644 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 15. 



statement that I never had a case of the kind. 

 Of course, you've handled more queens than 

 I, still I've clipped them by the hundred, yes, 

 by the thousand, and it always has been a puz- 

 zle to me that people should say that playing 

 dead was so common. Well, since writing 

 that statement I've had a genuine case of 

 playing 'possum. After being clipped, a queen 

 lay still, wiggling one foot just a little. I 

 thought I had hurt her, and put her back in 

 the hive. Next time I looked she was laying 

 all right. [Yes, it is probably true that we 

 have handled more queens than you have in 

 caging for the purpose of mailing. I do not 

 know that I ever had a queen get the cramps 

 while I was clipping ; but I have often had 

 them cramp while I was putting them through 

 the opening into the cage. — Ed.] 



D00LITT1.E says, p. 617, that Carniolans do 

 not differ in looks from black bees. I said 

 that once, and a man mailed me a cage of 

 bees he called Carniolans that were distinctly 

 different from blacks — no yellow on them, 

 but narrow white bands. [The real pure Car- 

 niolans that I have seen look slightly 

 different from the typical black bee. At 

 one time it was claimed that the abdo- 

 mens of the former were of a steel blue, but 

 this was a mistake. Carniolans look about 

 like blacks, except that the fuzz-rings between 

 the segments, or scales, are of a whiter color. 

 The bees themselves are a trifle larger, or ap- 

 pear to be so. Some so-called Carniolans look 

 very much like black bees — act like them in 

 tumbling off the combs in general confusion 

 as they are picked out of the hive. But we 

 have had colonies of them in our apiary that 

 behaved as quietly as Italians, and were just 

 as gentle. As both races of bees came from 

 Germany, it may be assumed that there are 

 many crosses between the two. It is very 

 difficult, therefore, to get pure Carniolans. 

 —Ed.] 



Chai^on Fowls must take in hand Doolittle 

 and Somnambulist. Doolittle sa3S in Ameri- 

 can Bee-keeper, " My customers, for the past 

 five years, have all called for the granulated 

 article, nearly all of them preferring to use it 

 in that way;" and Somnambulist says in 

 Progressive, "Our home customers have 

 reached the point where they will have naught 

 but granulated honey." [Mr. Fowls had 

 pretty nearly whipped nie out of my advocacy 

 of granulated honey for the general market, 

 and I had almoit come to the conclusion that 

 he was right and I wrong. It is no little plea- 

 sure to me to see you bring such authorities as 

 Doolittle and Somnambulist, to prove that I 

 was at least in part right. Let's see. We 

 have the Muths, R. C. Aikin, G. M. Doolittle, 

 and Somnambulist, all of whom aver that can- 

 died honey is a legitimate product of the apia- 

 ry, and that its consumption on the part of the 

 general public should be encouraged. We 

 consider that the products of the hive are wax, 

 extracted honey, and comb honey ; and the 

 general public has ome to recognize honey in 

 the liquid form. Now, why can't we show 

 this dear public that candied honey is just as 

 much a legitimate product of the hive as any 



of the others mentioned ? If it could be con- 

 vinced that such honey was pure, it would de- 

 mand it, oftentimes, in preference to the other. 

 —Ed.] 



The big convention at Chicago, August 

 28 — 30, will be up to high-water mark or high- 

 er. Discussions are the life of a convention, 

 and there's to be plenty of time for them. A 

 very important part of a convention is the ar- 

 rangements for eating and sleeping with refer- 

 ence to allowing a good chance for visiting be- 

 tween sessions. Editor York is a hustler, and, 

 having these arrangements in hand, he knows 

 about what is wanted. If the Chicago stock 

 of lightning doesn't give out, I'm sure w-e'll 

 enjoy the stereopticon pictures. [Every thing 

 is being done that can be done to make the 

 Chicago convention a big success in every 

 way. The stereopticon feature will be, per- 

 haps, the most prominent. Not only the faces 

 of bee-keepers and views of typical apiaries 

 will be thrown on the screen, but much that 

 has never been shown in the journals will be 

 illustrated. I am having made to order some- 

 thing like 200 lantern slides ybr the special use 

 of this conventioyi. I have just been trying 

 my stereopticon, and I find, as was claimed by 

 the manufacturers, that it is the equal of any 

 single lantern made in the United States. 

 —Ed] 



The general belief has been, I think, 

 that bees preferred to build drone comb as 

 store comb because it took less wax to store a 

 given amount of honey. That belief must be 

 given up, according to Prof. Gillette's obser- 

 vations, which showed that it took just a 

 fourth more wax for drone than worker comb 

 when each was .9 of an inch thick. [Prof. 

 Gillett's observation proves another thing ; 

 namely, that it does not follow that comb 

 built entirely by the bees will have less of 

 " gob " than comb built off from thin or extra 

 thin foundation. The former will necessarily 

 be worker ; the latter, probably drone ; and, 

 if so, there will be as large a chunk of wax 

 (gob) to the pound of comb honey eaten in 

 the one case as in the other. If it is an ad- 

 vantage, therefore, to use foundation at all, in 

 that it induces the bees to build comb faster 

 — that is, to do more work in the sections — it 

 would seem that it would be false economy to 

 give the bees a narrow starter, on the mistaken 

 assumption that the resultant comb would 

 have the less of wax to chew in the eating. 

 This observation of Prof. Gillette was con- 

 firmed in our own experience in our own 

 apiary. — Ed.] 



Let me see, Mr. Editor, if I can explain 

 that point j'ou say you don't get, p. 601. Ad- 

 vocates of square sections may talk like this : 

 " Yej, bees build deeper than wide; but if 

 you give them a section of just the proportion 

 they would naturally build the comb, that is, 

 a tall section, they will not build to the bot- 

 tom. Now cut the section enough shorter to 

 make it square, and they will do better at 

 fastening to the bottom. In other words, 

 their tendency to build deep must be utilized, 

 not to get taller sections, but to get the square 

 ones fastened to the bottom." But I prefer 



