January, 1917 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



45 



c 



LJ 



PLAN to go to 

 the Nation- 

 al conven- 

 tion at Madison. 

 It's worth going 

 to see and hear 

 the genial pi-esi- 

 dent, Prof. Ja- 



" More probably those who buy karo 

 cannot afford to buy honey," p. 1106. 

 Likely enough they think they cannot af- 

 ford it. If, however, the poorest day- 

 laborer were fully informed as to the 

 real food value of honey, and its superiori- 

 ty over karo, he might think he tould better 

 atford honey than karo. 



" The riper the honey the less it will 

 granulate," saj's P. C. Chadwick, p. 1112. 

 Can you prove that, P. C? I've always 

 leaned to that belief, but never was en- 

 tirely sure. [It has been generally believed 

 that unripe honey will granulate quicker 

 than ripe. We did not know there was 

 any doubt on that point. — Ed.] 



R. F. HOLTERMANN, p. 1077, thinks that 

 so far as lies in our power we should not 

 let worker-bees have the chance to clean out 

 larvcB diseased with European foul brood. 

 I risk the guess that, after our tall friend 

 has had a little longer acquaintance with 

 the disease, he'll change his mind. I'd 

 hardly think of having anything else done 

 with the diseased larvae. 



M. S. Phillippe writes : " Here is a 

 remedy for those bothersome toads G. W. 

 H. mentions, p. 1040. If the yard is so 

 situated, he can dig a trench the width of 

 a shovel and 20 to 24 inches deep around 

 the apiarj', and for a large apiary he can 

 plow a deep furrow and finish to right 

 depth with shovel." He says it works with 

 Imperial Valley toads, two of which Avill 

 fill a hat. 



A REMARKABLE thing in U. S. Govern- 

 ment report is 32.3 per cent of this year's 

 honey crop being held for home use and 

 local sale against 60.8 per cent last year, 

 and 67.7 per cent sold to outside markets 

 this year against 39.2 per cent last year. 

 If no mistake in figaires, that looks like 

 progress in the wrong direction. [There 

 must be some mistake. Our own investiga- 

 tions show that more honey was consumed 

 in the United States this year than ever 

 before in its history. — Ed.] 



Some reasons are given, p. 1111, why 

 brood disappears in the fall, and combs 

 become solid slabs of honey. May be all 

 right, but it looks a good deal to me as 



STRAY STRAWS 



1 



Dr. C. C. Miller 



^^^^^^^^^ 



if by a gracious 

 p r o V i s i on of 

 nature my bees 

 decide at a cer- 

 tain time that 

 at'B time brood 

 must give way 

 to preparation 

 tdv winter. To 

 be sure, with extract ing-combs they don't 

 act quite the same as with sections; but in 

 that case I suppose they don't figure on 

 having the extraeting-comb taken away. 



D. D. Whedon^ if you want a mill like 

 mine write Quaker City Mill, Philadelphia, 

 Pa., and ask price of mill F No. 4 (I think 

 it's around $4.00). Use any good wheat, 

 being sure it is dry. I find it easier to run 

 merely enough so no grains go thru whole, 

 and then running it thru fine. The flour 

 doesn't keep well if gi'ound many days 

 ahead. The mill will grind any grain. 



Marten Mulder writes from South Af- 

 rica that a special coiitaibutor to The 

 Farmer's Weekly advises to " divide the 

 apiary into halves, the one half the strong 

 hives and the other half the weak ones. 

 Take all the brood from the weak hives and 

 give it to the strong hives, when the harvest 

 will be at least 50 to 100 per cent more." 

 He quotes my book, and says this is called 

 the " American Doubling-up System," and 

 is universally practiced in America. 



He's badly mixed. Marten. I strengthen 

 first the strongest of tliose weak enough to 

 need help, and, if necessary for that pur- 

 pose, might draw brood from the weakest; 

 but if I did I'd pay it back afterward with 

 double interest, and bring all colonies up 

 to full strength for the harvest. 



Mention was made, p. 1013, Nov. 1, of 

 the plan of M. S. Phillippe to test the pres- 

 ence of a virgin by pinning a scaled queen- 

 cell on sealed brood in the brood-nest, 

 when if any kind of queen is present the 

 cell will be destroyed in a few hours. The 

 editor said, " Yes ; but if one doesn't have 

 a sealed queen-cell, what is he to do'?" 

 Well, there are always sealed cells to burn 

 during the swarming season, and Mr. Phil- 

 lippe says you can save these for future 

 use, since " old cells are as good as new 

 if kept unbroken." Likely enough the 

 editor had in mind that a live occupant was 

 needed in the cell; and a beekeeper at my 

 elbow says, " A queen wouldn't tear a cell 

 with a dead tenant." Don't be too sure of 

 that. With a sealed queen-cell in a nur- 

 sery I've often known the queen to dig 

 holes in the side of the empty cell after 

 emerging from it. 



