532 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1 



becomes dissatisfied with his boss, and 

 should "squeal" to other bee- keepers. If 

 the neighbor had bees it would be to his in- 

 terest to " squeal " also. The fact of con- 

 cealment could be very easily established 

 in court. — Ed.] 



Wasn't your friend a little ofF in his 

 arithmetic, Mr. Editor, p. 481, when, upon 

 being told that a S5.00 colony yielded $10.00, 

 he exclaimed, " WhatI clear 100 per cent 

 off from the investment" ? "In this locali- 

 ty " it would be 200 per cent on the invest- 

 ment. [You will notice I used tlie wo ds 

 "clear 100 per cent ojf from the invest- 

 ment." It is true that ten dollars would be 

 twice as much as five, or 200 per cent of 

 that amount; but when I said clear lOO per 

 cent, I meant 100 per cent clear of all ex- 

 penses. Perhaps the wording was a little 

 unfortunate. It would be perfectly proper 

 to say 200 per cent on the investment; but I 

 did not say that — I said " clear." — Ed.] 



O. O. PoppLETON, p. 482, prefers to kill 

 all the old bees in a case of paralysis, say- 

 ing it "is done without destruction of any 

 thingof value. " Is it possible that the dis- 

 ease is so bad down south that the bees are 

 of no value? I feel sure that as far north 

 as this the honey they would store would 

 make the sulphur- sprinkling treatment the 

 better way. [I rather judge that friend 

 Poppleton does not consider paralytic bees 

 worth very much. In a locality with long 

 warm seasons, bees are not nearly as ex- 

 pensive as in the North, where the seasons 

 are shorter and the winter losses sometimes 

 severe. I am, therefore, of the opinion that 

 Mr. Poppleton could raise healthy bees 

 from healthy stock cheaper than he could 

 fuss with paralytic bees. But a northern 

 locality might make the sulphur cure more 

 feasible, and easier to carry into efifect. — 

 Ed.] 



The total amount paid in a year to all 

 the wage earners, salaried officials, clerks, 

 etc., in the whole United States, was 

 $2,736,044,884, and the annual drink-bill 

 was $1,410,236,702. According to that, for 

 every dollar paid in wages or salaries 51 

 cents was paid for intoxicating drink. 

 Doesn't seem possible, does it? [If we were 

 to add the county infirmaries, asylums, 

 hospitals, and jails necessarily made larger 

 because of this iniquitous traffic, saying 

 nothing about the woe and misery, we would 

 possibly have to add another 51 cents, which 

 would make the total equal to the wages of 

 Uncle Sam's employees. It is the curse of 

 all civilized nations; and if the good people 

 of our land would invariably scratch the 

 liquor candidates in their votes, the evil 

 would be outlawed, and in time be wiped 

 out. — Ed.] 



Allen Latham never has a driven 

 swarm abscond, and gives in American Bee 

 Journal his plan of treatment: " Three 

 sticks about six feet long are tied together 

 at one end, and then spread apart and set 

 up as a tripod. There is then tied to the 

 top a branch suitable for a swarm to cluster 



on. The colony to be driven is set aside, 

 and the tripod placed over the old stand. 

 The bees are then shaken out by the old 

 stand, old and young. After an hour or so 

 the bees will all be clustered like a natural 

 swarm upon the branch and should be left 

 thus for about half a day. They m iy then 

 be hived anywhere, and will stay as well 

 as a natural swarm, and will work nearly 

 if not quite as well." [This seems like a 

 good idea. Mr. Latham carries out forced 

 swarming in its entirety. We shall be glad 

 to get reports from our readers as to how 

 the plan works, and whether better than 

 the ordinary forced swarm, by shaking or 

 brushing the bees directly into the brood- 

 nest in tlie first place. — Ed.] 



Rietsche wax-presses are used by the 

 thousands in Europe, but not at all in this 

 country, and it has seemed a wonder that 

 American bee-keepers were not enterprising 

 enough to follow the example of their trans- 

 atlantic brethren instead of buying all their 

 foundation ready-made. [I suppose the 

 principal reason is, there is no one on this 

 side of the Atlantic to push it. We were 

 seriously considering the matter of intro- 

 ducing it in this country; but the prelimi- 

 nary tests we made with the machine sent 

 over direct from Germany were far from 

 satisfac'ory. Its operation was a messy 

 job at best, and, worst of all, we were not 

 able to get out any medium, much less 

 light-weight, foundation. It would, there- 

 fore, be cheaper for American bee keepers 

 to buy foundation at less weight, if they 

 consider labor an item, than to buy a press 

 and use up from U4 to \]i pounds of wax 

 where they ought to use only about a pound. 

 —Ed.] 



W. E. Little' s letter, page 505, suggests 

 some questions. "By a little practice j'ou 

 can move a light line with a plumb, by just 

 concentrating your mind on it." How 

 much practice does it take, and why can't 

 you do it the first time as well as after 

 practice, if you concentrate just as hard the 

 first time as last? and must you concen- 

 trate on the line or the bob? And in that 

 case where the doctor pounded the liver so 

 hard he could "hear the bile slop about," 

 did the " suggestion " have anj^ thing to do 

 with the slopping, or only with the hearing? 

 [Now look here, doctor. Even if you do not 

 have faith in the plumbline, you and I both 

 should be careful about hurting the feelings 

 of the dear brother who does believe. While 

 I write, another brother suggests that, al- 

 though the operator and other witnesses 

 saw the plumbline move in response to their 

 will power, it might not have moved at all 

 — that is, so that a scientific appiratus 

 would record the movement. And this 

 throws "daylight" on -the whole matter. 

 —A. I. R.] 



Replying, Mr. Editor, to your question, 

 page 480, it is a hard thing to get an exact 

 measure of the amount of adulteration in 

 Europe as compared with this country; but 

 if you were to see all that is said in the 



