1911 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



263 



Stray Straws 



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



Editor Digges says, Irish Bee Journal, 

 p. 31, that no taint will be imparted to sec- 

 tions if one part carbolic to ten of water be 

 used. 



The bees now cultivated in Missouri are 

 almost entirely the posterity of queens in- 

 troduced years ago from Portugal is a state- 

 ment in Leipzg. Bztg., 44. 



This year was one of the years when 

 soft maple was not a safe guide as to taking 

 bees out of cellar. It bloomed March 21, 

 but the weather was so unfavorable that 

 bees stayed in cellar 23 days longer. 



Editor Hutchinson justifies his use of 

 honey-boards by saying that he leaves the 

 honey-board on all summer long. — Review, 

 117. I wasn't bright enough to think of 

 that when I wrote that Straw, p. 88. Apol- 

 ogies herewith, friend Hutchinson. 



To GET POLLEN emptied out of combs, 

 spray with diluted honey, and the bees will 

 empty it. — Leipzig. Bztg., 191. [This looks 

 as if it might work, providing we want the 

 pollen out of the combs. Pollen in the 

 combs in the spring is a splendid asset. 

 —Ed.] 



M. L'Abbb Pincot, L' A2neulteur, 110, 

 lodged -55 colonies on foundation with 868 

 cells to the square decimeter (about 23.74 

 cells to the square inch). Three months 

 later, the bees born in these large cells were 

 so much larger that they were no longer 

 recognizable as belonging to the same col- 

 ony as their elder sisters. [See answer to 

 Straw opposite. — Ed.] 



J. W. Rossman. p. 208, you say you're a 

 novice and don't see the point in non- 

 swarming after getting 2700 lbs. from 30 

 colonies and increasing to 70. Well, there 

 is no point in it for you, for you probably 

 wanted the increase. When you outgrow 

 your novitiate and want no more increase 

 you'll see the point. If your bees had not 

 swarmed, instead of 90 lbs. per colony you 

 might have had 115 or 150. 



"No colony ever works better than a 

 newly hived swarm," p. 208. That's true; 

 it does its level best, and no colony can do 

 better. It's also true that no newly hived 

 swarm works better than many a colony 

 that never thinks of swarming. The latter 

 devotes all its energy to storing, the swarm 

 devotes its energy to overcoming the loss to 

 the honey crop by its swarming, and it 

 never quite makes it. [We wonder if your 

 statement in italics is always true. — Ed.] 



A. B. Marchant, in spite of your pro- 

 test, page 227, against printing unreliable 

 things. Gleanings goes right on and prints 

 your assertion, "Why! if I could winter 

 two queens in one hive, and keep them in 

 the same hive up till ten or fifteen days be- 



fore [the honey-flow, I could increase my 

 honey crop 50 per cent. ' ' Gleanings ought 

 not to print that, for it ought to know that 

 one queen can lay all the eggs a colony can 

 take care of up till ten or fifteen days be- 

 fore the honey-flow in this locality, and 

 likely in your locality. Ten queens would 

 not increase the strength of the colony. 



J. E. Crane, p. 239, when water is poured 

 on sugar in the way mentioned, there is no 

 trouble from a crust of sugar left in the 

 bottom of the feeder. Of course, it will be 

 there if too little water is given, in which 

 case all that is needed is to pour in more 

 water and you can have your feeder emp- 

 tied out clean and dry. But I don't value 

 the percolating part. It's simply a handy 

 way to dissolve the sugar. [While the Dr. 

 Miller plan of making syrup is very simple 

 and easy, much of the syrup made on that 

 plan, it would seem to us, would be as thin 

 as nectar. Experience shows that a thin 

 syrup for winter feeding is very wasteful of 

 bee life just at a time when it ought to be 

 conserved. It is much more economical to 

 feed a thick syrup than a thin one. While 

 this statement may be out of harmony with 

 some things we have said in years gone by, 

 we are frank to admit that the logic of hard 

 facts has converted us. For stimulative 

 purposes in warm weather a thin syrup 

 may be just as good or even better. — Ed,] 



Ye editor says, p. 780, Dec. 15, "Grant- 

 ed that you can produce larger bees in larg- 

 er cells, have you gained any thing? Che- 

 shire says if we enlarge our bees we would 

 put them out of harmony with all the blos- 

 soms visited." Abbe Pincot quotes this, 

 L^Apiculteur, 110, and says, "Can a good 

 American admit progress that comes from 

 Europe ? However, the enlarged bees are 

 so much in harmony with the flowers that 

 they bring more honey than common bees. 

 In 1908, 30 colonies of improved bees stored 

 330 more pounds than 31 colonies of unim- 

 proved bees of like strength in the same 

 apiary. In 1909, 30 colonies of improved 

 bees stored 660 pounds more than 30 com- 

 mon colonies of like strength. That, Mr, 

 Root, is what I have gained by my larger 

 bees; and whatever Cheshire's </teor^, prac- 

 tice here replies that enlarged bees do not 

 cease to be in harmony with the flowers 

 they visit." [Our friend Pincot is certain- 

 ly wrong in believing that no good Ameri- 

 can will admit progress in Europe. As a 

 matter of fact, we believe that our columns 

 will bear out the statement that our Euro- 

 pean cousins need to take no back seat 

 when it comes to scientific research or de- 

 velopment in races of bees. On the other 

 hand, we are frank to say that we are skep- 

 tical as to his ability to enlarge bees by 

 merely making their cradles bigger. Ordi- 

 nary bees vary so under dififerent conditions 

 it would seem to us that one might be mis- 

 taken. If it were possible to enlarge our 

 strain of bees by merely enlarging the cells 

 in which they are reared, some one would 

 have discovered this fact long ago. — Ed.] 



