NoVK.MUKK, lO'Jil 



G L K A N I N G S IN REE C U L T U 11 E 



A. 



C 



lur 



I. ROOT, 



Dr. :\niicr, 



Doolittic, 

 A 1 e X a 11 il t' r, 

 Townseml, :i n il 

 nil the other re^ 

 ular and occa- 

 sional editors of 

 departments or 

 writers were to 

 nie as iniieli friends as if onr intercourse 

 were actual and niatorial. "When Mr. Hutch- 

 inson died, I sufTored, and when I had a 

 copy that told that Doolittle also had passed 

 I received another shock. The last number 

 I saw without 'Stray Straws' gave me a 

 shock, and I hurried thru for fear A. I. Root 

 would be also missing. To me most of these 

 men having been living epistles, preaching 

 a vital Christianity shown in honest work." 

 ^^I•s. T. rnrsell, Norfolk County, Mass. 



"As you travel along the Southern Pa- 

 li fie R. R. going west, yon ])ass a range of 

 mountains with two heads, called * Das Cabe- 

 zas. ' Well, there arc eight of us scattered 

 around the foot of this mountain, handling 

 bees, and we all get some fine honey from 

 the catclaw and mesquite. We have all got 

 the liest place, and our little workers have 

 brought in a big harvest all year. As w-e 

 liave not had our usual summer rains, many 

 of the desert plants are blossoming early. 

 Among them is the mescal, a plant known 

 to tlower lovers as 'century plant,' and it 

 produces a drunk as well as honey. Our bees 

 are gathering it now and j'ou can not get 

 near them they arc so sassy. As one of the 

 boys says: 'They sure have a mescal drunk 

 i>n just like the Mexicans, for you can 't get 

 near them." But every super is full as soon 

 as we can get at them." — II. G. Huntzinger, 

 Cocliise County, Ariz. 



•'European foul brood is all over the 

 country, with (|uite a sprinkling of American. 

 The State College is doing all that it can, 

 with the money available and the few in- 

 spectors they have to control the diseases. 

 We should have $10,(100 for the two-year 

 jieriod, and a competent man in each of 

 the westside counties, and until we do get 

 it, this disease is going to gain steadily." — 

 W. L. ('ox,- Inspector of Apiaries for Grays 

 Harbor, ]VIason and Thurston counties. 

 Wash. 



"I turned loose about 50 or 60 good vir- 

 gin fpieens this summer in the middle of the 

 day. Ten or fifteen days later I fovind se\- 

 cral of them making themselves at home 

 in (|ueenless colonies and in colonies where 

 there were old <jueen« with clipped wings. 

 1 call that self introducing. I will try this 

 out every time I have extra queens." — 

 — Charles S. Kinzie, Riverside Counts, Calif. 



"In the winter of 1918-1919 I obtained 

 data from Nov. 2 to April 2 on the loss of 

 weight per day of a group of seven colonies 

 which I wintered in donl)le-walled hives in 

 a sheltered location. The average decrea.se 



BEES, MEN AND THINGS 



(You may find it here) 



3 



TU 



685 



in weight in the 

 five months was 

 15 pounds near- 

 ly. It is not quite 

 correct to state 

 that figure rep- 

 resents stores 

 consumed, as un- 

 doubtedly more 

 stores had been 

 consumed and converted into brood, but 

 there had also been some loss in the weight 

 of the bees themselves. However, if bees 

 can be wintered out of doors in this climate 

 with so little weight lost during the winter, 

 why should one bother with a bee cellar?" 

 L. 'L. Wheeler, Whiteside County, Ills. 



"In the fall of 1919 I united two colo- 

 nies of bees that, so far as I know, were 

 not related. This spring when I examined 

 them I found two queens working together 

 peaceably. I have examined this colony sev- 

 eral times since and each time found both 

 queens. The last time I examined them was 

 on July 28. They have one of the best colo- 

 nies in my yard. They arc in a regular ten- 

 frame Langstroth hive. These two queens 

 were clipped, and I know without any doubt 

 that they formerly belonged to two differ- 

 ent colonies." — A. N. Norton, San Juan 

 County, N. M. 



"Last winter our bees w^ere in ten-frame 

 hives, two-story high, 10 frames below, 8 

 above-. Those in the upper story had solid 

 slabs of sealed sweet clover honey, with Hill 

 device on top; then covered with a piece 

 of canvas; then forest leaves and shavings 

 over these; about 8 inches of shavings 

 around the sides, 3 inches sawdust under the 

 floor. They came thru alive with every queen, 

 and when 1 opened the hives on March 27 I 

 found young bees crawling around on the 

 f ranu's. " — A. W. Lindsay, Wayne County, 

 Mich. 



"Along the Apalachicola Valley, where 

 tupelo hoiu'y is produced in its purit}', we 

 have harvested barely one-third of an aver- 

 age yield, which was also the case last year, 

 as we harvested less honey these two years 

 than any years before in the last 15 years. 

 Yet the honey buyers are holding out on us 

 and do not hesitate to mention in their cor- 

 respondence that we are asking too much 

 for honey, taking into consideration the fact 

 that we have so large a yield. Where they 

 get their information I am unable to say, 

 l)ut we do contend that wo are not asking 

 too much when we have not asked above 

 24c, and are now offering our crop, most of 

 which we still have on hand, at 2() to 21 

 cents f. o. b. here." — Tupelo Honey Ex- 

 change, H. E. Rish, Mgr., Calhoun Countv, 

 Fla. 



"In behalf of the members of our so- 

 ciety of Rhone and France T take it upon 

 myself to send to you on the occasion of 

 the anniversary of your national independ- 

 ence their cordial salutation. We do not 



