Fkbruarv, 1920 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



gies and kuow ourselves one iu the lioliuess 

 and power, the reverence and service, of re- 

 ligion.) 



Coining back to our convention, tho, Dr. 

 Sanborn, who is head of the Department of 

 Philosophy at Vanderbilt, gave us a most 

 impressive paper on "The Present Status of 

 the Problem of Heredity." I was interested 

 in one question he let drop, unanswered: 

 ' ' Do bees gather more now than in primitive 

 times?" — meaning, of course, bee by bee. 

 Undeniably, modern beekeeping methods 

 have brought about a higher average colony 

 surplus, but do the individual bees gather 

 more. Dr. Sanborn wonders. Dr. Miller is 

 a famous exponent of the theory that by 

 breeding continually from the best, one can 

 build up a better honey-gathering strain. 

 On that theory, there should sometime come 

 a day, even tho it be not yet arrived, when 

 the bee can gather more nectar than its 

 primitive ancestor. 



Kennith Hawkins of Watertown, Wise, 

 talked on that most important of all sub- 

 jects, "Getting a Maximum Yield," empha- 

 sizing once more the dictum, ' ' Get your 

 colony strength to its greatest in time for 

 the big flow — not some time later." 



Then we continued in office for another 

 year our able secretary. Prof. G. M. Bentley, 

 State Entomologist; while as president and 

 vice-president respectively we chose two • 

 comparatively new names in our beekeeping 

 midst — O. R. Eeichley, Dyersburg, and Prof. 

 Floyd Bralliar, Madison Station, Nashville. 



* * * 



I was interested in what Mr. Parks said 

 in the January number (page 31) about the 

 apple and peach trees of Texas blooming for 

 short periods in the fall. Prof. Bralliar, our 

 new vice-president, told us at our conven- 

 tion, that the elms in this locality were in 

 full bloom last fall, and that their bees se- 

 curred some surplus from it. It was news to 

 many of us that our elms ever did bloom in 

 the fall, but he assured us it was true last 

 fall not only of elms, but also of catalpas 

 and some pears, and expressed natural sur- 

 prise that we had not noticed it. He brought 

 a jar of this fall honey with him, calling it 

 elm honey, tho admitting it was mixed to 

 some extent with nectar from other sources. 

 It was somewhat dark with rather a strong 

 flavor. [According to that very good authori- 

 ty, J. H. Lovell, elms yield no honey but do 

 vield pollen and quite often honeydew. — 



Editor.] 



* * * 



Has anybody noticed that I haven 't said 

 a word about wintering this season, not a 

 single word about packing? That's not the 

 worst. I haven 't done a bit of it, either. 

 That wasn 't intentional, tho. It just hap- 

 pened. Eefraining from the written re- 

 mark was intentional. One thing I must 

 say, however, in passing. The four colonies 

 that wintered 1918-19 in the one quadruple 

 case we possess, and in which last winter 

 we used the two-or-three-little-hole-entrance 

 advised by Dr. Phillips, showed right up to 



the top notch in honey production; that is, 

 they were among the very best in the yard. 

 There were other colonies that did as well, 

 but no other four right together than ran 

 as well as this four. They were about even 

 one with the other, and all as good as the 

 best. That's something, isn't it? We in- 

 tended using the case again, and trying to 

 get a better grade of chaff, as what we got 

 last fall was not much better than straw. 

 But we kept waiting, waiting, for the car- 

 penter to get the fence built in the new 

 place, as we have to move the bees; and 

 presently it was December, and they were 

 neither moved nor packed. But we did put 

 mouse-excluding wire across every entrance 

 and so hope to avoid the sad experience of 

 finding mouse-ruined combs next spring. 



* * « 



The year 1919 closed mildly. Up to the 

 end of December there had been no severe 

 weather, tho we had experienced a few of 

 those sudden changes that so disturb both 

 human and apiarian tranquillity. Then how 

 1920 did jostle 1919, the night of December 

 31, when they met at the gate. The last 

 time I looked at the thermometer on our 

 porch in 1919 was at half past seven the last 

 night, after the sun had set and dark had 

 come with her chill. But there was the 

 mild old year gently registering 64 degrees. 

 The next noon, in the warmest part of the 

 day, the mercury had been pushed down to 

 34 degrees by the scornful young year, rid- 

 ing a wind from the west. And notwith- 

 standing the gay fire in my grate, the air 

 from the wide-open window struck cold and 

 things crackled in the room. But it was a 

 bright, sunny day, the kind one likes for 

 New Year's Day. May 1920 be a bearer of 

 much that is good. 



* * * 



Miss Flora Mclntyre (page 38, January 

 Gleanings) makes me a little ashamed that 

 I have never even thought of trying to in- 

 crease the becomingness of things in the 

 beeyard. Perhaps it would be only honest 

 to admit at the same time that I have the 

 bad habit of dreading to think of clothes, 

 anyway. I like them pretty and all that, 

 if somebody else will just do the thinking 

 about them and planning and making. 

 That's why I mostly buy them ready-made. 

 If someone would only start a factory for 

 making becoming beekeeping suits and hats 

 and veils, I'd promise to be a good customer. 

 But that idea of splashy gay silk on the hat 

 brim, drooping a bit over the edge and help- 

 ing make soft shadows underneath for the 

 eyes to rest in, this I like well enough to 

 try it myself — ^tho alas, I have no lovely 



golden curls! 



* * * 



A "Boys' and Girls' Beekeeping Club," 

 mentioned now and then, is a capital idea. 

 With our exhilarating climate, children will 

 be doing something. Why not get them 

 interested in something useful, instead of 

 wasting their time in play or in annoying 

 their neighbors? 



