine saliva travel-stain, yellow and 

 deeper yellow, while the other will not have a 

 trace of it. Do those who doubt bees secret- 

 ing saliva suppose their tongues are run dry, 

 so to speak? that they secrete no lubricant 

 similar to saliva in other animals — synovia, 

 etc.? 



In the first article we said this secretion is 

 more copious in a slow than in a fast flow, and 

 Mr. Crane calls this " ingenious adaptation to 

 requirements." Suppose the actual amount 

 of this secretion to be about uniform, it would 

 follow that, during a fast flow, when the bee 

 loads with nectar and unloads often, there 

 would be proportionately less of this staining 

 during the fast flow. Also, during a fast flow 

 the combs are more promptly filled, and there 

 is, therefore, less licking by the bees than in a 

 time-consuming slow flow, hence less stain 

 during the fast and more during the slow 

 flow. How does Mr. Crane account for the 

 glossy blackness that once white combs grad- 

 ually acquire? Is this from pollen ? 



As to Mr. Crane's charge of "ingenious 

 adaptation to requirements," we do not see 

 that he has as yet made out a case. We are 

 more than willing to co-operate with Mr. C. or 

 others to produce non-swarming bees ; but we 

 can not expect success to crown our efforts. 

 Mr. Crane discourages our plan for possibly 

 producing non-swarmers by preventing swarm- 

 ing for generations and generations of bees 

 till they forget that method of increase, and 

 says it would take fifty years, and is too slow 

 — that it may be done by selection. As to 

 speed, eight generations of bees can be pro- 

 duced in one season — more than that in the 

 far South. This would be forty generations in 

 five, or eighty generations in ten years. In 

 three, five, eight, and ten years some of the 

 queens could be " turned loose " to do as they 

 please about swarming, and progress noted. A 



