GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



August, 1917 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



taught all these years, from blind Ruber's 

 time, that it takes twenty pounds of honey 

 to produce one pound of wax, as Huber 

 ascertained thru his experiments? While 

 the beekeepers of this twentieth century are 

 inclined to modify these figures a little, yet 

 all close obsei'\'ers know it does take honey 

 to produce wax, on the same principle that 

 it takes corn to produce lard. Now, the 

 white capping of combs takes much more 

 wax than that transparent capping the dark 

 Italians use, where the combs in sections 

 look so watery and uninviting; henc-e the 

 extra honey used for the wax, where we have 

 the white capping, is saved for storing by 

 the darker bees which do not use half the 

 wax in sealing over their combs. 



Borodino, N. Y. Gr, M. Doolittle. 



Letters from a Beekeeper's Wife 



On the farm, Aug. 1, '17. 

 Dear Sis: 



Hurrah ! Only a week to wait before we 

 see you ! It seems too good to be true ; but 

 really, if you do not come soon, Billy will 

 surely bui'st with impatience. 



I am so glad that the strenuous days of 

 honey-flow are over before your visit — now 

 we'll all have more time to enjoy it. I have 

 had comparative leisure for the past two 

 weeks, but Rob has been concerned about 

 his bees and has been going over every colo- 

 ny in all the yards looking for disease. He 

 found a couple of colonies in June that he 

 suspected wei'e foulbroody, but we were too 

 busy then to do much about it. He wrote 

 right away for the bee inspector to diagnose 

 the case, and he arrived several days ago. 

 I never was more amazed when a young fel- 

 low of college age drove into the yard and 

 announced that he had come to inspect the 

 bees. I had expected a man of years, whis- 

 kers, and experience! I watched Rob care- 

 fully from the tail of my eye, but he showed 

 no sign of surprise and was very cordial 

 and withal respectful to the youngster, who 

 couldn't have been any older tlian Harriette. 

 Rob and Mr. Tait, the inspector, went off to 

 the yard, and when they came back I realiz- 

 ed immediately from their interested conver- 

 sation that I was all wrong to turn up my 

 nose because of the inspector's youth. He 

 had evidently had a good deal of experience 

 with brood diseases in a college laboratory 

 and also among beekeepers, and lie knew 

 what he was talking about. Rob's interest 



and respect deepened as it always does be- 

 fore a college education. Poor dear ! he will 

 never cease regretting that he couldn't have 

 it, and he never seems to realize that he is 

 twice as well educated as many college grad- 

 uates that I've known. " No," he says, 

 " they have absorbed something from the 

 college atmosphere that I can never have." 

 If all that " atmosphere " were wholesome, 

 the case might be against Rob. 



Mr, Tait proved to have a keen mind and 

 gave Rob lots to think over this Avinter — 

 problems that they were working on at his 

 college. One problem that interested me 

 and that I should love to work out was 

 whether bees are most attracted by the odor 

 or the color of flowers. He found, alas ! 

 that we have an infectious disease in our 

 Haymaker yard — European foulbrood. It's 

 as bad as whooping cough for children, and 

 unless measures are taken to prevent its 

 spread it will go thru a whole apiary. It 

 won't go thru ours, for Rob is being ex- 

 tremely thoro, altho we have very good 

 Italian stock in our yards. He has just 

 ordered enough good resistant Italian 

 queens to put one in each diseased colony 

 and thinks that he will requeen all the api- 

 aries next spring. He just brought in the 

 queens from the diseased colonies to show 

 Billy before he guillotines them. 



Mr. Tait has been inspecting for several 

 days now in our neighborhood and seems 

 to be making our house his headquarters. 

 He and the girls find a great deal to say to 

 each other; and, altho I like him very much, 

 I'll breathe easier when he goes. I suppose 

 no mother is ever ready to have her girls 

 grow up to the young-man-caller stage. 



Poor boy! he has had his troubles with 

 one farmer here. Isn't it strange that some 

 people resent offers of help, even from the 

 State? Rob has been specially anxious 

 about this farmer's bees for he thinks that 

 apiary is the source of infection around 

 here. Several times he has offered his ser- 

 vices but the farmer has always refused to 

 let him go over the colonies, and has told 

 him he knows that this foulbrood is only a 

 scare. When Mr. Tait came Rob urged him 

 to go over there first of all and he did, but 

 the suspicious old fellow ordered him off tlie 

 place with a shot-gun and said he wouldn't 

 have any " young cub " look at his bees and 

 tell him what to do. Instead of leaving, 

 that tactful and brave youth engaged Mr. 

 Spaulding in conversation concerning bees, 

 entirely ignoring the shot-gun. I think the 

 old fellow must have admired the boy's 



