924 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURK 



Oct. 1 



opinion that, if your double covers were sub- 

 jected to the cHmateof Colorado, they would 

 pull all to pieces. The arid regions seem to 

 require that all hives be made of as few 

 pieces as possible, and this is doubtless the 

 reason why the flat cover, made as it is of 

 only three pieces— one board and two ends- 

 is preferred by friend Green. —Ed.] 



White clover all over the fields at Me- 

 dina, p. 885. Yes, but do bees ever gather 

 from it to amount to any thing in Septem- 

 ber? Don't here. Seems out o' season. 

 [The mention of white clover on page 885, 

 to which you refer, was not made because 

 bees gather honey from it in September, but 

 because of a young and promising growth 

 that makes prospects next June and July so 

 favorable. When we know more about this 

 science of white clover and its peculiarities 

 I think we shall be able to tell almost a year 

 in advance whether there will be a white- 

 clover crop. A season of drouth, particu- 

 larly if it goes clear up until the fall, is apt 

 to kill off all the young clover, and, no mat- 

 ter what the next season will be, there is 

 liable to be a shortage of honey from this 

 source. I apprehend that there would have 

 been a larger crop of clover honey this sum- 

 mer if there had been more of a growth of 

 young plants last fall. —Ed.] 



Reports about cross bees raise the ques- 

 tion whether there is not a difference in 

 years as to crossness. I never had so much 

 trouble with cross bees as last season, not- 

 withstanding the fact that it was the best 

 honey-year I ever knew. They attacked 

 people at an unusual distance from the 

 hives, and that, too, when no one was dis- 

 turbing them. I hardly think it was dete- 

 rioration on the part of the bees, No. 112 

 was voted the crossest in the Wilson apiary, 

 and its character hardly ought to have 

 changed, for its queen was four years old, 

 yet the colony had not in previous years dis- 

 tinguished itself for viciousness. [I believe 

 you are right. Bees are crosser some sea- 

 sons than others. Conditions of the atmos- 

 phere, sudden cessation of the honey-flow, 

 especially if the honey be of an aromatic or 

 strongly flavored character, will sometimes 

 cause the bees to be very cross. Some sea- 

 sons bees have seemed to be crosser here 

 with us, but such crossness I have usually 

 traced to a little infusion of the five-banded 

 blood.— Ed.] 



Mellifica or mellifera? MeUifica may 

 be the more appropriate, but mellifera has 

 the right of way because of priority. The 

 name first given must be the one used. 

 Why? Probably largely out of deference to 

 the man who first gives the name. But in 

 this case would it not be showing more def- 

 erence to Linnaeus to respect his wishes in 

 regard to the matter? In substance he said, 

 " I made a mistake when I gave the name 

 mellifera; and I now ask that it be named 

 mellifica." Dr. Buttel is perhaps as great 

 a stickler for scientific accuracy as our sci- 

 entists on this side the water, and he urges 

 that meUifica be used. It will be just like 



a certain editor to fling back at me, ' ' Why, 

 you're the very one who urged that mellif- 

 era should be used! " Yes, but I know more 

 now than I then knew. I didn't know then 

 that Linnaeus himself changed to the more 

 appropriate name, mellifica. [I had sup- 

 posed that scientific men agreed perfectly 

 that mellifera was the only and the right 

 name. It is a little difficult to change a 

 name after it once gets started, and if there 

 could be any good reason for keeping the 

 old name, mellifica, the publishers of bee 

 literature would prefer to retain it.— Ed.] 



S yrorp OiA- 

 lA/e/^hbonyJ/eldf 



W'rt'"^ .55 



In comparing the relative merits of bee 

 poison with that from wasps, Mr. Wathelet, 

 editor of Le Rucher Beige, says, "It can not 

 be that the poisons of these two insects are 

 identical. Several days ago in seizing a 

 small wasp that was trying to enter a hive, 

 I was stung on the finger. The pain was 

 very great. I rubbed the wound to get the 

 poison out, but the pain would not abate. 

 An hour after, the finger was greatly swol- 

 len and painful. For three days I could not 

 bend it. I have received thousands of .stings 

 from bees since I have been in the bee-keep- 

 ing business, but I never before felt such 

 pain. I should rather have fifty stings from 

 bees than one from a wasp. Ten minutes 

 after being stung by bees I do not know that 

 I have been stung; but for eight days I felt 

 the sting of that wasp. No, the sting of 

 our little pets is not the same as that of the 

 malicious wasp; and many serious accidents 

 that have been attributed to bees have been 

 due entirely to their enemies, the wasps." 



The greater severity of the pain may be 

 due to the fact that the wasp, being larger 

 than the bee, and much stronger, secretes a 

 larger quantity of its peculiar etiquette, and 

 unloads it deeper under the skin. It is to be 

 doubted whether a chemical analysis would 

 determine whether this or that is bee or 

 wasp venom. At all events, w^e hope Mr. 

 Wathelet's finger is now fully recovered, for 

 he is a very interesting writer. 



Ml 



According to the British Bee Journal, the 

 bee-keepers of England have been having a 

 honey show in London. One of the exhibit- 

 ors, Mr. W. Woodloy, has some very perti- 

 nent things to say regarding such displays 

 as a means of finding a market for honey; 

 and although such large markets as London 

 are not to be found everywhere, the experi- 

 ence of Mr. W. is good for all. I quote a 

 few lines: 



I was very sorry to find that two tables, large enougrh 

 to take a dozen or more trophies, had been set apart in 



