908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 1. 



we can get the desirable qualities in a distinct 

 pure blood of any race, then our chances of 

 perpetuating those qualities will be very much 

 greater. — Ed.] 



On good roads in a level country, the 

 side shake of a wagon is more than the for- 

 ward or back jerking, so hives should be load- 

 ed with combs pointing to the wheels. I 

 can't say about other places, for I never tried 

 them. [Then from your standpoint the di- 

 rections that we have sent out for years are 

 incorrect so far as they relate to tke manner 

 of loading combs in a wagon. Now, then, 

 let us hear from others. If we can get a con- 

 sensus of opinion to the effect that combs 

 should be loaded crosswise of the wagon, then 

 we will change our directions. — Ed.] 



On account of moving, Editor Hutchin- 

 son is going to give up bees. Makes me feel 

 lonesome to think of it, and I wish he'd move 

 somewhere else with more room. [One of 

 the strong features of the Review is that its 

 editor has been keeping in close touch with 

 the bees Even if he does not have any 

 around home, I hope he will still keep an out- 

 yard. Some one has remarked that he could 

 always tell by the writings of a man whether 

 he was in the habit of having his fingers 

 daubed with propolis — that he could even 

 5;«^// it through the printed page. Whether 

 this is true or not, I have thought that my 

 brother- editor was in the habit of getting his 

 inspiration direct from his bees. I didn't ex- 

 actly smell any bee-glue on the pages of my 

 Review numbers, but somehow they gave 

 the impression that its editor knew from prac- 

 tical experience what he was talking about. — 

 Ed.] 



Referring to the statement that some 

 comb built on foundation is lighter than nat- 

 ural drone comb, Editor Hutchinson says : 

 "It is not entirely a question of quantity of 

 material, but quality also has a bearing. 

 Comb, after it is melted, becomes wax. It is 

 no longer flaky and brittle ; but becomes 

 tough and leather}'." One of the things I 

 know, W. Z , is that in this locality new comb 

 is not brittle ; the newer, the less brittle. I'm 

 so sure you're wrong in that, that it shakes 

 my faith in the rest of your statement. [It 

 has always seemed to me that wax is wax, 

 whether in the comb or cake ; and even if 

 there were a difference, methinks a human 

 being, if he were blindfolded, and given a 

 series of samples of natural-built comb filled 

 with honey, and another series of combs built 

 off from the modern extra-thin foundation, 

 also filled, would be unable to detect the dif- 

 ference in the eating. There is considerable 

 variation in natural-built comb, and an equal 

 variation in that built off from foundation. 

 In a lot of samples one might be very much 

 lighter than the other. — Ed.] 



Encouraging is that answer of Harry La- 

 throp, p. 872. It does seem that hindering 

 bees from swarming for a series of years has 

 in some way something to do with breaking 

 up the habit. No, Harry, never a bit was I 

 poking fun. When I scent a chance for in- 

 formation about non-swarming, you may al- 



ways count I'm in dead earnest. [I believe it 

 is a fact that we can breed out to a great ex- 

 tent the swarming propensity in bees. If that 

 be true, let us be sure to incorporate that char- 

 acteristic in our breeding stock of honey- 

 queens. I do not like to be harping contin- 

 ually against color ; but it is morally certain 

 that we can not get all desirable traits in one 

 queen. We must make the choice of the 

 most important, breed for these, and let the 

 less important go ; and about the least im- 

 portant of all characteristics is color. We 

 want, first of all, bees that can get the honey ; 

 and as a matter of convenience we wish those 

 that will not swarm. Hardiness or good win- 

 tering qualities are important. Of the less 

 important characteristics I would mention 

 gentleness of stock, non-propoh'zing qualities, 

 and, last of all, color. — Ei?.] 



A HARD thing it is to know when to take 

 bees in cellar. Our warm fall weather had a 

 sudden chill, bringing it down to 22° Nov. 8. 

 If now I rushed the bees into the cellar, and 

 then two or three weeks later there came a 

 warm spell, the bees would be the worse for 

 the unnecessary confinement. On the other 

 hand, if no da^ s for flying should come later, 

 as happened one 5'ear, and the bees were tak- 

 en in the last of the month without any flight, 

 the case would b^ still worse. I decided to 

 take the latter risk, and shall feel somewhat 

 uneasy until a warm day comes — if it comes. 

 I envy you outdoor people. — Nov. 19. Bees 

 flew to-day, and in they go to-morrow. [I 

 used to think that, if I lived in Marengo, I 

 would winter outdoors ; but after I had visit- 

 ed you one winter, and experienced }'our cold 

 bracing air, I came to the conclusion that per- 

 haps outdoor bees would not stand it. There 

 is no use talking ; the mode of wintering is 

 or should be dependent on the locality. There 

 was a time when some tried to winter indoors 

 in climates that were too warm ; and it is also 

 true that some made an attempt to winter out- 

 doors in localities where it was too cold ; but 

 both failed to a very great extent. But now 

 much better results in wintering are secured 

 because locality decides the method that 

 should be used. — Ed.] 



W. T. Stephenson reports, in Review, 

 comb 12 years old, and the small size of the 

 cells is plainly p2rceptible. I think most of 

 my combs are older than that ; and the extra 

 thickness of the septum is plainly perceptible, 

 but not the smaller diameter of the cells. Mr. 

 Editor, how does that quarter-century eld 

 comb measure? [Some time ago I received a 

 package of comb without a word of explana- 

 tion from you, and have been wondering ever 

 since what you sent it for. Now it is all 

 plain. Well, I have just examined it. There 

 are just as many cells to the square inch, of 

 course ; but the bottoms of the cells have from 

 eight to ten layers of cocoons, while the sides 

 of the cells have only one and at most two 

 layers. This would .seem to indicate that, 

 when the diameter of the cells gets too small, 

 the bees remove the excess of cocoon walls, 

 but leave the bottoms until they get a pack- 

 ing of ten layers. This reduced depth can, 



