GENEEAL 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



■PONDENCE 



BY AKTHUR C. MILLER 



Much poor beekeeping is due to fear of 

 stings. Many stings come from poor bee- 

 keeping. 



* * * 



Swamp beekeeping is very alluring, may 

 be very i^rofitable, and is sometimes quite 

 disastrous. Tliere are swamps and swamps. 

 Investigate carefully before you locate. 

 Better winter your bees on the high lands, 



any way. 



* * * 



Did the bees persist in robbing out the 

 nucleus despite your putting the combs a.t 

 one side of the hive and the entrance at the 

 other, " so as to bother the robbers " ? It 

 was the best sort of help to them. Put the 

 combs and bees close to the entrance and 

 then they will fight to protect it. 



If Hi Ht 



1 wish the supply houses would never 

 again put out a hive-floor with less than an 

 inch space on it. Why? Try inspecting 

 for a time, and you will cease to ask foolish 

 questions. Personally I like to get frames 

 out with the bottom-bars on them. They 

 are not a beneficial addition to the floor. 



* * * 



How very few beekeepers ever study bee 

 behavior experimentally ! Most of them are 

 too busy with something or other, or are too 

 much absorbed with planning manipula- 

 tions. But such study will pay. It will 

 give you more time for something or other, 

 and will do away with many manipulation-^. 



* * * 



Did you ever notice how many of your 

 combs have a patch of drone-cells in one 

 lower corner? Have you also noticed that 

 it is the corner nearest the entrance? I am 

 talking of combs built on full sheets of 

 foundation. How does it happen, do you 

 ask? When the bees are more or less idle 

 at the end of the season they often cut 

 away comb near the entrance, using the wax 

 elsewhere in the hive. The next year drone 

 comb is filled in those spaces. 

 * * * 



Do you want a nice weedless, mudless, 

 dustless strip before, behind, beside, and 

 beneath your hives? Smooth the ground 

 and lay down a strip of one of the better 

 grades of asphalt roofing jiaper, using the 

 heavy weight, and put your hive stands on 



it. A good pai3er will wear for a long time. 

 The cheaper sorts are made with tar and 

 oil, and soon ci'umble. A fine asphalt walk 

 about your hives sounds expensive, but it 

 isn't — and the luxury of it ! 



* » * 



I am glad to see that the tide is turning, 

 and that others are advocating doing the 

 " stimulative feeding " in the fall. A full 

 larder and a young queen in the fall, spells 

 good wintering, good springing, and good 

 cropping. Incidentally it is a good lazy 

 man's way — lots less work than spring 



fussing. 



* * * 



Won't the new system work as stated? 

 How many of your own notions did you 

 put in when trying it? Probably several. 

 And then you blame the originator. Try 

 it again and follow his directions exactly, 

 and be sure you understand them. There is 

 a bare possibility he knows more about it 



than you do. 



* * * 



Mr. Crane objects to the advice to have 

 foundation drawn during a flow of honey- 

 dew because he does not have enough dew 

 more than once in twenty-five years. Lucky 

 dog! Well, a brood-comb should last twen- 

 ty-five years, so my advice will still hold 

 good — if he doesn't want new ones befoie 

 his next dew flow. 



* * * 



Allen Latham says, " Good clean spit is 

 the best thing out for diluting royal jeliy. 

 I find cells better accepted, and queens 

 larger, where I thus dilute the food than 

 otherwise. I am careful that my mouth is 

 clean before I use saliva." If memory 

 serves me rightly, some one else has written 

 to the same eftect. Now that A. L. has 

 confirmed it we may all safely follow the 



practice. 



* » * 



If you do not want the bees to stick it 

 fast, rub mutton tallow on it. That is what 

 James Heddon said years ago, and it is as 

 true to-day as then. But there are some 

 parts of a hive that are better stuck. You 

 will discover them after you have tried the 

 tallow awhile. But be sure to try it, for it 

 facilitates a lot of work. Rub it on cold or 

 put it on hot with a brush, as suits llie 

 time, the place, and the man, 



