126 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



February, 1917 



THAT edito- 

 rial, pages 



1155 



t 



a n d 

 1156, was of 

 special interest 

 to me. I have 

 been using 

 frames spaced 

 IV2 inches from 



center to center for some forty years. I 

 supposed I was not quite up to our best 

 beekeepers in this respect. After using for 

 a few years frames sjDaced 1% they seemed 

 to me too close for convenience, and I de- 

 cided on 11/2 for myself. After using this 

 spacing forty years I have no reason to re- 

 gret my choice. So far as the prosperity of 

 the colony is concerned I believe it makes 

 little difference. During early spring 1% 

 might be best, but later l^/^ is quite as good 



or even better. 



* * * 



On page 1159 Mr. P. C. Chadwick goes 

 for Dr. Bonney for asserting that parcel- 

 post packages are willfully broken into 

 or handled in a very violent manner. Now, 

 one cannot help admiring Mr. Chadwick's 

 charitable view of the matter; but with 

 some rather unpleasant experience we can 

 not help thinking that Dr. Bonney's con- 

 clusions are correct. Some time ago we 

 sent to New York a package containing 24 

 small jars of honey, only fifteen of whicli 

 reached their destination. We could not 

 learn that any had been broken; but the 

 nine jars were just removed slick ,and 

 clean. When postoffice authorities were 

 interrogated we were informed that they did 

 not hold themselves responsible unless 

 packages were insured. 



I mentioned in the January issue, page 

 48, that our bees had to go into cellar with- 

 out a chance to tly late in November. They 

 have been very quiet since being placed in 

 the cellar, and yet they have flown out 

 on to the cellar floor, I should judge, twice 

 as much as a year ago when they had a 

 chance to fly before being placed in the 

 cellar. Now I am wondering if a large per 

 cent of the bees that fly out of their hives 

 late in November are not lost. If we had 

 an instrument to register all the bees that 

 leave a hive and return on any given day 

 it would often prove very interesting. 



* * * 



J. E. Jordan tells beekeepers that when 

 " an inspector comes to your place to ex- 

 amine your bees, have him wash and dis- 

 infect his hands and tools before beginning 

 his work. Have this done in your pres- 

 ence — do not take his word for it." He 



SIFTINGS 



J. E. Crane 



1 



does not insist 

 on our changing" 

 ( 1 u r shirts and 

 putting on a new 

 suit of clothes, 

 let us be thank- 

 ful. But would 

 it not be well, 

 when an inspec- 

 tor saj^s he has disinfected his hands when 

 he leaves a yard where disease is found, to 

 let that answer? To doubt his word is to 

 treat him as a liar to start with. 



% w ^ 



That pictuj'e on page 29, January, of a 

 hive that wen': thru the fire, is well worth 

 preserving. One of the saddest duties 

 that falls to the lot of the bee inspector is 

 the burning of hives of diseased bees, and 

 sometimes a Avhole apiary. The most sur- 

 prising thing about it is the intense heat 

 required to burn the combs unless sepa- 

 rated so the heat and air can get at them. 



* * * 



That new monthly Gleanings referred to 

 on page 1153, Dec. 15, came to hand Jan. 

 15, 1917. I confess I was feeling a little 

 sorry there was to be a change; but since 

 looking over the January monthly I don't 

 feel so bad. I find it lacks but five pages 

 of having twice the reading-matter as one 

 of last year's numbers; besides, it is a 



beauty. 



* * * 



Dr. MiUer thinks, after studying the 

 United States honey report, we are pro- 

 gressing backward — page 45, January. 

 After trying to fill out blanks for a honey 

 crop for the past two years, I have 

 doubted if they would amount to much. 

 Well, cheer up ! they will do better after 



a while, we hope. 



* * « 



Mr. P. C. Chadwick, page 1159, Dec. 15, 

 is surprised to find an old-maiid queen 

 among his bees. I don't see why a queen 

 .should not have the privilege of living 

 a maiden life as well as females of other 



orders of life. 



* * * 



" Can queens be successfully reared un- 

 der cover, and mating controlled?" asks 

 the editors of Gleanings on page 40, 

 January issue. Don't know — hope so. We 

 shall watch the experiment with great 

 interest. 



" The riper the honey," says P. C. Chad- 

 wick, page 1112, Dee. 1, " the less it will 

 granulate," and he is right ; and he might 

 have added, the longer it will take it to 

 granulate, and the finer will be the grain. 



