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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1 



[I have already rec-eived some pretty good 

 pictures. What we fail to get this year we 

 can reserve for next year. You ai-e hereby 

 authorized to have a loaded gun handy— I 

 mean a camera with film, ready for any 

 good subject that suddenly appears. We 

 keep several of them loaded around the 

 Home of the Honey-l^ees; and, as our pages 

 show, they are brought into frequent service. 

 —Ed.] 



That colok has no effect upon bees" sting- 

 ing propensities is ably argued by D. M. IM. 

 in the Msh Bee Journal, endorsed by the ed- 

 itor. My good friends, Scotch and Irish, I 

 can bring you a whole lot of proofs, not neg- 

 ative but positive, that, in this locality, bees 

 have their •• favourite coloui's." Only yes- 

 terday I stopped work in the apiary to change 

 a colored shirt for a white one, because the 

 little demons were peppering my back 

 through the colored shirt. Although 1 work- 

 ed hours afterward with the white shirt, not 

 a sting did I get. Yet I have known bees so 

 savage as to sting through a white shirt. 

 [Some have claimed that color had nothing 

 to do with the temper of bees toward any 

 object; but my experience and observation 

 have been along the line of yours. Several 

 ])ee-keepers have told me that a black hat is 

 always more liable to attack than a light one. 

 I am'always glad to shed my black felt hat 

 in early summer in favor of a straw hat, if 

 for no other reason than that the bees regard 

 the latter with less animosity. I do not like 

 to put on a veil every time I go out into the 

 bee-yard. — Ed.] 



"The good old spelling suits us be- 

 cause we vinderstand it, have spent a lot of 

 valuable time learning it. and haven't time 

 to learn it anew." Thafs the editorial view 

 of the National stockman and Farmer, one 

 of the ablest of the agricultural weeklies. It 

 shows that men bright ami logical in gener- 

 al are governed by blind prejudice and self- 

 ishness when it comes to endeavoring, as 

 President Roosevelt puts it, "to make our 

 spelling a little less foolish and fantastic." 

 Because we have "spent a lot of valuable 

 time " learning our present absurd spelling. 

 we insist that unborn generations shall en- 

 dure the same torture rather than take the 

 very little trouble needed on our part to 

 change to something simple and easy. 

 [Gleanings is not in sympathy with the 

 feeling expi'essed by the National Stockman. 

 We most heartily indorse Roosevelt's short- 

 er spelling, and may adopt it. In doing so 

 we may lose a few subscribers; but we shall 

 certainly have the thanks of the rising gen- 

 eration,' even for the little strength we may 

 be able to contribute toward a movement so 

 praiseworthy. Personally I wish Roosevelt 

 had the power by law to bring the other 

 magazines and papers into line. — Ed.] 



You DONT qiiite get the point I was after, 

 Mr. Editor, p. 11G9, in the matter of dual in- 

 troduction. When I removed No. 1 I im- 

 mediately put in No. 3. You didn't put in 

 No. 3 until No. 2 was within two days of lay- 

 ing. Now. the question is, which is the lic!- 



ter way'/ My way requires only half as 

 many times opening the hives, but it keeps 

 No. 3 caged a long time. Was that long 

 caging any harm to the queen? Also, did 

 the presence of No. 3 delay the fertilization 

 or laying of No. 2? [We never carried this 

 method so far as you show here, having 

 three (jueens in a hive at once. That would 

 lie too much of a good thing. No. 3 would 

 in many cases be confined too long, with 

 the result that she might be too old to mate 

 readily. We found that, in some cases when 

 the weather was bad. even No. 2 would suf- 

 fer by reason of too long confinement, before 

 she could be released. In practicing this 

 method one should seek to work it so that 

 No. 2 shall be confined no longer or at least 

 not much longer than will be necessary to 

 give her the right scent for safe introduction. 

 -Ed.] 



"Do BEES sting queens?" p. 1192. Cer- 

 tainly they do — lots of times. But when a 

 queen dies in a ball is she stung, suffocated, 

 or starved? Suffocation seems hardly pos- 

 sible; and if it were, would not the bees in 

 the center of the ball be also suffocated? 

 The bees in the center of the hissing mass 

 are crowded so compactly that it would seem 

 a physical impossibility for them to sting. 

 Besides, if they wanted to sting the queen 

 why shouldn't they do so at first, instead of 

 wasting houi's? For it is well known that if 

 the ball be dropped in water, even after the 

 queen has been balled an hour or more, she 

 will escape unhurt. But if you forcibly pull 

 the ball apart, the queen is likely to be stung. 

 Blow hot smoke on the ball, and the queen 

 is sure to be stung. A queen, especially a 

 laying one. requires constant feeding, and 

 will probably stai've in much less time than 

 a worker. Doesn't she have plenty of time 

 to starve in the ball? Or do sufl'ocation and 

 starvation both have their effect? Jay Smith 

 didn't find a dead queen in the ball, but a 

 live one which died immediately after he 

 '•called the players off." the poison-sac still 

 contracting. If he had let them alone woukl 

 the queen have been stung? I think the ball 

 never dissolves until some time after the 

 death of the queen. Did any one ever find 

 a sting in a queen foiind dead in a ball? 

 [Perhaps we pretty nearly agree on the sev- 

 eral propositions.' "Did anyone ever find 

 a sting in a queen found dead in a ball?" I 

 am not positive, but I think I have. Mr. 

 Warden does not know; but it is possible to 

 conceive of a queen being stung to death in 

 the early start of balling, and the bees in 

 their frenzy continue the balling process, 

 even some little time after she is dead. — Ed.] 



Thanks. Mr. Editor, for automobile talk. 

 p. 11(59. Now please tell us what it will cost, 

 say in five years, for supplies and repairs. 

 [Thi.s will depend on what automobile one 

 happens to l)uy. I can not tell you what it 

 woukl cost to keep a machine five years, as 

 1 have not had one that long; but the first 

 machine I bought cost me for repaii'S about 

 half the first cost of the machine, the first 

 yea.-. That was because it was badly design- 



