Jli.y, 191: 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



533 



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c 



ur 



DO not now 

 remember a 

 season so late 

 as this in over 

 fifty years. Ap- 

 ple-trees are not 

 yet in bloom, 

 June 1. There 

 were not half a 

 dozen days up to June 1 with sunshine 

 warm enough so the bees could fly freely, 

 and not more than two or three days when 

 the thermometer went up to 70 degrees. On 

 June 4 the bees were bringing in honey as 

 fast from dandelions as they often do from 

 clover, in pro]iortion to the size of colonies. 

 Hurrah! we shall not need to feed sugar 

 syrup this spring. Queens will soon be 

 crowded at this rate. 



" Brood-combs containing nuich small lar- 

 VcB should not be handled at a temperature 

 much below 70 degrees," says Mr. P. C. 

 Chadwick, p. 363, May. If we were to fol- 

 low this rule we sliould not have done much 

 handling of brood this spring. But does it 

 injure young brood to handle it with care at 

 a low temperature"? On the morning of May 

 28, with the thermometer on the side of the 

 house at 40, I went to the yard, w'here the 

 temperature was doubtless several degree.^ 

 lower, and lifted out most of the brood- 

 combs from two hives holding them out for 

 a few seconds, and returning them to the 

 hive. Tavo days later, with an assistant, I 

 looked over both hives without discovering 

 any harm done to the tender brood. How- 

 ever, I confess that there seems to be some- 

 thing a little incongTuous in looking up 

 queens and clii^ping their wings as we did 

 a few days ago in a temperature so low that 

 overeoats were necessary. 



That " Food page," 454, June, as it seems 

 to me, contains the most sensible advice on 

 the conservation of food that I have seen. 

 One of the best things it contains is that 

 it returns the advice to Uncle Sam, to can- 

 serve its resources. While everybody is 

 advised to save to the utmost, Uncle Sam 

 is advised to save the hundreds of millions 

 of bushels of grain that is being more than 

 wasted by using in making beer and whisky. 

 " What is sauce for the goose is sauce for 



the gander." 



» * » 



I don't know who M. A. 0. is, page 425, 

 but he evidently knows what is going on in 

 the " oflice " as well as in the outside world, 

 and we outsiders enjoy what is going on 

 in the othce as well as those in the office 

 enjoy what takes place outside. 



SIFTINGS 



J. E. Crane 



1 



W^^^^^^^^ 



TU 



On page 431, 

 June, the editoi- 

 <'oncludes that 

 the reason the 

 bees gather no 

 surplus from 

 dandelion at Me- 

 dina is because 

 they have too 

 nia:;y bees for the territory. I will venture 

 to guess that " locality " has something to 

 do with it. If the weather is cold, bees 

 will fly but a short distance, and large yards 

 will gather little; but if the days are 

 warm, as June 2 and 4, the number of 

 colonies seems to make little difference. 

 We have in our home yard some 200 colo- 

 nies at this time, and — well, I wish you 

 could just look at the combs, crammed with 

 honey. Bees began swarming about here 

 this year before apple-trees were in bloom — 

 i^omething I have never known before. 



* * * 



Page 355, May, John Preston True tells 

 us of his success in keeping bees in an attic. 

 This is practiced to a considerable extent 

 in Massachusetts. A gentleman from the 

 western part of Connecticut told m.e of his 

 success. Indeed, he reported a larger yield 

 of honey than almost any one in the state. 

 He used the attic of a large warehouse. 



* * * 



What is said on page 461, June, about 

 fiber containers, is of special interest at 

 this time. May we add our testimony to 

 that of the editor — that, after using such 

 containers for some time, they se3m very 

 decidedly promising? A cheap attractive 

 package for extracted honey is something 

 I have been trying to find for a long time. 

 « * « 



That illustration of the results of incom- 

 plete pollination on page 439, June, is most 

 illuminating. The same is true of apples. 

 By cutting into small or one-sided apples 

 we shall find that the cause comes from im- 

 perfect or incomplete pollination, as can be 

 readily seen by the lack of seeds. 



That story of the Repp boys raising 

 fruit while their neighbors were raising hell 

 is full of human interest, j^ages 433, '5. 

 How true it is that one person or a very 

 few have to do the thinking and pioneer 

 work in almost every line of effort! and, 

 after they succeed the crowd follows. 

 * * * 



Mrs. Allen tells, on page 455, of having 

 to kill a queen because her eggs would not 

 hatch. We killed one a week ago for the 

 same reason. Who can tell us the cause? 



