94 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Grace Allen 



THE DIXIE BEE h-hyJUe, Tenn. 



I 



January came in with a retinue 

 of flying bees, buzzing flies, broody 

 hens, and dandelions in bloom. 

 This morning, Jan. 12, it was too 

 warm outside, even batless and 

 coatless, to frolic comfortably with 

 our strenuously playful kitten who 

 runs when you chase and chases when you 

 run. But this afternoon something broke 

 in a storm, and a cold wave is now reported 

 on the way. Warm mild weather it has 

 been so far, yet damp and unseasonable, 

 bringing colds and grip to countless people 

 and causing the bees to consume their stores 

 pretty fast. Morning after morning they 

 have been out at eight o'clock, working up 

 an appetite for breakfast. They seem to be 

 wintering all right, if you can call this 

 wintering. So far they have not worn 

 themselves out generating heat, that's sure. 

 But we should not like to face a long, lin- 

 gering, chilly spring, with depleted stores. 

 We have been glad in each of our fre- 

 quent winter rains that all our hives are 

 tipped pretty well forward. 



* * * 



Use 5/7 of a pound of sugar for each 

 pound of honey lacking, when feeding sugar 

 syrup in the fall, Dr. Miller says, which is 

 what I wanted to get. Mr. Bruce Anderson 

 has recently sent me a newspaper report of 

 the work in North Carolina of Mr. E. G. 

 Carr, one of the Federal bee experts, and in 

 it Mr. Carr recommends feeding one full 

 pound of sugar for each pound of honey 

 lacking in the fall. Perhaps Mr. Carr was 

 taking" into account the point raised by the 

 editor, that, pound for pound, the sealed 

 syrup stores may not be of equal value to 

 sealed honey stoires. [See Mr. Byer's com- 

 ment in his department, this issue. — Ed.] 



In this report of Mr. Can-'s work I was 

 also interested to note that he advises re- 

 queening every second August, and also 

 packing hives into winter cases in the fall, 

 even here in the South. If the winter losses 

 in the South are from 5 to 15 per cent, as 

 Bulletin 325 estimates, perhaps better win- 

 ter protection will do away with a large 

 part of this, and being sure of queens in 

 the fall eliminate most of the rest. 



The new hive arrangement on p. 30, Jan. 

 1, interested me a lot. I feel as tho Mr. 

 McCready has rather " beat me to it," as I 

 had already decided that some day I should 

 startle the beekeeping world with some bril- 



liant plan of my own to do quite away with 

 lifting. I have gravely considered this 

 placing of hives along-side one another, also 

 of tiering up on one end of the Long Idea 

 hive; and then there are various other 

 promising combinations still too vague to 

 put on paper, but very superior, as one's 

 own unformed ideas always are. I like 

 some things in Mr. MeCready's hive, and 

 some things I don't. It looks unnecessarily 

 spread out somehow, and seems like a more 

 awkward arrangement than the simple long 

 hive of Mr. Poppleton. I should think, too, 

 that it would be more difficult working witli 

 the bees in the brood-chamber if the opera- 

 tor has to reach across a side super. ("Side 

 super" sounds a bit contradictory, doesn't 

 it? One might call them "wings," per- 

 haps.) On the other hand, this arrange- 

 ment makes use of equipment already on 

 hand. Then, too, the snug way that the 

 brood-chamber is tucked away in the center 

 looks as tho it must have advantages. I 

 can't help thinking that, while winter cases 

 with their generous packing may bring- 

 about splendid results, there ought to be 

 some less expensive way to accomplish the 

 same thing — less expensive and easier too. 

 Perhaps Mr. McCready is on the right line. 



Another person that " beat me to it " is 

 Mr. Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, accord- 

 ing to the notice on page 35, Jan. 1, where 

 mention is made of a serial story running 

 in the Saturday Evening Post with a bee- 

 keeper conspicuous in it. Now, if Mi'. Mc- 

 Cready has evolved my effort-saving hive, 

 and Mr. Wodehouse has written my story 

 putting the beekeeper into literature, what, 

 pray, is there left for me to do? 



Oh heart of mine, we'll sing! 



And Life's fair cup of gold 

 We '11 fill as full of winey song 



As it will hold! 



A song of flashing bees 



With swift, ecstatic wings 

 And dauntless mood that flies afar 



And sings. 



A magic-hearted song, 



A song of big desire, 

 Of wonder and of witchery 



And fire. 



A yearning song and wild, 



Whose haunting music streams 



Across tired hearts, and brings them back 

 Their dreams. 



