MARCH 15, 1914 



Stray Stravs^s 



By Dii. ('. C. Mii.i.KK, Marengo, III. 



Henry Reddert disapproves of bees on 

 hiuisetops because the bees try to get in 

 windows in time of preserving fruit, p. 193. 

 Why should bees on housetops trouble more 

 I hau bees on the ground '! 



•' Bees do not put different grades of 

 lidiiey in the same cell," j). 74. No, nor dif- 

 ferent colors of pollen in the same cell, nor 

 \isit more than one kind of flowers on the 

 same trip. That's the rule, but there are 

 exceptions, friend Hewes, in all three cases. 



Alexandre Astor^ ApicuUeur, 6, says 

 science shows that honey contains mineral 

 salts — salts of iron, potash, lime, phos- 

 phates, etc., and that these are indispensable 

 to the formation and maintenance of living 

 organisms. Since sugar is almost entirely 

 deprived of these salts, bees fed almost 

 solely on sugar must necessarily deteriorate. 



" The Outlaw/" p. 178, trusts " that all 

 tliose who are true apiarists at heart will 

 understand and forgive his acts as an out- 

 law." That might pass for a joke; but 

 taking up a column or so to prove that he is 

 really a breaker of valid law can hardly 

 come under that head. Let us hope that 

 " to be continued " may give the key to the 

 I)uzzle. 



A VARIATION of the McEvoy treatment by 

 E. G. Brown is given in Review, p. 12. 

 Prepare a hive with frames of foundation 

 or starters, only let there be one frame of 

 drawn comb. Brush the diseased bees into 

 it, and when they have been in the hive long 

 enough to emjjty their sacs, draw out the 

 comb of honey, carefully brush off the bees 

 in front of the hive so as to scatter no hon- 

 ey, destroy the comb, and replace it with a 

 frame of foundation. 



Endorsing the editorial on European foul 

 brood, p. 2, I may say that, if it were left to 

 me to decide whether it should continue in 

 this neighborhood or not, I should hardly 

 know which way to vote. [Do you mean that 

 European foul brood has been a blessing to 

 you in that it has eliminated the black strain 

 of bees, or the careless haphazard beekeeper, 

 or both? It is certainly doing both, and 

 therefore to some beekeepers, at least, it is 

 not an unmitigated, evil. — Ed.] 



Longevity I am inclined to believe an 

 important factor, and I am quite willing to 

 be convinced that greater longevity brings 

 greater storing. But I'd like to have some 

 proof that the extension of life is in the 

 gathering period, and not in the previous 



portion of the bee's existence. We are told 

 that in the busy season a worker lives 6 

 weeks — 16 days as a nurse-bee and 26 days 

 as a gatherer; that is, 62 per cent of its 

 span is spent at field-work. If, now, we 

 can get a bee to live 12 weeks, what gain 

 will there be unless more than 62 per cent 

 (if its life is spent as a fielder? 



McIIenry County, III., in which I live, 

 has a " Soil Improvement Association," 

 l)artly supported by the U. S. DejDartment 

 of Agriculture, with a resident Soil Expert 

 belonging to the Department. There have 

 been planted 350 acres of alfalfa, and for 

 the coming season 115 bushels of alfalfa 

 seed have been bought. But the special thing 

 1 wanted to tell you is that 20 bushels of 

 sweet-clover seed have been bought, or more 

 than one-sixth as much as alfalfa. So far 

 as I know, that is without any reference to 

 bees, but solely for hay and pasture. It 

 shows that sweet clover is forging to the 

 front pretty rapidly, and that Uncle Sam is 

 lielping to get it there. 



"Increasing the suj^er room did no good." 

 That's quoted, p. 83, from Wilmon Newell, 

 as referring to jjrevention of swarming. 

 I'm a bit skeptical about his meaning that 

 without qualification. I think he believes 

 that, if bees are crowded for super room, it 

 favors swarming; and that's not such a 

 great way from saying that decreasing super 

 room favors swarming; which, again, is not 

 so far from saying that increasing room 

 favor's prevention. Personally I am of 

 opinion that there are eases in which, with 

 timely enlargement of super room, there is 

 no swarming, whereas without that enlarge- 

 ment the bees would have swarmed. My 

 practice accords with that belief. Whereas 

 I formerly added an empty super beneath 

 as soon as the lower super was partly filled, 

 I now add an empty super on top as well. 

 Especially do I believe in abundant super 

 room before the bees begin to liave swarm- 

 thought. [" Increasing the super room did 

 no good " was not a direct quotation from 

 Wilmon Newell, as you say, or at least we 

 do not find any quotation-marks in the copy 

 before us. As the paragraph is brief we 

 might as well quote the whole of it. This is 

 what Mr. Newell said on the point : 



Many experiments were tried in which a large 

 amount ot super-room was furnished the colonies, 

 both prior to the development of the swarming fever 

 and afterward. It is unnecessary to take space for 

 describing these experiments, as in no case did the 

 addition of abundant super-room have any percepti- 

 ble effect upon the swarming tendency. 



