1911 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



293 



Sittings 



By J. E. Crane, Middlebury, Vt. 



n 



Curious, but almost every year as the 

 farmers begin to bring in maple sugar I 

 have noticed an increased demand for 

 honey. 



That is a good point Mr. J. A. McGowan 

 makes, page 136, March 1, that one or two 

 days' neglect of little details may lose a 

 season's crop. 



That suggestion, page 122, March 1, about 

 sweetening railroad men, is a good one. 

 Not only do you get better handling of your 

 honey, but their friendship and good will. 



Mr. Byer's advice, page 125, March 1, not 

 to let hogs run in a yard of bees, is good. 

 But provided they are not too large, I like 

 to have sheep in a yard to keep down the 



I don't think many of us, as we grow old- 

 er, would care to go back and live our lives 

 over again. But when I read F. Dundas 

 Todd's "Bee-keeping as a Hobby " I think 

 I should like to begin bee keeping all over 

 again. 



Page 61, Feb. 1, Mrs. Acklin tells of a 

 runaway swarm in California, just before 

 Christmas. We are not troubled with run- 

 away swarms here in Vermont at that sea- 

 son. No such annoyances from August un- 

 til May. 



■^ 



Pretty good proof on page 150, March 1, 

 that bees will sting black spots or dark 

 cloths more promptly than light ones. My 

 only contention has been that they will 

 sting something or some person they are 

 accustomed to less than one they have rare- 

 ly or never seen before. 



Why is it that, among the many means 

 found in magazines now, one never sees 

 honey and warm biscuits mentioned for 

 the tea table? I wonder if they think such 

 fare would be too rustic; or have those who 

 planned these elaborate meals never heard 

 of honey? More advertising needed. 



Page 123, Chalon Fowls is said to have 

 presented a paper at the Ohio State Con- 

 vention in which he showed how to develop 

 a trade in "honey butter." Will he or 

 some one tell us what "honey butter" is? 

 HiVe understand that Mr. Fowls was refer- 

 ring to granulated honey in brick form. — 

 Ed.] 



Frank Hill calls attention, p. 116, Feb. 15, 

 to the value of introducing a queen-cell into 

 a colony to supersede the queen. I sub- 



mitted the same question last summer to 

 some very intelligent bee-keepers, and it 

 was their opinion that, if the queen was a 

 year old or more, it would prove a success. 

 It is a very important matter, and I hope to 

 test it this year. 



The advice that Hermann Rauchfuss 

 gives on page 127, March 1, that bee-keepers 

 should raise their own queens, is good, not 

 only because such queens will be likely to 

 prove more valuable than those shipped 

 from a distance, but because they can be 

 raised during the swarming season more 

 cheaply; and no bee-keeper should consider 

 his profession complete until he can rear 

 his own queens. 



Dr. Miller inquires, p. 60, Feb. 1, whether 

 he shall melt up his combs because they are 

 old. Some way I feel that bees do better 

 on combs two or three years old than 

 on those which are very old, as old combs 

 contain not only a good many imperfect 

 cells, but some which have been worked 

 over into drone cells, rendering them worth- 

 less for breeding purposes because they are 

 filled with old pollen. 

 4^ 



J. E, Hand, page 148, March 1, has a 

 short article entitled " Instinct Always the 

 Same." Now, here are two colonies in the 

 same kind of hives, with the same number 

 of combs, and, as nearly as we can judge, 

 the same amount of brood and bees, and 

 alike in all respects; even their instincts 

 are the same; yet one will swarm while the 

 other works on through the honey season 

 without a thought of it. Why is it? 



Mr. A. A. Byard, of West Chesterfield, N. 

 Y., came up to our Vermont bee-keepers' 

 convention, bringing samples of his new 

 foundation -fastening machine. It works 

 somewhat differently from the Daisy fasten- 

 er, in that it deposits on the section all the 

 wax it melts, fastening the foundation in 

 more securely with the same pains taken, 

 and no wax runs off on one's clothes or on 

 the floor. He sold about twenty-five to 

 Vermont bee-keepers during the conven- 

 tion. The one he left with us has given 

 good satisfaction. 



Mr. Townsend believes in having water 

 near his bees in early spring, where they 

 can get it without being chilled. He says, 

 p. 138, 139, March 1, "Only half the advan- 

 tages of outside protection for bees during 

 the months of April and May have been 

 told. It makes nearly the whole difference 

 between failure and success in the surplus 

 crop of honey." Alas! we forget how frail a 

 thing a bee is, especially in cool weather. 

 When partially chilled by taking in nearly 

 its own weight of cold water, a very light 

 breeze beats it to the ground. If we could 

 measure these losses I believe most of us 

 would be surprised. 



