JULY 1. 1916 



521 



Dr. C. C. Miller 



STRAY STRAWS H^^^^^.^- 



G. M. DOOLITTLE is just right in 

 his advocacy of drawn comb in sec- 

 tions, when rightly used, p. 320. 

 It might be added that in years of 

 failure I've had such bait combs 

 filled thruout the apiary, while not 

 a drop was stored in sections filled 

 with foundation, in the same super. 



When putting foundation in brood- 

 frames the first time, the wedge and saw- 

 kerfs are fine; but if ever you want to put 

 in foundation the second time the grooves 

 are a nuisance. Perha^DS the best thing then 

 is to fill them with wax or paraffin. [It is 

 not often that comb foundation is put in 

 such frames the second time. — Ed.] 



Speaking of white clover, John H. Lovell 

 says, p. 477, " Honeybees also often gather 

 loads of greenish pollen, altho this is not 

 abundant." If that came from almost any 

 other authority, I should say, " You've been 

 careless in observing, my friend." As it is, 

 I wonder if Illinois is not different from 

 New England. Here I don't think Prof. 

 Lovell would call it greenish, but brown ; 

 and it is stored in greater abundance than 

 any other pollen, altho the pellets brought 

 in are never so very large. [It is doubtful 

 whether the color of pollen from white 

 clover in Illinois is different from that of 

 Maine. The matter in question has not been 

 printed in the book, and we are investigat- 

 ing. — Ed.] 



R. F. HoLTERMANN, I'm not on speaking 

 terms with any man that clips both wings 

 without any better reason than you give, p. 

 491. You say there is a better way to rnark 

 a queen's age — -on a top-bar. Isn't it much 

 better still to have it in a book? But what 

 has that to do with the question in hand? 

 I never kept track of a queen's age by clip- 

 ping, and I think very few do. The only 

 reason I find for your clipping both wings 

 is that when only one side is clipped the 

 queen appears " to look very awkward — 

 like a cripi^le." If a shark should bite off 

 one of my legs, I don't believe I'd say, 

 " Please bite off the other leg, Mr. Shark, 

 so I won't look so much like a cripple." If 

 looks is the only thing, why not clip only 

 I he larger wing on one side? Then at a 

 hasty glance you can't tell her from an un- 

 dipped qiieeh. 



Whatever may be best for the beekeeper 

 on a large scale, for the man with only a 

 few colonies the best thing is to send away 

 his combs to be melted up by those who 



make a business of melting combs — so much 

 simpler and easier, and in most cases cheap- 

 er. [Sending combs across the country to 

 be melted up by one who makes a business 

 of doing such work is fraught with some 

 danger. We prefer that our customers do 

 not send us such combs on account of pos- 

 sible germs of foul brood. If there is any- 

 thing that scares us it is to see our bees 

 working on a mess of old combs whose his- 

 tory is unknown. 



It is, nevertheless, true that the average 

 beekeejDer will not get as much wax out of 

 his old combs as some one who is prepared 

 to do the work. But if he will figure in 

 that he, not " Jones, pays the freight " or 

 express, he may not be making very much 

 after all. — Ed.] 



H. H. Root, after reading last Straw, p. 

 427, with your foot-note appended, I said: 

 " If all that I don't know about queen-rear- 

 ing is put along with what Huber Root and 

 Mell Pritchard do know about it, it would 

 make quite a book." For one thing, we 

 don't know, when bees are rearing a queen, 

 how long it takes to feed a larva. At least 

 I don't from my own observations, and I'm 

 a little suspicious that you and your fellow- 

 conspirator are taking the testimony of 

 others rather than your own observations. 

 You say 6 days, and 15 to 17 days from the 

 egg to the perfect queen. The orthodox 

 time for full development, 55 years ago, 

 was 17 to 18 days. See American Bee 

 Journal, 1861, p. 199. Later it came down 

 to 16 days, and later still to 15. As 6 days 

 was, I think, the time given for feeding 

 originally, I think you will find that needs 

 cutting down too. In Cowan's Guide Book 

 it is cut down to 5 days. In A B C and 

 X Y Z it is given as 6 days (page 82, 1913 

 edition ) ; but in a part written later, p. 166, 

 we ai-e told the larva is sealed " after about 

 5 days." Rather than to have any hard 

 feelings between us I'm willing to arbitrate, 

 with the bees as judges, Mell Pritchard to 

 report their decision. Till then I stand by 

 the statement that it is sometimes less than 

 5 days from the time the larva leaves the 

 egg till it is sealed, but never more. Just 

 by way of appendix, let me say that I don't 

 believe an}' good queen ever took 17 days 

 for development, altho under suftieiently 

 poor conditions 18 days or more may be 

 needed. [Mr. Pritchard is going to make 

 some careful tests this season, and he will 

 keep a record of the average elapsed time 

 in some thousands of queens. More anon. 

 —Ed.] 



