386 



Dk. C. C. Miller, Marengo, IlL 



Gteanings in Bee Cultur* 



That reply to B. K., page 376, where it 

 says, near the close, "of course removing 

 the queen," should have added, "and all 

 cells already started in the hive." 



That plan given by R. C. Aikin, p. 373, 

 is the best melted-wax ]ilan I've ever seen 

 for fastening in foundation, and I shouldn't 

 wonder if it may beat the groove and wedge. 

 That "f\ inch narrower" form-board, to 

 avoid gluing the board to the frame or foun- 

 dation, is great. 



Standard Oil and the tobacco trust have 

 had to let go their strangle-hold; the beef 

 trust is shal<ing in its shoes, and so is the 

 lumber trust; and I wouldn't give I^orimer 

 30 cents for his claim to his seat. Oh! the 

 country isn't going to the bow-wows just 

 yet. 



That talk, page 320, about picking out 

 some things in Gleanings and skipjnng 

 others doesn't fit "in this locality." I nev- 

 er dare skip any thing, even by the rawest 

 beginner, for fear it may contain some hint 

 that may come useful — if not now, at some 

 future time. 



M. Y. Calcutt had two queens in foul- 

 broody colonies that reared drones in work- 

 er-cells, and wants to know whether this 

 was the effect of the disease. It is not like- 

 ly that foul brood directly ]iroduces drone- 

 laying, although indirectly it migiit have a 

 tendency that way, for foul brood, at least 

 the European kind, seems in some way to 

 affect the vitality of the queen. 



I ARISE to give something that I gave 

 years ago, but which will be new to most be- 

 ginners. It's about draining honey from 

 cappings. Tlie first part drains off nicely; 

 then it thickens and dries down so as not to 

 drain at all. Years ago, when I extracted, 

 I did the work down cellar — nice cool place. 

 The cappings left to drain there, instead of 

 drying down at the last, became thinner all 

 the while with the moisture of tlie cellar, 

 and left the cappings quite clean. [This is 

 a seasonable item. Paste it in your hat, 

 brother bee-keeper. — Ed.] 



K. C. Aikin, the shortened top-bar may 

 be bad in your locality, as you say, p. 372, 

 or anywhere where hives are of any old 

 length; but that should not discourage their 

 use by one who has things just right. I've 

 used them many a year in all my hives (in 

 all of them "the thin edge stood up from 

 the rabbet"), and there has been trouble in 

 just one hive, and I'd throw away that hive 

 and two or three others rather than to forego 

 the comfort of the shortened top-bars. [The 

 groove-and-wedge plan has made trouble in 

 some few cases; but in the great majority of 

 instances bee-keei)ers have seemed to get 

 better results with it than by the melted-wax 

 plan advocated by our correspondent. The 

 wax plan is messy and requires considerable 

 skill to work it properly. — Ed.] 



A BEE-KEEPER found his ten colonies dead 

 .early in December. They had been fed syr- 

 up ])repared in a co])per vessel. Analysis 

 showed copi)er in tlie syrup and in the dead 

 bees. — Lc Rucher Bilge, 4. [We can scarce- 

 ly believe that the copper vessel could im- 

 part enough poison to the syrup as mention- 

 ed. We should doubt it very much. The 

 syrup could not have been in the vessel more 

 than an hour; and during that short time 

 there could not have been enough copper 

 salts absorbed to give any taste to tlie syrup, 

 let alone killing bees. While we would not 

 call in question the chemical analysis, it 

 would be our impression that the copper poi- 

 son must have been received from some 

 other source. — Ed.] 



That bees can be fed scientifically so 

 that better queens can be reared in a dearth 

 than in a flow, p. 355, is something new to 

 me, and I'm glad to accept it as true. Allee 

 saniee, for us every-day chaps that can't 

 feed scientifically, it's a boon to have dan- 

 delion so plentiful as to give us good queens 

 a month earlier. [Yes, we again submitted 

 this item to our queen-breeder, Mr. Pritch- 

 ard, and he reaffirms his previous statement, 

 that he can rear bftter queens under the 

 stimulus of scientific feeding than under the 

 stimulus of a honey-fiow that varies all the 

 way from a very heavy flow to a light one. 

 A heavy flow is pretty apt to upset his 

 queen-rearing operations altogether. A me- 

 dium or a moderate one he says is all right, 

 but he can not regulate it. For cell-build- 

 ing, the bees need a moderate and continued 

 supply of food — not an intermittent light 

 and heavy amount. He would rather have 

 an actual dearth of honey than to have a 

 flow that is irregular, going from light to 

 heavy. — Ed.] 



There may be good reason for covering 

 most of a section with a carton and using 

 two-inch glass in shipping-cases, but there 

 is a strong reason that should not be lightly 

 thrown aside for three-inch glass with the 

 section fully exposed. It's the matter of 

 making a show. To be sure, a case is strong- 

 er with two-inch than with three-inch glass, 

 and it is still stronger with all wood and no 

 glass. But an experience of years says that 

 with three-inch glass the case is strong 

 enough, and the beauty of a pile of honey 

 in double-tier cases with three-inch glass 

 has a money value that must be reckoned 

 with. [You say that an experience of years 

 shows that a case with three-inch glass is 

 strong enough. That may be true in your 

 experience; hut it is doubtful whether a 

 shipping-case can be too strong for the aver- 

 age bee-keeper. You usually ship your hon- 

 ey by the carload. If you do not, you put 

 it up proi)erly in carriers. If you could see 

 how some of the comb honey is put up and 

 shipped by some producers you would say a 

 case can not be too strong. — Ed.] 



