934 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 15 



chance to go between the edges of sections 

 and separators, and so giving them a chance 

 to pass laterally from section to section, the 

 principle being very similar to the Hyde- 

 SchoU separator. 



It is true that I have never tried one half 

 of my bees with one kind and one half with 

 another; but I did test them— I mean plain 

 sections with separators with a part of my 

 bees— before adopting them. One of the 

 most serious objections to usicg them, as it 

 seemed to me, at first, was that weak colo- 

 nies would not finish up as many sections as 

 with the old style of section and separator. 

 With the old style, a colony not very strong 

 would go up into a clamp, and very often 

 finish several sections near the center of the 

 clamp, leaving the rest almost untouched, 

 while with the new plain section and separa- 

 tor they would start many more than they 

 finished, owing to the freedom or "get-at- 

 ableness" of the sections, as it seemed to 

 me. But this objection is much more than 

 balanced by the evenness with which they 

 fill them. With these separators there are 

 no naughty comers; but, instead of a post 

 to bump their heads against, a clear passage- 

 way around the edges of sections — see ? I 

 should now be very unwilling to go back to 

 the old style of sections, because I know I 

 can put up my honey in better shape than 

 any of my neighbors with two-beeway sec- 

 tions. When I first got up, or began using, 

 this style of separator, which was fully il- 

 lustrated in Gleanings, at the advice of E. 

 R. Root, I applied for and secured a patent 

 on it, but have not felt like booming it till I 

 had fully tested it. I can now give it my 

 full indorsement. 



Middlebury, Vt. 



A prominent bee-writer in Bohemia says, 

 in some foreign journal which I can not just 

 now find, that he has much better success 

 in introducing queens at dark, when the bees 

 are all in the hive, than in the day time. 

 He thinks that light makes the bees more 

 nervous and irritable, while darkness makes 

 them more kindly disposed and reasonable. 

 Just how much there may be in this remains 

 to be seen; but perhaps it is well worth 

 considering. 



The Scientific American takes a corre- 

 spondent to task for writing to them with a 

 leadpencil. While it may at times be im- 

 possible to use a pen and ink, it is certainly 

 better to do so, especially as a pen is so 

 much easier to use. Writing should al- 



ways be on ruled paper. Some of the most 

 objectionable writing editors get is where 

 the top of one line is written over the under 

 half of the line above, clapboard fashion. 

 Please allow plenty of room between the 

 lines; and if you use a typewriter, leave ev- 

 ery other line blank. Never send any thing 

 to press until you have read it carefully to 

 supply the missing words; and then let some 

 member of the family read it to supply the 

 words you have left out. Many writers 

 would be surprised to see how careless they 

 have been in the preparation of their man- 

 uscript. 



j^ 



The Apiarist is the name of a new bee- 

 journal, the seventh number of which is be- 

 fore me. This being the first number I 

 have seen, it will account for the fact that 

 no mention has been previously made of it, 

 as such work has been referred to this de- 

 partment of late years. This new candi- 

 date for apicultural suoport has 24 pages, 

 well printed, and the subject-matter is well 

 chosen. It is edited by Mr. C. S. Phillips, 

 and published by John Bradley, at Waco, 

 Texas. The price is $1.00 a year, and the 

 journal is well worth it. 



Our old friend Mr. L. Stachelhausen 

 has charge of the Question and Answer 

 Department, and in answer to the old ques- 

 tion as to whether bees move eggs or larvae 

 from one cell to another or not he says: 



For many years, once in a while somebody has as- 

 serted that he has made observations which were pos- 

 itive proof that such transportation takes place. Dur- 

 ing the last few months even such celebrated bee-keep- 

 ers as Alpaugh, Holtermann, and Pettit answer yes to 

 this question. Nevertheless I am skeptical. Pettit 

 thinks it is not probable that bees could move larvae. 

 Hasty says: "They are probably capable enough of 

 moving either one.'' When an egg is laid by the queen 

 its point is glued to the bottom of the cell; and if it 

 should be removed the egg shell would break, its con- 

 tents float out, and so the egg would be destroyed en- 

 tirely. For moving young larvae it is hard to under- 

 stand how the bees would proceed. I will not say that 

 a transportation of eggs or larv» from one cell to an- 

 other one by the bees is entirely impossible, but it is 

 not very probable. In my bee-keeping experience of 

 nearly 50 years I have never had occasion to observe a 

 case of this kind. Of course, this is no proof at all 

 against the possibility: but I have observed some cases 

 very similar, which were explained in a different way 

 afterward. 



As Mr. stachelhausen is a very careful 

 observer, his opinion certainly has some 

 weight in deciding such a matter. 



A list of the principal honey-producing 

 plants of Texas, by Albert F. Conradi, is of 

 special interest. In speaking of yellow 

 sweet clover, Mr. Conradi says : 



This plant is reported to occur along the Colorado 

 River. Its distribution in Texas is indefinitely known. 

 It blooms during May and June, and is a fine honey- 

 yielder. The honey is claimed by some bee-men to be 

 superior to the white swett clover. It grows on many 

 varieties of soils, and would probably make a good 

 honey and forage plant for the poorer soils of the hu- 

 mid sections of Texas. Experiments in growing this 

 plant on the poor soils at the experimental apiary at 

 College Station indicate that it is worth while for all 

 bee-men to try it. In a letter dated May 12, from Mr. 

 C. S. Phillips, editor of The Apiarist, he states that, 

 three or four years ago, he sowed seed at Waco.^and 

 the plant is now rapidly spreading, there being "nip 

 and tuck " between it and Bermuda grass, and, accord- 

 ing to present indications, he believes that both the 

 yellow and white sweet clovers will master the Bermu- 



