206 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 15 



of hive, or the style of separator, but never 

 a word as to what is, in my opinion, the 

 principal reason, the employment of a sec- 

 tion permitting a thinner comb, more like 

 what the bees build naturally. 



KEEPING A DIARY. 



A very important thing to the bee-keeper, 

 as well as to almost any other man, though 

 more especially to one engaged in any of the 

 rural occupations, is the keeping of some 

 kind of record of the principal events of his 

 business with relation to the season, weath- 

 er conditions, etc. 



The keeping of a regular diary, with a 

 fully written record of each day's doings, is 

 so burdensome that most people soon aban- 

 don the whole thing in disgust, and will not 

 attempt any thing of the kind; yet something 

 of the kind is desirable, and is much more 

 valuable if some system is adopted that per- 

 mits of a ready comparison of one year's 

 record with that of others. I have used 

 with a great deal of satisfaction the "Line- 

 a-day" diary, a little book in which each 

 page, headed wiih the day of the month, is 

 divided into five spaces, each intended for a 

 year's record. This space is enough for or- 

 dinary records, though not enough to tempt 

 one to prolixity. As you make each record 

 you have before you the record of that day 

 in each year since you began to keep the 

 diary, the book serving for five years' use. 

 The recording of only a few things, such as 

 the time of blooming of certain flowers, the 

 condition of the bees on certain dates, the 

 time of the first swarming, or the date and 

 duration of the various honey-flows, will en- 

 able you to keep your business in hand much 

 better than if you left these matters to 

 memory. If you wish, you can make en- 

 tries ahead, of things to be done on certain 

 dates. Then if you keep in touch with your 

 book you will be much better able to carry 

 out those plans you should have been making 

 for the next season's work. Begin this 

 now, and see if you do not like it. 



EXTRACTING HONEY FROM COLONIES SLIGHT- 

 LY DISEASED WITH FOUL BROOD. 



Elmer Todd still seems to think that I 

 have misrepresented him in my comments 

 on pages 807 and 1298, and in a communica- 

 tion to the editor he has the following to 

 say: "On page 1298, Dec. 15, Mr. Green 

 says he has carefully re-read my article, 

 and he fails to see that he has misrepresent- 

 ed in any way. Now it is up to me to show 

 him where he did misrepresent on p. 807. In 

 his article entitled ' Extracting Honey from 

 Colonies with Foul Brood' he says I claim, 

 in the Bee-keepers' Review, that it is safe to 

 extract honey from a super above a queen- 

 excluder over a colony having foul brood. I 

 now challenge him to point out in that arti- 

 cle where I made that claim. What I did 

 say was tiiis: 'A diseased colony that comes 

 up to the expected honey-flow not percepti- 

 bly weakened in numbers.' Then in anoth- 

 er place I said *the slightly diseased or 

 doubtful colonies. ' He most certainly con- 

 veys a wrong impi-ession. He does not de- 



scribe the colonies as 1 did. but quotes me 

 as saying ' over a colony having foul brood. ' 

 His language clearly conveys the impression 

 that I said it would be safe with any colony 

 having foul brood, regardless of the degree 

 oj its infection. His language can not be 

 construed in any other way. His whole ar- 

 ticle confirms this assertion. ' ' 



I cheerfully give place to this here, and 

 admit that I did not quote his exact words. 

 It is impracticable, in a department of short 

 items, to elaborate fully on each statement 

 that may be under criticism. It might have 

 been better if I had stated that he meant 

 only colonies that were not badly diseased, 

 though my article on page 1298 shows fully 

 that it was based on that understanding of 

 his position. 



Please remember that a colony that is 

 "slightly diseased " with foul brood has foul 

 brood, and can convey the disease just as 

 certainly as one that is badly diseased. The 

 difference is only one of degree in the per- 

 centage of risk involved in handling it. To 

 extract from even the most slightly diseased 

 along with healthy colonies is gambling on 

 an uncertainty and against heavy odds, 

 since, if you lose, your loss is apt to be far 

 greater than any thing you would gain if 

 you won. 



Experience has shown me that some men 

 are unable to detect foul brood until it has 

 made considerable progress. Judgments 

 may vary as to what constitutes a * ' slightly 

 diseased" colony. The careless and the 

 busy are likely to assume that the disease 

 has not made the progress since the last ex- 

 amination that it really may have. It is be- 

 cause of these things that I have criticised 

 Mr. Todd's conclusions and regretted their 

 publication. 



ORDERS OF INSECTS. 



We have now considered the lace wings, 

 nearly all of which are our friends, and the 

 locust order, which are as characteristically 

 pests, and we next come to discuss the 

 Hemiptera, or bugs. These are the true 

 bugs ; and, though many use this word as a 

 synonym of insect, yet it v ere better if all 

 would follow the entomologist and limit the 

 use of bug to this one order— Hemiptera. 



The bugs take the name Hemiptera from 

 the fact that many have the front or prima- 

 ry wings quite different from the posterior 

 or secondary ones, and especially from the 

 fact that these front wings are thickened at 

 the base so they appear like half-wings. 

 Such wings are called " hemelytra." These 



