1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



929 



plan. Yes, you said the plan would succeed, 

 and I hand you herewith my apology for 

 hinting any thing to the contrary. I entire- 

 ly agree with you in your first three sen- 

 tences, p. 825, but disagree most decidedly 

 when you say, " It is my impression that a 

 queen, when she enters the other hive for 

 the purpose of getting out into the open air 

 to mate, would in many cases supplant the 

 old mother." I don't believe it would hap- 

 pen once in a hundred times. But I see that 

 1 laid myself open to misunderstanding. I 

 said, "Enters a strange virgin from another 

 hive. Death -penalty, sure." That may 

 mean death for the old queen. I meant it 

 would be death for the virgin. I'm afraid 

 I'll never learn to express myself as clearly 

 as I should. [My statement with regard to 

 a virgin displacing the reigning queen- 

 mother, was based on actual experience and 

 observation during four years of queen-rear- 

 ing work. Our bee-yard at that time was 

 arranged in such a way that virgins often 

 made mistakes and went into the wrong 

 hive; in a great majority of cases where 

 that mistake was made the old queen was 

 killed and a virgin was allowed. In refer- 

 ring this point to our Mr. Wardell, a man 

 who is one of the best-posted as well as one 

 of the most experienced queen-breeders in 

 the country, he said my statement was not 

 strong enough; that he had raised thou- 

 sands of queens, and that the virgin almost 

 invariably displaces the old queen. I should 

 be very glad to hear from some of our 

 queen- breeders, as to how their experience 

 tallies with ours or the doctor's on this 

 point. I do not seek vindication; but as I 

 am about to revise one of our queen-rear- 

 ing books I wish to be set right if wrong. — 

 Ed.] 



Medina has been rejoicing in a very fine 

 flow of honey from basswood. The bees 

 have been taking it by storm ; and as they 

 fly out over our factory buildings I am re- 

 minded of the tremendous roar of bees that 

 poured out from the Alexander yard during 

 the height of his buckwheat bloom. 



Our friends will perhaps remember that 

 some time ago the little daughter of Mr. O. 

 L. Hershiser, of Buffalo, was severely burn- 

 ed by getting hold of some matches. Mis- 

 fortunes never come singly. We are now 

 very sorry to learn that Mr. Hershiser's lit- 

 tle boy suffered a similar accident. As this 

 may prove a warning to other parents we 



give an extract from one of Mr. Hershiser's 

 letters that will speak for itself: 



Our little boy, 22 months old, had the same misfortune 

 that befel our little girl. A week ago last Wednesday 

 evening he also set his clothes on fire with a match 

 which he lighted. I was in the house at the time; but 

 before I could reach him, both his hands, and his neck 

 in front, and both sides of his face and nose, were quite 

 Eeverely burned, and both ears slightly. His neck un- 

 der his chin is the worst. None of the burned surface 

 is injured deeply, as the little girl was. We think he 

 will be well inside of three weeks. Marian, the little 

 girl, is still under the doctor's care, and has her arm 

 dressed twice a week. After Marian was burned we 

 provided safety matches, and had all out of children's 

 reach; but the baby reached the fringe of a pin-cushion 

 on a high stand, and pulled it off, bringing a safety-box 

 and a few loose matches with it, and he struck the match, 

 on the safety- box just as he had seen us do it. 



Buffalo, N. Y. O. L. Hershiser. 



FOUL-BROOD INSPECTOR FOR CANADA.- 



Mr. Wm. McEvoy has been reappointed 

 as foul-brood inspector. He will now be 

 under the Department of Agriculture of the 

 Canadian government. Any one requiring 

 his services will write to the Hon. Nelson 

 Monteith, Minister of Agriculture, Toronto. 

 The suggestion has been made that this 

 should be done early in order that the work 

 may be laid out with the least expenditure 

 of time and money. 



THE JENKINTOWN FIELD-DAY MEETING. 



We find it impossible to get even a few 

 of the pictures we took at the big field-day 

 meeting in this issue; but we shall get some 

 of them in our issue for Aug. 1. The rest 

 will follow in subsequent numbers. 



The day following the big field meeting I 

 took Mr. Doolittle out to the bee-yard and 

 had him go through some of his regular 

 " stunts " in handling bees, showing exact- 

 ly how he works to economize labor. Two 

 cameras were kept clicking at him, showing 

 each successive operation. It is needless to 

 say that these will appear in Gleanings in 

 due time, along with many other interesting 

 pictures taken at the Jenkintown meeting. 



DROUTH AND TOO MUCH RAIN. 



The season throughout the central part of 

 the United States has been very peculiar. 

 At Medina we have had plenty of rain, and 

 the crops look well; but only seven or eight 

 miles north of us there has been a drouth, 

 and this was not broken till some two or 

 three weeks ago. Eastern Ohio has been 

 having splendid showers; but Tiffin, 0., has 

 been in the throes of a drouth. What is 

 true of Ohio seems to be largely true of 

 other States. The showers have been decid- 

 edly local. There have been pockets that 

 were as dry as a bone, and other pockets 

 that have been made so wet as to be almost 

 swampy. Almost the entire eastern portion 

 of the country has had almost too much rain 

 - too much in many sections. 



sending specimens OF FOUL BROOD TO 

 MEDINA— IMPORTANT. 



Wr must again caution our friends against 

 sending specimens of brood in paper boxes 

 or in a simple paper wrapping. Any sus- 



