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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Grace Allen 



THE DIXIE BEE 



Nashville, Tenn. 



Some of us are treasuring those 

 articles by Mr. Orel Hershiser on 

 European a n d American foul 

 brood, over against a day we hope 

 may never come — another case of 

 preparedness. 



Brood-rearing seems to be coming on 

 pretty well, tho probably not so fast as tho 

 there had been fruit-bloom. There is a 

 little sealed drone brood. 



* * * 



" Cut it out ! " Mr. Seholl insists, page 

 223, March 15, referring to drone comb. It 

 sounds a bit personal to some of us who 

 realize that we may not have cut it out so 

 closely as we ought, but we do know what 

 excellent advice it is. 



* * * 



Most of the reports show bees thruout 

 middle Tennessee to have wintered well, tho 

 we have heard of some that starved out 

 because of failure to feed in the fall. 

 ("Lack of sense or cents'?" queries our 

 correspondent reporting it.) 

 « * * 



"Feeding fourteen dollars' worth of sugar 

 every three days, with rain between spells," 

 as recorded by S. H. Burton, Feb. 15, page 

 153, is certainly persistence in the face of 

 obstacles. Sticking-to-it is one of the qual- 

 ities that make for ultimate success. Here's 

 hoping Mr. Burton's bees more than repay 

 him this year. 



« « * 



We lost one colony — queenless. Perhaps 

 it served me right, for my last record of 

 last fall says, " Did not see queen." Other- 

 wise colonies were in fairly good condition, 

 tho I was sorry to observe the last one or 

 two combs to the north in many hives moldy 

 — in some of them, very moldy. Why? 

 And why the one to the north, I wonder? 

 Super covers seemed. looser than usual this 

 spring, not sealed down so tight as other 

 years. Perhaps we fed a little late. 



Just to the end of one alighting-board I 

 was puzzled, one day in the early spring, 

 to find quite an accumulation of pollen 

 balls. There were none around any other 

 hive, or elsewhere by that hive. After 

 watcliing a bit 1 saw a little bee with great 

 generous loads of bright yellow pollen drop 

 on that end of the board, and squeeze into 

 the hive thru a liny opening where the 

 entrance-contractor, a trifle short, failed to 



reach tlio end of the entrance. And as she 

 squeezed in, the pollen was scraped off and 

 dropped to the ground, wasted. 



* * * 



Please, everybody, hold your breath. It 

 looks excitingly as tho we might have a 

 stunningly good year, if something just 

 doesn't go wrong. The weatherman was 

 not considerate during fruit bloom — indeed, 

 in our immediate neighborhood there was 

 practically no fruit-bloom this spring, 

 which you will admit was a grievous disap- 

 pointment. Of course there are no orchards 

 around here, anyway, but usually there is 

 considerable bloom, all told, in the yards 

 round about. But this year the peach-buds, 

 which had been swelled since early Febru- 

 ai-y, were held back thru freezing weather 

 till nearly April, whereupon the trees with 

 a bit of a pout threw out leaves instead of 

 blossom.s. So, too, with the early plum. 

 Then it rained almost constantly during the 

 blossom time of the later plums, and there 

 are no apple-trees around here. So we have 

 had to feed part of our little yard to tide 

 over till clover. Out in the country, where 

 there are apple-orchards, things are decid- 

 edly better. " This bloom," writes one bee- 

 keeper, speaking of apple, " laps over into 

 crimson clover, which in turn laps over into 

 white clover," which certainly sounds good 

 to a city backlotter. But the prospects for 

 white clover are fine, and we are willing to 

 risk a little sugar in the hopes of being 



ready for it. 



* * * 



The Bee Larva. 



Larva that lies so still, 



Wonderful worm so white, 



Guarded from ill of hunger or chill 



In dusk like a mid-summer night, 



How did you come to be? 



How did you break the egg? 



E 'er yet we can see, has the mystery 



Encircled a thorax and leg, 



Groped for a brain and an eye, 



Dreamed of a gossamer wing 



And hoAv it will fly when some early June 



sky 

 Makes summer a marvelous thing? 



Peacefully you lie curjed, 



Sheltered from struggle and strife, 



Tho wings, when unfurled, become part of a 



world 

 Of measureless labor and life. 

 Pray that some elf a choice brings 

 Of lying summer — long so, 

 Or wearing out wings doing fair, brave 



things — 

 Which would vou choose? I know! 



