1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



717 



most localities in quest of nectar. Mr. Alex- 

 ander perhaps assumes that his reader will 

 ' ' read between the lines ' ' more than he 

 does; that is, he assumes that he will take 

 into careful consideration the surrounding 

 conditions as he has given them at different 

 times. Take, for example, Doolittle's non- 

 swarming articles. One must have a locali- 

 ty that will give a surplus of combs filled 

 with honey after the main or general honey- 

 flow; and that locality must have a yield 

 from fruit-bloom much stronger than most 

 of us have or the bees can not be kept "rich 

 in honey."— Ed.] 



A. K. Ferris comes to the aid of the edi- 

 tor, p. 670, and wants to get me out alone. 

 All right, Bro. Ferris, I am ready for you. 

 I call your attention to two points. First, 

 in that little picture, No. 1, p. 670, the com- 

 partments are about as far as you could get 

 from the right proportions. It may be that, 

 in a construction of that kind, bees ought to 

 cluster just as you picture it. I don't know; 

 I never tried it. But I will try to show you 

 just how my bees do cluster in a hive with 

 three compartments, for I had 50 such hives 

 made, using full-sized frames, and have had 

 experience with hundreds of nuclei in them. 

 Here is a picture drawn to scale if the print- 

 er follows copy : 



./^ 



1-^ 



r^= 



~y 



3 



"What was the second point?" Oh, yes! 

 the second pomt is that a nucleus doesn't al- 

 ways cluster near the entrance. Now wait 

 till I catch you out alone. [In your three- 

 compartment mating-hive you have shown 

 the central compartment a good deal smaller 

 than the two outside ones. If you made 

 each division the same size, would you not 

 get a difference very much like that shown 

 in the Ferris diagram? Your bees must be 

 different from ours if they do not show a 

 strong tendency to cluster directly over or 

 toward the entrance. In very warm weath- 

 er it would not make very much difference. 

 -Ed.] 



The editor, p. 641, says, "Honest, now, 

 don't you find yourself clinging to the old, 

 true, and tried more than you once did? 

 Peer again into the archives of memory." 

 I peered. Not getting a very clear view, I 

 tried to find out from my assistant, and ask- 

 ed, "Don't you think I am a little more con- 

 servative about trying new things than I 

 used to be?" In a rather listless way she 

 replied, "Yes, I suppose so; why?" "Oh! 

 I just wanted to know. " Then she added, 

 half meditatively, "I don't think there is 



much improvement, though, I must confess. " 

 So I suppose I have improved at least a lit- 

 tle. [Your assistant is not a good judge,, 

 because she is more conservative than you; 

 but is it not a fact, doctor, that you clung" 

 tenaciously to the old T super with loose 

 T tins when all the younger fry had aban- 

 doned them in favor of either the section- 

 holder or wide frame? Then you never 

 liked the plain section or shallow hive. You 

 are in good company; but that company are 

 mainly those who got used to the older style 

 of goods. I grant that, for one of your 

 years, you have a young heart, and that 

 you like to try new things. But I repeat, 

 don't you find yourself clinging to the old, 

 true, and tried just a wee bit more than you 

 once did? But you ask how about your as- 

 sistant. I do not know, for when we meet 

 face to face we very often get into an argu- 

 ment and I— I get the worst of it. While 

 we are on "speaking terms" there are 

 some subjects we now studiously avoid. 

 For example, we don't discuss whether 

 holes in hives should be stuffed with rags 

 to keep bees from getting out, nor yet 

 whether there should be "weeds and 

 things " around a bee-yard.— Ed,] 



A VISIT FROM THE EDITOR OF THE RURAL 

 BEE-KEEPER. 



We had a call recently from W. H. Put- 

 nam, of the Rtiral Bee-keeper, of River 

 Falls, Wis. He had just been in attendance 

 at the White Class Advertising banquet 

 held in Chicago on May 22. and before re- 

 turning was taking a tour among the bee- 

 keepers. He left here for Flint, Michigan, 

 where he expected to see the editor of the 

 Bee keepers' Review. Mr. Putnam gets out 

 a good bee-paper, and its editor is doing 

 what all editors of bee-papers ought to do- 

 visit bee keepers. We wish Mr. Putnam 

 every success. 



PROSPECTS FOR THE SEASON ; POSTAL-CARD 

 REPORTS CALLED FOR. 



Our bee weather has been ideal. Hot 

 days and cold nights, with every now and 

 then a shower, has made every thing smile 

 including the clovers, which are just begin- 

 ning to show their faces. 



We are all ejcpectant as to what the har- 

 vest will be, and for that reason I hope our 

 readers all over the country vdll send us 

 postal cards with one or two sentences on, 

 and no more, telling us what the prospects 

 are, and how clover looks. Don't, don't 



