124 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Mae. 1 



Stray Straws 



By Dr. C. C. Miller, Marengo, 111. 



D. A. Jones was the man from whom I 

 got the T super, the best section-super I ever 

 knew. I never learned where he got it. 

 [Does any one know who invented the T 

 super? — Ed.] 



E. S. Miles, have you not been told tha,t 

 a non-swarming bee can never be? In the 

 face of that, don't you think it is imperti- 

 nence on your part to come so near it as you 

 do on p. 68? Now you quit that. 



Beer-drinking in Germany is on the 

 decline, strange as it may seem. In 1909 

 the per capita consumption was 29.37 gal- 

 lons, as against 31.22 in 1908, and 33.02 in 

 1900. The emperor himself is laboring ear- 

 nestly against the use of beer, especially in 

 the army and navy. — Chicago Eecord-Her- 

 ald. 



S. D. House, p. 85, advises 2-in. glass in 

 shipping-cases. Why? Just once I used 

 2-in. glass, and it doesn't show the honey 

 so well. After shipping thousands of cases 

 with 3-in. glass, I know of no objection ex- 

 cept cost. [The wide glass makes the wood- 

 en strips, top and bottom, narrower. The 

 narrower these strips the less power they 

 have for holding the case from racking dur- 

 ing shipment. If it were not for the glass 

 front in cases they would be much stronger. 

 —Ed.] 



Canadian duty on honey from the Unit- 

 ed States is 3 cents a pound. The duty the 

 other way is 20 cents a gallon, or l-i cents a 

 pound. If Taft has his way, honey will 

 pass free of duty both ways. That would 

 be more neighborly. [INIr. Taft is doing 

 good work. Reciprocity is both neighborly 

 and Christianlike. It looks now as if the 

 President would have to use his "big stick " 

 on the reactionary Senators. We do not, 

 care, just so we have suitable trade relations 

 with Canada. — Ed.] 



J. Maksay asks if I endorse that view on 

 page 80, that swarm prevention is "a thing 

 that exists only in the minds of brainless 

 philosophers." I hardly think friend Hand 

 meant exactly that, but, rather, that he 

 uses the word "prevention " with some un- 

 usual meaning; for I do not believe he would 

 be so unkind as to declare without brains 

 the thousands of us who believe in swarm 

 prevention. However we may differ as to 

 the most profitable way we are agreed -that 

 it is not at all impossible to prevent swarm- 

 ing, using the word with the dictionary 

 meaning, "to stop or hinder from happening 

 by means of previous measures." 



R. GoBLDi puts pasteboard under bottom- 

 bars in winter; and every 20 or 30 days, with 

 differently colored pencils, makes a maik 

 about the droppings and then cleans them 

 off. He finds the winter-seat may be in the 



middle, at either side, or at either end. 

 Some colonies remain in the same seat all 

 winter, upon each warm spell bringing hon- 

 ey from surrounding combs. Some "wan- 

 der," moving bodily from time to time to 

 where they find a fresh lot of honey. — 

 Schweiz. Bztg., 26. [A good scheme, this! 

 An examination of the brood-nest during 

 the winter will also show how the bees of a 

 colony will "wander " — how they will squat 

 here and then there, according to conditions. 

 —Ed.] 



Ever hear the story of Doolittle and the 

 peanuts? It was in his young days, when 

 railroad cars in that region were made by 

 Eaton, Gilbert tS: Co. He was on a train, 

 and, with some other young fellows, was 

 having a good time eating peanuts. The 

 conductor, coming along and seeing the 

 muss they were making on the floor, said, 

 "Eating peanuts on this train is not allow- 

 ed." "Oh! but there is an exception made 

 in my case," replied Doolittle. " Don't you 

 see that it says on the door, 'Eaton, Gil- 

 bert and company ' ? My name is Gilbert, 

 Gilbert Doolittle, and these fellows are my 

 company." The conductor, nonplussed at 

 the new way of reading "Eaton, Gilbert & 

 Co.," left them in peace to continue their 

 banquet. But, mind you, I don't vouch for 

 the truth of the story. It may be a slander 

 on our dignified friend. 



J. Herter had a thermometer in a brood- 

 nest. Jan. 17 it stood at 34°F. He struck 

 a few heavy blows on the hive, and in 20 

 minutes the mercury rose to 80°! That 46° 

 rise in 20 minutes shows what bees can do 

 in getting up heat. [The same principle 

 of disturbance operates to heat up bees when 

 they are being moved either by train or 

 wagon. They seem to require ten times 

 the amount of ventilation at such time as 

 they do when quietly at home. Some years 

 ago, when snow was on the ground and the 

 temperature was about 10 above zero, after 

 we had been out hunting we came to one 

 of our outyards. One of the parties, for ex- 

 periment, having a small rifle, was asked to 

 send a bullet through a hive containing a 

 strong colony. He did so; and within a few 

 seconds, comparatively, we opened up the 

 brood-nest and found the bees were scatter- 

 ed all over, and a hot wave of air came up 

 from the cluster as we raised the quilt. The 

 bees were very much alive, and seemed to 

 be far from a condition of hibernation at 

 that particular moment. The bullet had 

 gone clear through the center of the brood- 

 nest, and evidently had struck a part of the 

 ball of bees. They were no longer in a com- 

 pact mass, but spread all over the hive in 

 almost no time. It would appear that the 

 sudden shock aroused their anger. Evi- 

 dently the psychic influence on the bees is 

 the same as that of human beings. When 

 one answers back "hotly" it simply means 

 that his pulse is high — that the blood 

 courses through the veins at a rapid rate. 

 Perhaps some anatomist can throw some 

 light on this subject. — Ed.] 



