Mahch, 1920 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



HEADS OF GRAIN \ D\ 



in the hope, of course, of having a feed. 

 Birds, ants, and beetles found no difficulty 

 in achieving their object; but the rabbits 

 encountered wire netting, and, incredible as 

 it may appear, they started to grind the 

 wire with their teeth, and in a few nights 

 succeeded in making a few holes in the 

 fence. 



The ants are real pests here at any time; 

 but tiiis year they are a real menace in or- 

 chard and beeyard, in the house, kitchen, 

 and even in a bedroom. Some of them 

 sting, and their sting is more painful than 

 that of a bee. Some discharge a fluid with a 

 sickening smell, so that if they once inter- 

 fere with food they render it uneatable. 

 This season the ants took possession of our 

 scanty bee pastures, and so there was noth- 

 ing left for the poor bees but to perish. 

 The ants would take nectar out of blossoms 

 even before the blossoms were opened suf- 

 ficiently for the bees to enter, either by eat- 

 ing a hole in a bud or by entering the bud 

 thru extremely small openings in the fold- 

 ings of the bud. A bee never dares enter a 

 blossom already monopolized by ants. If it 

 does, it will be most savagely attacked and 

 destroyed. Yet the bee can live here; it can 

 survive the drouth with a little help, and 



DIFFERENT FIELDS 



pay handsomely in good seasons. So the 

 ABC and X Y Z of Bee Culture is right in 

 its opinion that "bees can live wherever 

 human beings can." T. Volkofsky. 



Mount Boppy, N. S. W., Australia, Dec. 

 26, 1919. 



Unusual On page 800 of De- 



Disappearance of cember Gleanings, Ed. 



Queens. W. Frisby asks what 



could have caused the 

 strange disappearance of his queens. I 

 think, perhaps, I may be able to throw a 

 little light on this subject. Since Mr. Fris- 

 by said the only way he could requeen was 

 to buy queens, he evidently lives in a lo- 

 cality where there are lots of bee-eating 

 birds, and, as the queens fly slowly and 

 steadily, they are easily caught by these 

 bee-birds, and thus the young queens when 

 out to be mated are lost in their flight. On 

 the other hand the queens he bought were 

 mostly mated and, therefore, never exposed 

 themselves to the bee-birds. 



Millston, Wis. Otto Scholze. 



[While this does not explain the loss of 

 mated queens, it seems a very plausible ex- 

 planation of the loss of virgins. — Editor.] 



High Prices. — By Bill Mellvir 



(With apologies to Walt Mason.) 



Now all day long I cuss or weep, because 

 the prices are so steep; for when I linger in 

 a store, the way they rob me makes me sore. 

 And when I order bee sup- 

 plies I 'm stung by prof 

 iteering guys, who should be 

 dangling from a rope and 

 forced to give away their 

 dope. I need some supers and 

 some hives, some frames 

 and extra honey-knives; 

 some comb foundation and 

 some wire, a pencil and a 

 brand-new lyre. I need a 

 smoker and a veil; I need 

 a hammer and a nail. I 

 need some movies on the 

 screen, some tires and 

 some gasoline. But all these 

 things I can not buy, be- 

 cause the prices are so 

 high. The only way to 

 stop my tears would be to 

 lynch the profiteers. But 

 for the things I have to 

 sell, I have another tale to 

 tell, which illustrates the 

 other side and can not just- 

 ly be denied. I have some 

 beeyards hereabouts. My 

 high-brow bees are noble 

 scouts. They spring each 



year great tanks of sweets, which I am sell- 

 ing on the streets. And when on buoyant 

 legs I go, to sell a fragrant ton or so 

 of bee-kissed honey, by the 

 tierce, the price I get is 

 something fierce. And 

 when a customer would 

 kick and fire at me a high- 

 priced brick, I give con- 

 vincing reasons why my 

 prices penetrate the sky. 

 The clover on my neigh- 

 bors' farms on high-pric- 

 ed ground now spreads its 

 charms. It grew from many 

 high-priced seeds right in 

 among expensive weeds. 

 Some days the nectar in 

 this bloom comes oozing 

 out to get some room. My 

 high-priced bees, with high- 

 priced zeal, go forth and 

 all this nectar steal. On 

 gleeful wings they tote it 

 home to mow away in high- 

 priced comb. Then when 

 it's ready to extract, and 

 in expensive cans be pack- 

 ed, my high-priced time de- 

 mands its share, which 

 leaves for profit naught 

 but tare. 



