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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15 



the place. If the language implies it I stand 

 corrected. Tell that ' * intermeddler ' ' that I 

 do not agree with her. Not every thing sells 

 that we advertise or "boom." It won't go 

 unless it has merit.— Ed.] 



"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 abandoned 

 them in favor of either the section- holder or 

 wide frames?" So ye editor, page 717. It 

 is a fact that I clung, and still cling, to the 

 aforesaid super. I expect to cling to it till 

 I find something better. Your question in- 

 timates that if I were more progressive I 

 would abandon the T super for the wide 

 frame. After using the wide frame for 

 years I abandoned it for the T super. Does 

 not that show as much progressiveness as if 

 I had changed the other way? [But you 

 never used the section-holder to any great 

 extent, doctor. The old wide frame that you 

 used extensively years ago could hardly be 

 considered equal to your present T super. — 

 Ed.] 



The U. S. drink bill for 1905— just the 

 cost of liquor alone — was not less than 

 $1,600,060,000; and the indirect cost— that is, 

 the cost of crime, los? of productive labor, 

 etc was at least $1,000,000,000 more, mak- 

 ing a total $2,500,000,000. That makes more 

 than $30 per capita, or $150 to every family 

 in the U. S. How long is an intelligent na- 

 tion going to stand such a waste? [The peo- 

 ple are being awakened, and the recent tem- 

 perance legislation in the various States 

 shows that the time will come when this aw- 

 ful cost, and I might say this disgrace as 

 well, will be obliterated. By our recent 

 laws some 600 saloons have been driven out 

 of Cleveland alone within the last 30 days; 

 but that still leaves a very large number; 

 but if we keep on trimming at the dog's tail 

 we shall soon be up to his head.- Ed.] 



Denatured alcohol free! Good! Now 

 please tell us how much can be paid for one 

 pound of honey to be made into alcohol, so 

 that we may know whether or not to save 

 up our poor honey till next January, when 

 the law goes into effect. [Your question 

 assumes that we could afford to sell poor 

 honey so that it could be made into alcohol. 

 Whatever I may have said on the point, I 

 did not intend to give that impression ; for 

 the cheapest honey sold in the United States 

 would be too dear for the purpose. But it 

 sometimes happens that a bee-keeper will 

 find on his hands quite a quantity of honey 

 slightly soured. It is this honey that he 

 can sell to the baker or to the distiller. Of 

 course, it could be converted into honey 

 vinegar; but ordinary cider vinegar is so 

 nearly equal in quality, and so much cheap- 

 er, that the production of honey vinegar is 

 not usually profitable. — Ed. ] 



For fear you don't happen to think of it, 

 Mr. Editor, I will remind you of one thing 

 that looks as if bees do not value pollen as 

 highly as honey. When a colony becomes 

 oueenless it goes right on storing pollen un- 

 til it has an oversupply. Then it practically 



stops gathering pollen, but keeps right on 

 storing honey. Yet I'm not sure that that 

 proves that bees place a higher valuation on 

 honey than pollen. 



P. S.— Footnote, page 716, to hand. You 

 are still a little off. In the heaviest flow, 

 not only will some stray bees be taking in 

 pollen, but a fair proportion of tliem; nei- 

 ther do they depend on pollen already stored 

 up before the flow, but keep up the surplus 

 pollen during the flow. If at trie beginning 

 of a long heavy flow the bees had on hand 

 enough pollen to last through the flow, do 

 you think there would be room enough in 

 the combs for the brood? [As we are now 

 right in the midst of a honey- flow I will 

 make this a matter of special observation, 

 and report my finding later.— Ed.] 



Speaking of three- compartment mating- 

 hives, p. 717, the editor hands me this ques- 

 tion: " If you made each division the same 

 size, would you not get a difference very 

 much like that shown in the Ferris dia- 

 gram?" Quite likely. But I wouldn't be 

 foolish enough to have more than one frame 

 in the middle compartment, as distinctly in- 

 timated, pp. 69 and 200, and the sketch, p. 

 140, was made, I think, the same way; but 

 the printer took liberties with it. He has 

 also taken liberties with the one on p. 717, 

 which should show two combs in each out- 

 side compartment fully occupied with bees. 

 You say my bees must be different from 

 yours if they don't show a strong tendency 

 to cluster toward the entrance. To be sure, 

 they have that tendency; but I wouldn't be 

 much of a bee-keeper if I couldn't overcome 

 the tendency. [The diagram had to be made 

 of what is called "map type," as it was not 

 practicable in the short time we had before 

 the day of publication to have a drawing and 

 an etching made. If you make the central 

 compartment slablike, and the other two of 

 such width as to complete the ball of bees, 

 you may be able to work the three- compart- 

 ment nucleus.— Ed.] 



Ye editor says, p. 725, "Say. my good 

 doctor, it does me good to see Mr. Green 

 jab you in the ribs." Who— me? Jimmie 

 Green jab me in the ribs? Where? Why, 

 bless your heart, he's standing right up be- 

 side me with his arm around my shoulder. 

 We are both agreed that there is no such 

 thing as a "one- pound section," and that a 

 light weight section should never be sold 

 for a full pound. Years ago I favored the 

 idea of a section so light that it could not be 

 palmed off for a pound, and his 12-oz. sec- 

 tion fills the bill. Jab me? Not much. 

 [Whoever Jimmie is jabbing at, he is preach- 

 ing my doctrine to a T. If you subscribe 

 to all he says, let's shake. But, say; 

 what does Jimmie mean when he says, "It 

 does not by any means follow that the man 

 who buys a 12- ounce section of honey is ei- 

 ther cheated or deceived, nor even dissatis- 

 fied. He buys a box of honey"? That is 

 exactly the doctrine I have been preaching. 

 Certainly I have never said or implied that 

 the light weights " deceive " or " cheat. " 



