1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CUI.TURE. 



921 



In your comments on my suggestion for 

 measuring the tongues of bees, and referring 

 to the shapes of their heads ( see page 846 for 

 Nov. 1), I think you misunderstood my intent. 

 What I wished to bring to your attention was 

 in regard to the shape of the head, enabling 

 the bee to plunge its face further into the 

 flower before it has to use its tongue ; so, pos- 

 sibly, by watching this feature as well as the 

 length of the tongue we may make even more 

 rapid strides. 



Referring to the article on page 840, Nov. 1, 

 by Mr. Stachelhausen on the "New Arrange- 

 ment for Comb-honey Production," you will 

 find virtually the same plan outlined in the 

 Revieiv for May or June, 1899, written by my- 

 self. But I am very sure that the experiments 

 which led me to the development of that sys- 

 tem were started by the article referred to by 

 Mr. Stachelhausen as having been published 

 in the Apiculturist some fifteen years ago. 

 For the prevention of swarming, or, rather, 

 for the making of swarms at our own conven- 

 ience, the system is excellent. Mr. Stachel- 

 hausen's plan is worthy of study and investi- 

 gation. Arthur C. Miller. 



Providence, Nov. 9. 



[My memory was not quite clear as to the 

 construction of your original fastener ; but I 

 knew there was something about it that did 

 not work right. 



With regard to the matter of measuring the 

 tongues of bees, I think I understood you cor- 

 rectly ; but, as I before said, it is not so im- 

 portant to know how far individual bees can 

 reach from the mouth parts to the bottom of 

 the flower-tubes as it is important to know 

 the relative variation in different bees. If the 

 bees are all measured by the same method, the 

 relative variation will be the same. 



Years ago I spent much time with a micro- 

 scope in studying the head and mouth parts of 

 the bee. While I found a difference in the 

 shape of the faces of the drone, queen, and 

 workers, they were all the same with the last 

 named ; but recent developments seem to show 

 there is a great variation in the length of the 

 tongues, and, if I mistake not, the variation 

 is confined to this part of the bee's anatomy 

 only — Ed.] 



PROPOLIS FOR HEALING. 



Seeing something in the last issue of Glean- 

 ings in connection with the healing proper- 

 ties of propolis, and having known of its virtues 

 in this respect for nineteen or twenty years, I 

 thought it well to write. When first I went 

 into the bee business, probably the second 

 year, with Mr. D. A. Jones, some one told me 

 of the healing properties of propolis, and I 

 made the salve for years. This summer I ad- 

 vised a bee-keeper, who had a lot of propolis, 

 to make some of the salve and sell it ; but 

 probably he considered it would be difficult to 

 impress people with its virtues, and did not 

 make any. The preparation is made by heat- 

 ing olive or sweet oil and propolis. Enough 

 oil must be put in to make a paste that will 

 readily spread when cool. If too hard, add 

 more oil. An insoluble brown residue will be 

 left when thoroughly heated. This must be 



removed by straining or dipping when hot. 

 That is all about it. The salve is excellent, 

 and it would be well for every bee-keeper to 

 have some of it in the house ; and, more, I 

 believe that where once a customer is obtain- 

 ed there will be no difficulty in more being 

 required when the first stock is exhausted. 

 R. F. HoLTERMANN. 

 Springmount, Ont., Canada. 



BLEACHING COMB HONEY. 



You ask on page 646, August Gleanings, 

 what class of soiled sections I can bleach. 

 Well, I have never yet produced any comb 

 honey that I could not improve by bleaching. 

 You mention particles of propolis or dirt go- 

 ing clear through the cap pings. I have never 

 found any dirt in my comb honey except once, 

 and I found that it was caused by using sec- 

 tions and combs that I had kept over. I stop- 

 ped using them, and I have never had any 

 dirt in my comb honey since. I sulphur and 

 bleach all my comb honey, let it be light or 

 dark. The light I can make as white as snow, 

 and the dark white. It all depends on the 

 darkness of the comb as to the length of time 

 that it takes to bleach it. Comb honey should 

 not stay any length of time in the super aft- 

 er being sulphured, as it makes it more diffi- 

 cult to bleach, and will be necessary to sul- 

 phur again. When I have a large amount 

 sulphured I take it out of the supers and place 

 it on the shelves to bleach, and clean it after 

 it is bleached. 



I neglected to mention in my article on 

 bleaching comb honey, Aug. 15, that I place 

 a board 1x3 around the bleaching-house half 

 way between the lumber, next to the ground 

 and the plate, and this I tack my cloth to. 

 It takes two widths of cloth to cover from top 

 to bottom. I also place bee-escapes in the 

 four upper corners of the cloth, made of 

 screen wire, and funnel-shaped, and these are 

 tacked to strips of wood, and then nailed to 

 the corner posts so they will stand very near- 

 ly upright. I should like to hear from some 

 of our bee-keeping friends in the East if they 

 have tried the process of bleaching comb hon- 

 ey, and what success. L. J. Crombie. 



Fallbrook, Cal., Oct. 8. 



1083 lbs. of honey from 5 colonies. 



In answer to your question about the honey- 

 flow, I will say that the 1083 lbs. from 5 colo- 

 nies was all, but about 50 lbs., from sweet 

 clover, with perhaps a sprinkling of white 

 clover. The 50 pounds was from wild sun 

 flowers or other fall blossoms and is not of a 

 very nice flavor. 



A suburban express hauled 600 pounds of 

 bees for me by wagon from a Chicago R. R. 

 station to Morton Park (7 miles) all for $1.00. 

 I didn't kick at all on this price. 



Morton Park, 111. E. W. Brown, 



I wish some one of your subscribers would 

 please tell me where I can find a good healthy 

 bee country, with good schools, in a mild 

 climate, where living expenses are reasonably 

 cheap. Henry DetmerS. 



Carlsbad, N. M., Nov. 16. 



