186 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Mak. 15 



little more zinc, say about five pounds, can be add- 

 ed safely; but if too much zinc is used it will cause 

 cracking. I have used this mixture for many years 

 for vessel work and for seashore-cottage painting 

 with good success. 



The life of linseed oil when mixed with pure 

 white lead is about four years. When zinc is added 

 it increases the wearing qualities of the oil from 

 two to three years. It is better not to apply the 

 paint in one heavy coat, as two coats are prefera- 

 ble, sufficient time being allowed between for the 

 paint to harden. It is a bad plan to use pure lead 

 for a paint where cattle can get to it, as pure lead 

 chalks off, and the cattle lick it so much that they 

 get the colic. I should think this might prove det- 

 rimental to bees also, as the fine particles wash off 

 with the rain: and should bees partake of the wa- 

 ter it might poison them. 



Philadelphia, Pa. J. T. Moriarty. 



Deaths from Stings Rare. 



Please note the attached clipping, which may be 

 of interest to you. However, 1 am skeptical as to 

 the poison causing the woman's death. I am more 

 inclined to think that the aged woman had a bad 

 heart, and that the over-exertion in trying to es- 

 cape from the bees caused her death, and not the 

 poison. Here is the clipping: 



Mrs. Christian Knouse, of Mt. PleacaDt Mills, Fnyder Co., 

 died from blood poisoning caused by bee-stings a few D'Ontbs 

 ago. The deceased was over 60 years of age. <.'n the liome- 

 stead she and her husband kept bees Two months atiO, while 

 working with a Bwarm, both of them were severely stung. 

 Mr. Knouse recovered from the poison of the bees, but Mrs. K. 

 took to her bed and never recovered. Blood poitoning from 

 the stings is believed to have been the d.rect cause of her 

 death. 



Have you ever known of a death caused by bee- 

 stings? 



Huntingdon, Pa., Jan. 14. S. A. Hamilton. 



[We have known of cases where persons have 

 died from the efifects of a severe stinging. Death, 

 however, always followed within a comparatively 

 few hours. In all such cases the developments 

 have shown that the persons who have died have 

 had very weak hearts. Cases of fatalities from bee- 

 stings are very rare indeed. We can not recall 

 more than half a dozen in all our experience of over 

 25 years with this journal, where persons have died 

 from the effects of one or more bee-.stlngs. 



This particular case, however, is a little peculiar. 

 We should naturally think that a case of blood 

 poisoning would be of more rapid development 

 than that indicated In the clipping. It seems that 

 death did not take place until two months after the 

 woman was stung. While it Is presumable that the 

 bees were the indirect cause, the probabilities are 

 that any other shock or injury would have caused 

 death in much the same way. The poison of the 

 bee-sting is antiseptic, or at least said to be so by 

 some scientific men. It is altogether improbable 

 that a case of blood poisoning could have devel- 

 oped from these stings.— Ed. J 



Settling-tanks Used Five Years with Good Results. 



I have used .settling-tanks some five years, and 

 they have proved satisfactory. As 1 am a poor 

 man, and thought those steel tanks too expensive, 

 I simply got a few sweet and clean whisky-barrels, 

 standing them on end high enough from the rtcor 

 to allow a 60-lb. can on small scales lo take honey 

 from the faucet near the lower head of the barrel. 

 Of course, the upper head of the barrel was re- 

 moved. I see no need of a float. I simply dump 

 the honey from the extractor into the barrel. All 

 cappings and bits of comb will take care of them- 

 selves, and remain right on top of the honey, where 

 they should be. 



GASOLINE VS. ELECTRICITY VS. " ELBOW GREASE." 



What a difference there is among bee-keepers re- 

 garding the various ways of extracting hcney! Mr. 

 Townsend, I think, believes "elbow grea.se" the 

 best way to turn the crank. Say! He bet It's the 

 boys who turn the crank. E. D. would rather 

 shove the quill at so much per page. Now up 

 jumps Mr. Shepard, p. 42 Jan. 15, and says his little 

 Vi-M. P. motor beats elbow grease "all hollow." 

 Then up jumps old man Smith who says that, with 

 his "goes like sixty" gasoline-engine and eight- 

 frame automatic he can beat Shepard " all hollow" 

 with his electric motor, while E. D. would be so far 

 in the rear he would appear like a fly-.speck. 



Birmingham, Mich. A. W. Smith. 



Putting Crates of Sections in the Cellar Before 

 Folding, to Prevent Breakage. 



I was just looking over your latest ABC and 

 X Y Z of Bee Culture, at "Comb Honey," page 104, 

 where you speak of the T super not squaring the 

 sections that are inclined to be diamond-shaped, as 

 I very often find they are with a great many comb- 

 honey producers in a small way. But if the sec- 

 tions are made properly I find no such trouble. 

 Generally speaking, it is caused by pouring water, 

 sometimes hot, in the V grooves, to prevent break- 

 ing. This plan is certainly a mistake, as the wood 

 takes in too much water, and swells up the end 

 grain and spoils an otherwise perfect section. I 

 never use any water. I just put the box of sections 

 I wish to fold in a cellar a day or two; or if it is a 

 rainy day I place them in an open shed for a few 

 hours, where the air is good and moist, and the job 

 is done to perfection, so that there are no sections 

 that are not square. If I had known the trick at 

 first I am sure it would have savei me lots of 

 trouble. 



Arkona, Ont. I. Langstroth. 



Difficulty in Drowning Bees. 



Suppose the pores in a bee's body become clogged, 

 what happens? 



Middleton. Ida. A. S. Bixby. 



I If the spiracles in the body of the bee become 

 clogged with honey the bee suffocates. Even if 

 the head of the bee should be perfectly dry, suffoca- 

 tion will take place after a time just the same, un- 

 less the honey is cleaned off. Of course, there is 

 considerable oxygen inside the body of the bee In 

 the complicated breathing system. You might be 

 interested in knowing that, even though you drown 

 bees, apparently — that is, keep them underwater 

 for hours until they seem to be perfectly lifeless — 

 yet under favorable conditions they will revive and 

 be all right again. On one occasion when we were 

 arranging to photograph a queen we kept her un- 

 der water for hours, then dried her carefully and 

 arranged her just as we wanted her, on a white 

 cardboard, with her legs, wings, etc., in natural po- 

 sition. Just as we were about to take the picture, 

 however, her legs began twitching, and in a short 

 time she crawled off the cardboard, apparently no 

 wor.se for her experience. — Ed.] 



Writers should Tell their Main Sources of Honey 



and the Times of Bloom, for the Benefit 



of Those in Other Localities. 



If writers for Gleanings would give the kind of 

 flowers their surplus is gathered from, and the usu- 

 al time the flow commences and ceases, it would be 

 of great value to readers in other localities, for then 

 they could at once .see whether the methods de- 

 scribed would be suitable for their own localities. 

 Some very "bad mistakes have been made by read- 

 ers not first consulting a map to see what part of 

 the State or country the writer lives in, so he can 

 judge about the time of the honey-flow, the kind of 

 flowers gathered from, etc. In our own State of 

 Ohio there is the northern part with clover and 

 some basswood: the central part with the clover 

 alone, and the southern part with clover and a fall 

 flow as well. 



Mechanicsburg, Ohio. C. E. Leavitt. 



Good Locations in California Scarce. 



I believe the editor's advice In regard to bee- 

 keepers going to California to locate is well taken. 

 I know of no place where a location could be se- 

 cured unless some one else were bought out; and 

 an outsider has no way of telling whether he is 

 getting a good location or not, for it takes an ex- 

 pert to judge. Very few who have good locations 

 wish to sell. 



In some parts of the orange belt, blossoms do not 

 seem to yield nectar; and in the alfalfa regions the 

 hay is often cut before It blooms, so that the bees 

 get no honey from it. I have traveled over South- 

 ern California a good deal, and I have a pretty fair 

 idea in regard to the possibilities there. I have 

 three apiaries in different places, and I have al- 

 ways gotten along pretty well: for if I miss a crop 

 In one place I am likely to make it up in another. 

 This year I had 9 tons of honey from 450 colonies. 



Hemet, Cal. J. A. St. John. 



