1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



215 



common bee's proboscis could be stretched 

 out long enough to sip the nectar from the 

 red-clover blossoms, which has always excit- 

 ed the cupidity of the apiarist. 



This bee is fully twice as large as the Ital- 

 ian, but a little blacker, with distinct light- 

 colored bands around the abdomen. They 

 make a large five-sided cell about 2^ inches 

 • eep, filled with a rather thin dark-colored 

 honey gathered almost entirely from the 

 blossoms of the forest trees. They do not 

 seek a hollow tree or other enclosed place to 

 build their nest, but suspend their comb 

 from the under side of the limb of a tree, 

 sometimes not more than twenty feet from 

 the ground, though usually it is high up 

 near the top of the tall trees. But they 

 dont roost too high for the i-apacious native. 

 It sometimes takes him two days to scale 

 the dizzy height to their castle, but he gets 

 there just the same by tying rattan bands 

 around the tree, one above another, thereby 

 making a foot and hand hold, up which he 

 climbs with a torch of smoking rattan wood. 



Every business has its light and dark sides, 

 so honey- gathering in the Philippines has its 

 bitter as well as its sweet morsel. The man 

 or men who go up the tree get severely 

 stung sometimes; but it is soon forgotten 

 after the spoils have been secured and they 

 are gorging themselves on the honey and 

 young white bees which are still in the comb. 

 They save the wax, and, after softening it 

 in the hot sun, make it into pots of about 

 five to ten pounds. This is bartered and 

 sold and exchanged, and passed through 

 many hands, until it finally reaches the melt- 

 ing-pot of the " 'Mericano," as much batter- 

 ed and worn as a bad dollar. 



There are at least two other varieties of 

 bees in the islands. One is a little smaller 

 than our Italians, and much darker in color, 

 V, hich seem to be the most numerous. There 

 is also another species which is of no value. 

 It is a tiny insect about the size of the little 

 sweat bee that occasionally lights on one's 

 hand in the summer season. It lives in small 

 colonies of but a few hundred in number, in a 

 hollow tree, high above the ground, and 

 makes a comb similar in shape to the Amer- 

 ican bumble-bee. 



Camden, Ohio, Dec. 21. 



PROTECTION FOR COMB-HONEY SUPERS. 



Does the Amount of Honey Produced Pay for 

 the Extra Trouble? 



BY E. F. ATWATER. 



In Dec. 1st Gleanings you ask for reports 

 on the value of protection for comb honey 

 supers. I have not had in use any supers 

 double-walled all around, but always, while 

 living in South Dakota, I kept a narrow rim 

 with a chaff cushion on top of the supers on 

 each hive, and was satisfied that the surplus 

 was increased thereby, though in that local- 

 ity, during our main flow, the nights usually 

 varied from hot to insuff'erably hot. 



After locating here I put in use the same 

 arrangement, but finally discarded it, owing 

 to the necessity of handling the two extra 

 pieces (cushion and rim) to each colony. 

 Without any absolute tests, weighing prod- 

 uct of a large number of colonies in the 

 same yard on both plans, I could see very 

 little difference; but nevertheless I think 

 that such tests would prove favorable to 

 more thorough protection; but the only ques- 

 tion in my mind is, how great a difference 

 would there be in favor of protection? Mr. 

 Danzenbaker seems to imply that protection 

 on tops and all around will make an increase 

 in the crop of about a half. Please show us 

 the proojs, for, if true, I will, of course, 

 adopt such an outer case. 



Our new supers are double on the ends 

 (ends of section holders i inch thick), while 

 on one side is a follower, and on the other 

 side a Pettit cleated divider without the 

 holes, so that, if the force of bees is as 

 strong as it should be, we have double walls 

 on the side of our super also, but full of 

 bees, rather than chaff or a dead air space. 



On the side of thorough protection of comb 

 supers stand Vernon Burt, Danzenbaker, 

 DooHttle, Massie, and quite a host of others; 

 but, if I am not mistaken, the vast majority 

 of big practical comb-honey men are on the 

 other side. I want to know if M. A. Gill, R. 

 L. Porter, James Heddon, R. L. Taylor, and 

 Dr. Miller have really been losing from 30 

 to 50 per cent of their crops from a lack of 

 protection for their supers for all these 

 years. 



Meridian, Idaho. 



POULTRY VS BEES. 



A Case in Point of How Bees and Poultry can 

 be Made to Pay. 



BY H. B. STRATTON. 



After a careful study of Mr. McGlade's 

 article on page 1307 I fail to find ' ' ocular 

 proof " that there is no profit in poultry; 

 and if Dr. Miller looks at poultry-raising in 

 the same light he will also fail to find it. 

 Mr. McGIade seems to place all the blame 

 on the Plymouth Rocks. I place it on the 

 man. Apparently he did not know what to 

 feed nor when to feed it. 



As Dr. Miller would like to ''see the fig- 

 ures," but failed to find any given by Mr. 

 McGlade relative to poultry, I should like 

 to give our experience for the doctor's ben- 

 efit and of other readers of Gleanings. 



During the year 1905 we kept 140 hens — 

 a mixed lot of Leghorn, Plymouth Rock, and 

 Hamburg fowls. Here are the figures: We 

 set 38 hens on 495 eggs, hatching 390 chick- 

 ens, and 275 of these were raised. 



NUMBER OF EGGS LAID. 



January. 1524: 

 February, 16C5; 

 March, 2594; 

 April, 2755; 

 May, 1962; 

 June. 178.^- 



July, 1500; 

 August, 1180; 

 September. 1163; 

 October, 805; 

 November, 282; 

 December. 360. 



