FEBRUARY 15, 1914 



125 



Stray Straws 



Dr. C. C. MiiiLEE, Marengo, 111. 



Notable is an ad. in the Swiss bee jour- 

 nal of a hotel and sanatorium desiring to 

 buy honey. Our hotels haven't got up to 

 tliat yet. 



Walter S. Pouder's package for sending 

 candied extracted by post leaves nothing to 

 be desired unless it would be to take an inch 

 from its height and add a trifle to its diam- 

 eter. 



The uncapping-fork, claimed to be better 

 than the knife, has not yet got this side the 

 ocean, and now comes an ad. in Schweiz- 

 erische Bztg., by J. Arter, offering an un- 

 eapping-plane claimed to be better than 

 knife or fork. Price $1.68. 



I'm asked to give in detail the different 

 steps that led to last summer's crop. If I 

 were to do that in full it would take up too 

 much space in Gleanings. Besides, I've 

 given it all already, for we followed exactly 

 the plans given in " Fifty Years among the 

 Bees." 



Lately I was told I'd change my mind 

 about paint on hives Avhen I learned that 

 the inside of a hive is coated with imper- 

 vious propolis. Well, I'll quote my answer 

 from my good friend of so many years, G. 

 M. Dooiittle, who says, p. 49, that the glued 

 surface is " sufficiently porous." I wonder 

 what would be said if I should bi'ing good 

 authority for the statement that enough 

 moisture goes through the propolized inside 

 of a hive to raise blisters on the outside 

 painted surface. 



" There is nothing special in the ' red- 

 clover ' strain, as all hive bees can work the 

 second crop of this plant, although it is im- 

 possible for them to work the first," says the 

 editor of tlie British Bee Journal, p. 450. 

 Has that able authority been caught nap- 

 ping, or are things so very different under 

 the British flagf On this side it is a raritj' 

 for hive bees to work on the second crop of 

 red clover, yet there have been strains in 

 which there was something decidedly " spe- 

 cial," and they would work on second-crop 

 red clover when other bees neglected it. 

 Alas that it is so difficult to continue such 

 strains ! 



" The most important spraying was done 

 when the petals showed first signs of fall- 

 ing," p. 94. That's given apparently with 

 eonajnendation ; but at this distance it looks 

 like spraying in full bloom. I'd like to 

 know what Prof Surface thinks about it. 

 [We were present when Van Rensselaer & 

 Southam sprayed their trees. As Mr. Van 



Rensselaer states, one of the sprayings was 

 applied when the petals showed the first 

 sign of falling. There may be a question as 

 to this procedure. But we had about fifty 

 colonies in the orchard at the time. The 

 bees were not working on trees where the 

 first petals began to fall, the presumption 

 being that nectar is no longer secreted; and 

 Mr. Van Rensselaer stated there were no 

 bees on such trees. We lost no bees, and 

 made good increase at that yard. On the 

 other hand, there is just a little danger that 

 less experienced fruit-growers might do a 

 fearful amount of damage by spraying 

 when the first petals begin to fall. We shall 

 be glad to hear from Prof. H. A. Surface on 

 the point. — Ed.] 



Allen Latham thought the orthodox 21 

 days was too much for the development of 

 a worker. Didn't say why — just thought so. 

 I thought I'd refer the matter to the bees. 

 I gave an empty comb to a queen Aug. 5 at 

 3:05 p. M., and took it away at 5:05. As it 

 was the only comb she had, I could be sure 

 the last eggs in it were laid just before 5 :05. 

 Then by watching when the very last young 

 workers emerged from their cells I could 

 know exactly what the length of the time 

 was in that particular case. Aug. 25, at 

 11 :55 A. M., I thought I would see how much 

 unhatched brood was still left. Would you 

 believe it ? there wasn't a bee left in a cell ! 

 So I was too late too find out just how long 

 it was from the laying of the egg to the 

 emergence of the last bee. But tliis much I 

 do know : that in this particular case the 

 full time for the development of a worker- 

 bee was inside of 19 days 18 hours 50 min- 

 utes, and how much inside 1 don't know. 

 Don't tell me there was some mistake. The 

 top-bar of that frame was plainly marked 

 " XIX," and I can't see any chance for 

 mistake. Likely enough the 21 days was got 

 from a nucleus, while I operated with a full 

 force of bees and in hot weather. I suspect 

 we should learn to say " 20 days " instead 

 of " 21 days." [There is quite a variation 

 in the time of hatching chickens. When 

 conditions are favorable the hatch will be 

 earlier than when they are othenvise. May 

 not the same rule apply to bees? 



If brood will hatch in 20 days from a full 

 colony, and 21 days in a nucleus, we ought 

 to know it and make our calculations ac- 

 cordingly. The point is not only of scien- 

 tific interest, but of practical import as well. 

 We shall be glad to get reports from others. 

 —Ed.] 



