JANUARY 1. 1916 



Dr. C. C. Miller 



STRAY STRAWS I »^-g°-"' 



Von Moralec, a French artil- 

 leryman, made the first drone-trap, 

 according to Deutsche Bienenzucht, 

 172. 



Grace Allen, I like you — first 

 rate — but I won't like your " fa- 

 vorite apiarian attitude," p. 968. 

 True, it's as good as sitting on a '' wiggly 

 hive-cover," but why not take a decent seat? 



J. E. Crane advises, p. 986, that in a 

 ease of European foul brood the colony 

 have a cessation of egg-laying for two or 

 three weeks. Will not ten days do, leaving 

 the colony stronger? 



Been " rasslin' " with gi'ip for nearly a 

 month, and cough hardly any now. Thank- 

 ful it didn't come two months later, for I 

 want to get to that convention at Chicago, 

 Feb. 22. You goin'? [Expect to.— Ed.] 



F. J. Lee, p. 997, the editor has sized the 

 thing up about right as to light in the cel- 

 lar. My bees in cellar, having air the same 

 as outdoors, will stand full light for weeks; 

 but later on light is bad, and fastening in 

 hives would be disastrous. 



Novv^ is a good time to ask your gi-oeer to 

 save you some cork-chips that come in kegs 

 of grapes. Then to make the finest drink- 

 ing-place for your bees, all you have to do 

 next spring is to put water in a tub, pail, 

 or half-barrel, and throw the cork upon it. 



A. I. Root is asked, p. 1001, to preach 

 sunshine for the babies. Sunshine outdoors 

 is all right, but not in the house. Fashion 

 dictates that the window-shade must be 

 pulled down to just such a height, and a 

 baby more or less is not to be considered 

 when it gets in the way of fashion. 



Dr. Nelson has taken 280 pages to fol- 

 low a young bee through its life in the egg. 

 What an achievement it would be if it were 

 as carefully followed through all the rest 

 of its life, with all its going's, comings, and 

 doings ! Dr. Nelson has laid a grand foun- 

 dation. 



I SAY " amen " to A. I. Root's prayer, p. 

 911, that the president who comes after 

 Wilson may be a praying man. But I 

 wouldn't mind if the present incumbent 

 would stay on the job for another four 

 years, if he'd only agree to tackle the liquor 

 problem with all his might. 



W. P. Root, the man upon whom I de- 

 pend to keep my punctuation straight in 

 Gleanings, in his excellent summing-up of 

 Bible mention of honey, p. 974, think* 



Jonathan ate a large quantity of honey. 

 Jonathan testified, " I did certainly taste a 

 little honey with the end of the rod that 

 was in my hand." The mention of Christ's 

 eating honey, Luke 24:42, does not appear 

 in the American revision. 



Yes, Mr. Editor, I note that the other 

 fellow of the floury name agrees with you 

 that piping and quahking are the same, p. 

 993. I note also that both you and he 

 avoid explaining how it is that notes of 

 such unequal length out of the cell become 

 of the same length in the cell. [So far as 

 we are concerned, we did not know that we 

 were " avoiding " any explanation. Per- 

 haps we do not get your point. — Ed.] 



Double capping of sections (that is, a 

 fresh layer of honey built over that already 

 capped) is reported in the British Bee 

 Journal, 413. I never had a case of that 

 kind with sections, but have had it a good 

 many times on brood-combs. The curious 

 thing about it is that the bees don't seem 

 to know enough to open the bottom cap- 

 ping; and unless the beekeeper uncap it the 

 bees may starve before they find the honey 

 under it. 



Wesley Foster says of European foul 

 brood, p. 972, " It has been my observation 

 that transfen'ing and requeening produces 

 results while caging the queen has not." 

 In this locality, in mild cases (I'm not sure 

 about severe cases) caging produces just 

 as good results as transferring, and leaves 

 the colony stronger. [Is it not true that 

 European foul brood that has run for a 

 certain length of time loses its original 

 virulence? If that is the case, Avould it 

 not explain the difference between the ex- 

 perience of Wesley Foster and yourself? — 

 Ed.] 



Mrs. Allen wants to know how many 

 pounds of syrup will replace a given short- 

 age of sealed honey, p. 969. A syrup of 5 

 pounds sugar and 2 pounds of water is 

 about equivalent to 7 pounds of honey; so 

 for every pound of honey lacking, feed 

 5/7 of a pound of sugar, no matter how 

 much water is added. [Is it not possible 

 that Mrs. Allen has raised the question 

 whether a pound of thick syrup is equal to 

 a pound of honey of the same density? 

 Was it not yourself who made the state- 

 ment something over a year ago that, pound 

 for pound, honey will go further than 

 syrup? In your statement above you al- 

 most imply tliat, pound for pound, they are 

 one and the same. How about it? — Ed.] 



