220 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 1 



others, but very much unlike the great ma- 

 jority of them. I know that you have more 

 propolis than we do here, and it is of a dif- 

 ferent character. — Ed.] 



" The idea of using- candied honey as a 

 winter food is a good one," p. 184. Now, 

 some novice reading that will feed candied 

 honey and find it a dreadful waste, and 

 then you'll have a lot of explaining to do, 

 Mr. Editor. I've been watching Mr. Fix- 

 ter's doings with interest, but I protest 

 against his calling Scholz candy "candied 

 honey." Candied honey has no sugar in it. 

 [Thank you for the correction, doctor. I 

 misunderstood Mr. Fixter; and now that 

 you have called my attention to it, the 

 thing that I was apparently indorsing 

 would be wasted. — Ed.] 



"Bee-keepers, as a rule, will not have 

 a cover jV^^/ wide enough," p. 175. That's 

 new to me. " In this locality " the opinion 

 is vehement that any thing more than just 

 wide enough is a nuisance. [I do not know 

 of any one else in your locality who has 

 very much to do with bees. That statement 

 was based on wide experience as a manu- 

 facturer. We used to make our flat covers 

 just wide enough; but bee-keepers kept com- 

 plaining until we added '4 inch on each 

 side. In your article, is not the local 

 "opinion" you speak of your opinion? — 

 Ed.] 



Delos Wood has sent me a sample of 

 honey artificially ripened. Just what is 

 the value of the artificial ripening can, of 

 course, be told only by direct comparison 

 with the same honey ripened in the hive; 

 but this honey seems of good flavor, although 

 hardly as heavy in body as honey produced 

 here. [I have tasted samples of bee-ripened 

 and naturally ripened honey. While the two 

 compare very favorably in flavor, yet I 

 could see the difference was in favor of the 

 naturally ripened product. Is it not true 

 that the process of ripening on the part of 

 the bees changes the honey chemically to a 

 certain extent? — Ed.] 



I've puzzled no little over that perfor- 

 mance of E. A. Newell, p. 188. Now see 

 whether I have the correct situation after 

 he's through: The sanitary bottom board 

 on the old stand, and on it a clean hive 

 with frames and starters, on that a honey- 

 board (queen-excluder), and over that the 

 old hive with the brood. Is that right? If 

 the gas goes from the bottom board up to 

 the second story and does its work there, 

 wouldn't it be simpler and better to set the 

 old hive, bees and all, directly on the san- 

 itary bottom-board without any clean hive 

 in the case? [If your idea is correct (and 

 I think it is) the old hive would be just as 

 good. — Ed.] 



Bro. a. I. Root, is it not barely possi- 

 ble that you might get one of those hollow 

 potatoes without a hollow (p. 192) by way 

 of a sport? Are they just as hollow on 

 very poor soil? [I suppose, doctor, it will 

 have to be done by way of sporting. But 

 this sporting business does not always go 



the way we want it to. I have tried them 

 on only one kind of soil— that of Northern 

 Michigan — and there every thing was hol- 

 low. The little bits of potatoes, not larger 

 than hickorynuts, showed a rudimentary 

 hollow; and the man who sent them to me 

 gave as a principal reason why I should 

 not bother with them was that they were 

 all hollow.— A. I. R.] 



Only two d\ys bees could fly since the 

 first of December at Medina, p. 172. That's 

 just two days more than here. I happen to 

 have the morning temperatures from Jan. 27 

 to Feb. 18, and the average is 4 above zero. 

 And that includes the warmest spell since 

 Dec. 1, and does not include the coldest. 

 No, the weather has not been sweltering. 

 [This is one very strong reason why you 

 should winter indoors. Many facts go to 

 show that outdoor wintering is practical 

 only where the bees can have one, two, or 

 three days of mid-winter flight; or, we will 

 say, days when a cluster can change its 

 position, and thus get on to a fresh supply 

 of stores. — Ed.] 



In reply to the question, p. 167, " If the 

 entrances are kept reasonably clear, is it 

 not true that yk depth would be enough?" 

 I should say that, if the entrances were 

 constantly kept entirely clear, a depth of 2 

 inches would be very much better, especial- 

 ly if the bees should fill nearly all the y% 

 space. The deeper space gives the bees 

 more air. Are you entirely sure you might 

 not have had better results with the deeper 

 space? To your other question, I repl}' 

 that, even if I should look at my bees in the 

 cellar every day, I should still want the 

 deep space. [No, I am not; but we have 

 secured reasonably good results with %- 

 inch depth. The only thing that concerns 

 me is that you may be right, and that we 

 are every winter losing a certain advan- 

 tage that might accrue from the deep en- 

 trance. I should like to hear from our sub- 

 scribers on this point. — Ed.] 



It skems strange that the man who has 

 done more than any other man living to ad- 

 vance bee-keeping should so stubbornly op- 

 pose progress as does Dzierzon in some 

 things. American bee-keepers will smile 

 when they read that he denounces opening 

 a hive from above because it takes so much 

 time, and can be done only by killing a 

 great many bees. [Is there not here a good 

 lesson for you and me (for we are both 

 young, you know), that, when we get old, 

 we should be careful not to allow our old 

 preconceived notions to run us into obvious 

 error? Certainly American bee keepers 

 will smile at Dr. Dzierzon, notwithstanding 

 tve may admire him for what he has done 

 in the way of clearing up the subject of 

 parthenogenesis. And we admire him, too, 

 for placing bee-keeping in Germany on a 

 higher plane of practicability than it for- 

 merly occupied. But he did not begin to 

 make as long a stride forward as did father 

 Langstroth. If there is a growing convic- 

 tion in Europe that European bee culture 



