286 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



J. Eo Crane 



IFTING 



J. L. Byer tells us, page 145, all about 

 bis method of spring feeding and manage- 

 ment, and be is sound to tbe center on tbis 

 important subject. 



* * * 



Wbat is tbe matter witb your bees, Dr. 

 Miller, tbat tbey do not work on second 

 crop of red clover at Marengo ? Tbey work 

 on it readily here in old New England. See 



page 125. 



* * » 



The Feb. 1st number of Gleanings, with 

 its beautiful pictures of fruits and loaded 

 fruit-trees, and advice about spraying, made 

 it look almost like a horticultural journal. 

 Wbat a satisfaction to know that our bees 

 are often of as much value to our neighbors 



as ourselves ! 



* * « 



A truckman told me to-day that his horse 

 would grow poor as fast standing in tbe 

 cold as at work. Of course ; for it requires 

 fuel as surely to produce beat as power; 

 and if bees have to endure long-continued 

 cold it will just as surely reduce their vital- 

 ity as work, and so shorten their lives. 



Mr. Mayo's experience with bees in an 

 orchard and grove, page 42, corresponds 

 witb my own. A little shade is good; but 

 dense shade is bad. We have one yard 

 partly in dense shade, and part but little 

 shaded ; and we find those having but little 

 shade have done tbe best for a number of 



years. 



* -* » 



Dr. Miller says, page 125, that a Swiss 

 hotel and sanatorium advertise for honey, 

 and remarks that " our hotels haven't got 

 up to that yet." Well, perhaps not exactly ; 

 but we have supi^lied a sanatorium for some 

 time, and I put up a lot to go to a hotel in 

 one of our larger cities this very forenoon : 

 and it is not the first hotel to buy of us 



either. 



* * «■ 



"Incomparable observer" is wbat Darwin 

 called Henry Fabre, the celebrated French 

 entomologist. Some of bis works have been 

 translated into English, and are full of 

 interest to any lover of insect life. " The 

 Social Life of Insects," " Tbe Spiders," 

 " The Life of a Fly," and " Tbe Loves of 

 Insects," are written in a simple, delightful 

 style, and ought to be in every public 

 library. 



A. I. Root's temperance column reminds 

 one of an old law enacted three or four 



thousand years ago : " If an ox gore a man 

 or a woman to death, tbe ox shall be surely 

 stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but 

 the owner of the ox shall be quit. But if 

 the ox was wont to gore in times past, and 

 it hath been testified to its owner, and be 

 hath not kept it in, but it bath killed a man 

 or Avoman, tbe ox shall be stoned, and its 

 owner shall be put to death." Alas! who 

 shall count the number of men and women 

 that a modern beast has gored? Shame on 

 our boasted civilization that allows both the 

 beast and the owner their liberty ! 

 * * * 



A good deal has been said of tbe value of 

 parcel post in Gleanings, for beekeepers. 

 We have used it for shipping small lots of 

 honey, but lately we shipped a box of two 

 dozen small bottles of honey to New York, 

 which, on arriving at destination, was 

 found to have bad nine of tbe bottles taken 

 out without regard to the command " Thou 

 sbalt not steal." On inquiring at the local 

 postoffice we were informed tbat tbey were 

 not responsible, as we bad not bad the 

 package insured. At tbe express office we 

 found the package could have been sent for 

 even less by express than by mail. Perhaps 

 we shall have to conclude tbat the most 

 valuable service of tbe parcel jDost is in 

 compelling the express companies to reduce 

 their rates to a reasonable sum. [In many 

 cases express is cheaper than parcel po;.t. 

 —Ed.] 



Arthur C. Miller tells us, page 131, tbat 

 stimulative feeding " should always be done 

 in tbe fall. Give them all you think tbey 

 will need, then double it, and then add half 

 as much again for good measure." Now, 

 that is generous, and it always makes us 

 feel good to be generous ; and it never pays 

 to be stingy witb our bees; but let us ex- 

 amine tbis statement a little. I find many 

 colonies the 1st of October that I think need 

 at least 35 lbs. of heavy syrup. Suppose I 

 double it. That would be 70 pounds; then 

 lialf as much again would make 87^/2 

 pounds — more than tbe colony could store 

 in an eight or even a ten frame hive. I 

 tried feeding very heavily once, many years 

 ago. How I enjoyed seeing the bees lie out 

 in October! Next spring they didn't lie 

 out, but a good many of them were laid out. 

 .No, Miss or Mr. Beginner; feed enough and 

 then stop. Mr. Miller is a good fellow and 

 a gTeat thinker, and I enjoyed bis notes 

 immensely; but some of them need to be 

 discounted a little. 



