448 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



J. E. Crane 



IFTINC 



liddiebury, Vtt. 



I do not remember that we have ever had 

 a chemical analysis of pollen. If we have 

 had, we should know better what to substi- 

 tute for it where it is lacking. I am coming 

 ;iiore and more to aiDpreeiate the value of 

 pollen and its stimulating effect upon brood- 

 rearing. 



* * * 



Mr. J. L. Byer, on page 248, says he is 

 using hives made or painted by his grand- 

 father thirty-two years ago still in fairly 

 good condition. I think I can go you one 

 better. I have double-walled hives in fairly 

 good condition that I made and painted 44 

 years ago. My ! how time flies ! 



* * * 



" Bees that cluster on the outside of the 

 l.i\e aie wasting their time," says Wesley 

 Fester, page 614, Oct. 1, 1913. I don't feel 

 sure about that. When honey is coming in 

 freely a large amount of evaporating must 

 hs done, and I see no good reason why bees 

 can not do this as well on the outside of the 

 liive as on the inside — perhaps better. 



■:l! * * 



Mr. Byer, page 246, April 1, thinks that 

 there is more dangei' from disease among 

 bees in the city than in the country. I be- 

 lieve he is right. You may find them in an 

 out-building or in an attic, or, as I did on 

 one occasion, in the upper story of a barn. 

 Tliere is also greater danger of contracting 

 disease fiom bottles of honey that have been 

 emptied and thrown on a refuse-heap or 

 from broken barrels, or packages of honey 

 left where bees can get at them. 



* ■* * 



A long time ago some one looked up at 

 night and saw the stars, and said, " The 

 heavens declare the glory of God, and the 

 firmament showeth his handiwork." And 

 he was right, for they do. But it is just as 

 true to-day that the hills and valleys, for- 

 ests and fields, the birds, the bees, the flow- 

 ers speak of his wisdom, goodness, and love. 

 And it is just grand, these warm spring 

 days, to go out in the midst of such sur- 

 roundings and work with the bees. Let us 

 not forget those who are confined to the 

 workshop or factory, and thus rarely hear 

 the song of birds or the hum of bees. 



SPRING DWINDLING IN VERMONT AND ITS 



CAUSE. 



Bees were considered in good condition 

 in western Vermont on April 1; but the 

 loth of May will find many yards in rather 

 bad shape, with some dead colonies, and 



many greatly reduced in number — in fact, 

 we have had more or less spring dwindling. 



What is the cause? Largely, weather 

 conditions, I believe. The weather station 

 near by reports the coldest April in over 

 thirty yeais — some nine degrees lower dur- 

 ing April than any other April since a 

 record has been kept in Burlington, Vt., 

 thirty-one years. What was worse than the 

 average low temj^erature was, the large 

 number of severe freezes we have had. 

 Every week the temperature fell so low as 

 to kill most of the unsealed brood except in 

 the strongest colonies. On May 1st the 

 mercury stood at 26 degrees, and on the 

 13th the mountains east and west were white 

 with snow that bad fallen during the night. 



Another difficulty was the shortage of 

 pollen. The cold killed many flowers, and 

 the weather was so cold that little could be 

 gathered from such as withstood the frost. 

 Only strong colonies could keep up under 

 such conditions. The old bees died off rap- 

 idly, and no brood-rearing could be earned 

 on to replace them with young bees. 

 * » * 



ENOUGH TO MAKE ONE MAD ; MELTING HONEY 

 AND PLUGGING TIN CANS. 



"Be ye angry and sin not" is pretty good 

 advice; for if there is any thing that makes 

 a man act like a fool it is getting angry or 

 getting drunk; but it is not always easy to 

 control one's self. A while ago I was melt- 

 ing up some honey in five-gallon cans, and 

 out of twenty or thirty cans no less than 

 ten had holes in them — mostly nail-holes, I 

 think. We melt in warm water; and if we 

 set a can in that has a hole in the side, when 

 the honey melts it will run out and the 

 water run in, just as a jug of water turned 

 bottom up will let the water out and air in 

 — ^first one and then the other. It is not 

 conducive to good nature to discover, when 

 you come to empty the honey from your 

 can, that it is half water, as we sometimes 

 do. We try to find the holes before we put 

 them in the water, but do not always suc- 

 ceed. But if we find them, what then? 

 Why, just solder up the holes. Yes; but 

 the moment the hot iron touches the can 

 near the hole it will melt the honey before 

 it melts the solder, and out it comes, making 

 it impossible to make the solder stick. My ! 

 but wasn't it provoking? But it occurred 

 to me at last that the holes could be stuffed 

 with light cotton cloth with the point of an 

 awl or dull knife. I tried it, and it was an 

 entire success; and I note it down for the 

 benefit of others. 



