1911 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CUJ/IURE 



237 



Stray Straws 



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



Putting sections in cellar before mak- 

 ing, to prevent breaking, doesn't work here 

 — needs too moist a cellar and too much 

 time. 



J. E. Crane, you say, page 208, remove 

 ■queen, destroy cells at the time, and also 

 eight days later; in another week give vir- 

 gin, and swarming is over. Now, wouldn't 

 it work to give a laying queen instead of 

 that virgin, or else give the virgin a week 

 sooner ? 



S. D. House, you seem to value fresh 

 air in cellar. Shake ! You say, p. 210, a 

 colony wintered at 38 to -10 will not dwindle 

 as soon as one at 50 to 52. Right, provided 

 the air is the same in each case. But I 

 suppose you would agree with me that a 50 

 cellar with pure air is better than the aver- 

 age close cellar at 40. 



Louis SCHOLL, you question, page 161, 

 whether " it may not be possible " to breed 

 larger bees, and whether "increase in the 

 size of the cell .... would have any 

 bearing." Those questions have both been 

 settled. Years ago I had bees from Florida 

 which were so large as to build worker-cells 

 Ayi to the inch or larger, and in Europe they 

 have reared larger bees by persistent use of 

 foundation with cells of increased size — at 

 least, I've seen the latter statement in for- 

 eign journals. But I've never seen proof 

 that increase of size was a material gain. 



E. E. Colien, you prevented after-swarms 

 by setting the swarm on old stand and the 

 mother colony in new place, p. 212. May 

 not work next year. I'll tell you how to 

 make it a good deal surer. Put the swarm 

 on an old stand; mother close beside it. In 

 eight days or so move the mother to a new 

 place. Your way gives the mother a week 

 to recuperate and send out a swarm. The 

 •other way takes away all field bees and 

 brings on a dearth just at the time it would 

 think of swarming, and the first young 

 queen is allowed to slaughter her rivals. 



F. Greinbr says, page 170, that all bee- 

 keepers together can not do the right kind 

 •of advertising " because they can not be 

 united." Please don't settle down into that 

 belief just yet, Bro. Greiner. I know it 

 looks discouraging, and that some honest 

 efforts have failed; but there are some en- 

 couragements. Look what the citrus men 

 have done. To be sure, the citrus men are 

 in a limited locality, but a bigger effort may 

 cover a bigger area. Look what has been 

 done in Colorado and Michigan. If the 

 bee-keepers of a State can be got together, 

 why not two States get together, and then 

 why not more and more States? 



Mr. Editor, you say, p. 220, you don't 

 believe in hiving a swarm back on the old 



stand on the same set of combs and brood, 

 and hope any who disagree "will give the 

 reason for the faith that is in them." 

 What's the matter with giving the reason 

 for the faith that is in youf I'm ready to 

 follow the fellow that gives the best reason. 

 The plan would suit me well, only I'm 

 afraid my bees would swarm out again. 

 [As Grover Cleveland would say, this ques- 

 tion involves, not a theory, but a condition. 

 That condition, so far as our experience 

 goes, is that a swarm will very often come 

 out again when hived on old combs; but, 

 on the other hand, it will usually stay con- 

 tented when hived on another set of empty 

 combs on the same stand. In other words, 

 our faith is based on fact or condition rath- 

 er than on any thing else. — Ed.] 



B. C. Autbn, p. 221, you say publications 

 about spraying advise against spraying dur- 

 ing bloom, and then say, "I am afraid you 

 raise a smoke many times bigger than the 

 fire." Well, there's real fire in this locali- 

 ty. A large orchard is in reach of my bees, 

 and the owner begins spraying before the 

 trees are out of bloom. No, the man is not 

 an ignoramus, and he's not a bad man. 

 He is held in high estimation as a good 

 man, and is one of the foremost horticul- 

 turists in this region. He says that, with 

 such a large orchard, he can not get through 

 spraying in time unless he begins while the 

 trees are still in bloom, and I suppose he 

 thinks his loss from delay would be greater 

 than my loss in poisoned bees. I believe 

 he is a sincere man, although somewhat 

 mistaken, and I suppose I must stand the 

 loss until Illinois gets abreast with New 

 York and other States that have a law 

 against spraying during bloom. [Your 

 case is by no means an isolated one, as we 

 know by the correspondence in our office. — 

 Ed.] 



Why would it not be possible to send 

 comb and extracted honey by parcels post ? 

 is asked, p. 195. Just what they've been 

 doing in Europe this many a year. And it 

 would have been done here long before this 

 if it were not that congress is controlled by 

 the interests and not by the people. May 

 be we 11 have to wait for parcels post until 

 United States senators are elected by direct 

 vote. And, again, may be we won't. [If 

 every bee-keeper and every farmer in this 

 country would sit down and write to his 

 senator and representative, even though it 

 be only a brief postal, asking each to sup- 

 port parcels post, we could get the measure 

 in short order whether senators were elected 

 by popular vote or by the general assembly 

 as now. The trouble is, we Americans do 

 not half appreciate the fact that this is a 

 government of the people, and that when 

 the people en masse express what they want 

 they will get it. If, for example, five to ten 

 million people during a certain month of 

 the year would write to their senators and 

 representatives, asking for parcels post, 

 there would be something doing in con- 

 gress. — Ed.] 



