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GI,EANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1. 



A. J. Wright, p. 567, objects that the glue 

 of fences will soften if accidentally left out in 

 the wet. I've been studying the chances for 

 such an accident, and think they would be 

 about as great as for leaving one's watch out 

 in the wet. But Mr. Wright is right in find- 

 ing they are harder to clean, and some other 

 people will find it cut some day. [In all the 

 thousands of fences we have sold, we never 

 before, but once, knew an objection raised to 

 the glue on account of its yielding to the in- 

 fluence of moisture or water. — Ed.] 



I CONJECTURE that your conjecture, Mr. 

 Editor, p. 474, is a wee way wild (500 acres 

 buckwheat to busy 100 colonies). Quinby es- 

 timates that an acre of buckwheat yields 25 

 lbs. a day. If that be correct, 12 acres would 

 furnish 100 colonies 3 lbs. each ; and 20 acres 

 would give each colony 5 lbs. But 1000 acres 

 would not keep 100 colonies busy in some 

 places and in seme seasons. [I based my es- 

 timate or guess on what I had actually seen 

 on the buckwheat-fields of New York. In 

 one place I think there were 100 colonies that 

 actually had within their range of a mile and 

 a half or two miles 500 acres of buckwheat ; 

 and yet within one bee-range there might be 

 in some cases 5000 acres of buckwheat ; but I 

 doubt very much whether less than 500 acres 

 would keep busy 100 colonies. — Ed.] 



Prof. Cook is urging in American Bee 

 Journal the establishment of bee-keepers' ex- 

 changes, or possibly one grand bee-keepers' 

 exchange, and things are pointing in that di- 

 rection. On p2ge 554 of Gleanings is an 

 item that indicates that something in the line 

 of an exchange is already established at Me- 

 dina. It reads : " Parties who have not secur- 

 ed honey enough for their home market will 

 do well to write us. Often we can refer you to 

 some one near you who has honey to sell, or 

 make you a shipment direct from some of our 

 customers near you." Isn't the thing needed 

 an organization in the same line to cover the 

 entire country ? [It has been our rule for 

 years to help producers find a market, and we 

 stand ready at all times to assist them in any 

 way in our power. We can buy only a small 

 portion of the honey that is offered us, while 

 on the other hand we usually know where a 

 market can be found for the honey. — Ed.] 



S. P. CULLEY makes a good argument with 

 his "saliva" doctrine, and sets one to think- 

 ing (p. 567). It is true that a piece of pine 

 gnawed by bees at the entrance is made yel- 

 low, more at some times than others, perhaps 

 depending upon what the bees are working at. 

 Do the bees slobber over what they bite ? But 

 the stick is always made yellow, never black. 

 A white section in the middle of a super, if 

 left on long enough, becomes black, never yel- 

 low. And if '"licking by the bees " is what 

 darkens, what business have the bees licking 

 sections fully sealed ? " The gloss}- blackness 

 that once white combs gradually acquire," 

 Cheshire says, comes from the "dejectamenta 

 of the bowel " of the larva. Aside from the 

 varnishing with propolis, I suspect that the 

 chief darkening of white sections comes from 

 the bees plastering over the surface bits of 



dark wax brought up from the brood-combs. 

 [I should like absolute proof that the saliva, 

 or slobber, is really the substance that makes 

 the sections yellow. Is it not possible that 

 yellow pollen clinging to the bottom of their 

 feet might cause the wood to be stained yellow 

 instead of the saliva? See article by J. Steigel, 

 in Pickings, this issue. — Ed.] 



GlossometerS of several patterns are in use 

 in France, and I'm not sure but they measure 

 bees' tongues with them without killing the 

 bees. But I'm not going to help you about 

 them, Mr. Editor, for I'm mad because you 

 wouldn't help me when I had the fit on me. 

 Now that the fit's on you, you can hunt up 

 your own glossometers. But stir up Hasty. 

 He worked on the short-tubed-clover question, 

 and, I think, made considerable progress. 

 [Since I have discovered the convenience and 

 ease of measuring bees' tongues in the man- 

 ner I explained in our last issue, under a 

 strong magnifier, I can not see what any one 

 wants of a glossometer. Of course, such an 

 instrument would demonstrate just how far a 

 bee could reach ; but when the insect is dis- 

 sected, and the tongue laid down on a microm- 

 eter rule, for the purpose of comparison this 

 method is exactly as good as the other ; that 

 is to say, if all tongues are measured in the 

 same way, then we can determine which of the 

 several tongues measured is the longest. Yes, 

 yes ; by all means let us hear from Mr. Hasty. 

 Let us gather all the information we can, and 

 work at this problem from both points.— Ed.] 



Evidently, Mr. Editor, you don't get hold 

 of the idea of my plan of dampening sections. 

 You think it wouldn't be much faster to use 

 my plan of putting 100 or 200 in a row. Bless 

 your heart, I don't put any in a row at all. I 

 just take a package as it comes from the fac- 

 tory, and, without taking out a section, wet 

 the whole business at one fell swoop. I've 

 told how, but I'll tell again. Take off one 

 side of the package so as to expose the grooves, 

 and see that the ends of the sections are chuck- 

 ed down solid together so that a drop of water 

 let fall on a groove can run right down through 

 the whole. Understand, as the package lies 

 before you, the edges, not the sides, of the sec- 

 tions, are uppermost. Put a plug in a funnel 

 that closes the opening entirelj', except a 

 groove at one side to let through a very small 

 stream. Let the plug project downward, and 

 be whittled down to a point. Take a tea-ket- 

 tle of water boiling hoi, pour it into the fun- 

 nel and direct the stream along the line of 

 grooves, moving just fast enough so that the 

 hot water will run clear through. [Well, now, 

 doctor, if you described your method I do not 

 remember it ; but your plan would not work 

 with the tall sections, or sections not exactly 

 square, for the reason that the manufacturers 

 are not always as careful to put sections the 

 same way in the box, and as a consequence 

 one set of grooves might not register with the 

 next set below. Then I should think, doctor, 

 there would be some grooves of some sections 

 that you would miss ; and a few broken sec- 

 tions would more than pay for the extra trou- 

 ble in making a thorough job of it. — Ed.] 



