MARCH 15, 1916 



221 



C. Miller 



STRAY STRAWS 



Mareneo, 111. 



That's a good story, p. 176, 

 about the bees, melon-rind, and 

 darkey, but for one thing. Did 

 you ever know bees away from 

 home feeding on sweets to sting- 

 when disturbed or kicked? 



At a uniform temperature of 85 degrees 

 " there is some danger of the combs sag- 

 ging and leaking," p. 89. That's new tome. 

 I always thought I'd like to keep my sec- 

 tions at 90 or more. Please tell us more 

 about it. 



Honey that is too thin may be thickened 

 by heating, but that endangers the flavor. 

 W. F. Reid, British Bee Journal, p. 11, 

 offei's this scheme: Take dried apples and 

 give them an extra drying in a slow oven ; 

 then put them in the honey, and the water 

 of the honey will be absorbed by the ap- 

 ples. Stewing the apples will then give a 

 fine sauce. 



Dr. Phillips, at the Chicago convention, 

 treated some of us beekeepers, among other 

 things, with a dish of dasheens, the first I 

 ever tasted. They're good; but why has no 

 one before told us that the flavor much re- 

 sembles that of boiled chestnuts? [A. I. R. 

 has several times referred to the fact that 

 dasheens taste like roasted chestnuts. They 

 have really a combination flavor of the 

 baked sweet potato, common potato, and 

 roasted chestnuts. — Ed.] 



For years I had held that a syrup of 5 

 sugar to 2 water was equivalent to honey 

 because it seemed as thick. Then to please 

 J. L. Byer I backed down as much as I 

 thought respectable. Now J. E. Crane 

 comes at me, p. 141, and I've got to back 

 down some more. Well, I don't know just 

 where to stand, but not with Byer. I don't 

 believe a pound of sugar with more or less 

 water can take the place of a pound of 

 honey. So there ! 



G. M. DooLiTTLE bequeaths to me the 

 question, " Do you believe the earth is dry- 

 ing up?" page 144. Well, I can testify 

 that for the past 80 years one decade has 

 had about as much wet as another, and I 

 see no reason why it should not continue. 

 Lately I saw the opinion of a scientist that 

 we might expect such continuance; but a 

 higher authority has entirely settled the 

 question for me in these words : " While 

 the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, 

 and cold and heat, and summer and winter, 

 and day and night shall not cease." — Gen. 

 8:22. 



A. I. Root, p. 214, not every housewife 

 by any means knows how to make good 

 cottage or Dutch cheese — " smearease " as 

 we called it in Pennsylvania. They don't 

 know the " finger test " Mrs. Root gives, 

 and scald it too hard. A safer way is to 

 pour boiling water into the milk, stirring it 

 around, then letting it stand a few minutes 

 before draining. Some use butter with it, 

 making it into balls. We like it best mere- 

 ly salted, with enough rich cream to make 

 it into a sort of mush. For my personal 

 eating I add honey. 



Arthur C. Miller in his list of puzzles, 

 p. 146, throws my way Case 1, in which the 

 bees sealed queen-cells in 2 days and 5 

 hours after brood was given them. That's 

 easy. When all and more pap has been 

 given the young queen than she can possi- 

 bly use, there's no use to wait for further 

 gTowth, and in a few cases I've found seal- 

 ed cells containing very small grubs. But 

 then, like the trouble-maker he is, he must 

 go and open those cells, and find in them 

 grubs of unlawful age. Well, what more 

 would you expect from bees whose owner 

 constantly sets them the example of setting 

 aside all traditions and precedents? By the 

 way, Arthur, Case 2 is not so very uncom- 

 mon. Bees sometimes endure, and even 

 start, cells in the presence of a virgin, and 

 I think that the virgin herself pays little or 

 no attention to cells until near their ma- 

 turity. 



Information as to shipping bare bees 

 and bees on combs, p. 136, is right to the 

 point. Somehow it's hard to get rid of the 

 idea that bees already on their own combs 

 are in a little better condition to get to 

 work than what the Germans call " naked 

 bees." Then, too, the brood. Even if all 

 the unsealed brood is destroyed, the sealed 

 brood will go right on emerging for 13 

 days, and in that 13 days the number of 

 bees may be doubled. With bare bees by 

 express no young bee will be added inside 

 of 21 daj'S after arrival. 



But when you talk about bees in car lots, 

 not one beekeeper in a hundred — perhaps 

 not one in a thousand — is interested. As to 

 shipping bees by the pound, very many are 

 interested, and every one may be at some 

 time. Thousands of beekeepers might want 

 a few pounds who would never dream of 

 getting a car lot. Any one with a few colo- 

 nies might ship a few pounds of bees, few 

 a car lot. So what's the use of comparing 

 the two when we're interested in only one? 



