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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 15 



to estimate on this, but the figure would not 

 any be less than $25,000 if every one of our 

 subscribers would give his pro-rata share 

 toward the Honey-producers' League. My 

 first rough estimate was over $50,000, which 

 figure I cut square in two. So far manufac- 

 turers of bee-keepers' supplies have pretty 

 generally contributed toward the fund. —Ed. ] 



A. I. Root wants "something more about 

 the wintergreen. " In Pennsylvania it is 

 common in the mountains. I never saw it 

 on low ground; but it likes the very loose 

 rich soil well covered with leaves. A favor- 

 ite place is under shelter of laurel bushes, 

 and it is an easy thing for the novice to mis- 

 take young laurel seedlings for wintergreen. 

 But a taste quickly undeceives him. It is 

 called also mountain tea, checkerberry, and 

 sometimes partridgeberry. But the true 

 partridgeberry (Mitchella repens), although 

 bearing some resemblance to wintergreen 

 (Gaultheria procumbens), is a different af- 

 fair; and with its double, scarlet, insipid 

 berries is much more beautiful. If an orna- 

 mental plant is what you're after, Bro. 

 Root, better turn your attention to the par- 

 tridgeberry rather than wintergreen. 



"In some cases six weeks will be too 

 short, and in other cases five would be too 

 long a period " for the life of a worker-bee, 

 page 465. Sure, but that's aside from the 

 question, " What is the average?" If the 

 common teaching is wrong, the sooner it is 

 righted the better. But there has been 

 some proof offered that six weeks is the 

 average life of a worker. If that's to be 

 changed to five, surely we should have some 

 reason for the change. If Clericus is right, 

 give us the proof, Mr. Editor, but please 

 don't becloud the issue by irrelevant state- 

 ments that no one thinks of disputing. [The 

 conditions are so extremely various that I 

 am not sure but five weeks would be as good 

 an average as six. The actual difference is 

 only small. It might be better still not to 

 make a definite statement, but say from 

 four to eight weeks. In other words it 

 seems to me it would be hard to indicate an 

 average reduced to so many weeks. —Ed.] 



Louis H. Scroll, page 468, thinks that 

 foul brood across the water may "be 

 of a milder form than the dreaded disease 

 we have in America. ' ' Bacillus alvei ought 

 to be the same everywhere, but some have 

 suggested that, where the disease has been 

 longer in existence, the bees have become 

 more immune to it. [There are others who 

 share the same opinion as Mr. SchoU, or at 

 least have expressed themselves in these 

 columns. Bacillus alvei will be the same 

 everywhere; but the same microbe, under 

 different conditions, might be much more 

 destructive than under others. Is it not 

 impossible that Bacillus alvei could be less 

 destructive in Europe because of the envi- 

 ronment than the same germs in this coun- 

 try ? However, I share your opinion that 

 the disease is probably more destructive in 

 this country because the average locality is 

 less familiar with it than in Europe. —Ed.] 



Opinions harmonized while you wait. 

 Page 291, under " Winter Flights. . . Opin- 

 ions Harmonized," you speak, Mr. Editor, 

 as if you had never advocated "leaving the 

 bees out several days or a week " for a mid- 

 winter flight. A Wisconsin friend, who has 

 been looking up your past record, refers me 

 to Gleanings, 1902, page 371, where you 

 tell about brood being started by midwinter 

 flight, and claim it as a point in favor of 

 giving the bees a week's flight in February 

 or March. Evidently in such a progressive 

 thing as bee-keeping it will not do to be too 

 reckless as to what one has or has not said 

 in the past. [But, hold on, doctor, you and 

 the Wisconsin man are reading more into 

 the language than there is actually there. 

 Turn again to the first reference, 291, and 

 the very first sentence reads, "I am not 

 sure there is any thing in the articles in this 

 issue, on the subject above, that is not in 

 harmony with what I have advocated in ref- 

 erence to these winter flights." Note I said 

 "not sure." Nothing "reckless" or over- 

 positive in this statement, surely, for that 

 qualifies all the rest of the editorial. In the 

 second paragraph of the same article, I 

 gave, perhaps, the impression that I never 

 advocated putting the bees out for several 

 days or a week, but I did not make a declar- 

 ation to that effect. But suppose I did. 

 The second quotation, page 371, 1902, does 

 not advocate any thing, but simply states 

 what we did, without a recommendation. 

 The article in question was on the general 

 subject as to whether it was best to give 

 midwinter flights, and then I went on to 

 detail some experiments. The first lot of 

 bees were left out for nearly a week, with 

 the result that brood-rearing started. That 

 was mentioned only incidentally, but this 

 long stay was not "advocated" in that 

 article; and the nearest endorsement I gave 

 to it was this : That there was one point in 

 favor of giving the bees a week's flight— 

 the starting of brood-rearing. It so happen- 

 ed that spring favored the keeping of the 

 bees before returning, longer than usual; 

 but our rule has been one or two days, with- 

 out brood being started. —Ed.] 



Wintering bees in a cellar with a fur- 

 nace. The experience of the first two win- 

 ters made me feel that, however good a fur- 

 nace was for the people above, it was a bad 

 thing for the little people down cellar. The 

 first winter was not a fair test, work at 

 putting in furnace preventing the bees from 

 going in at the proper time. But there was 

 no such excuse for the second winter, and I 

 lost heavily, partly through starving in cel- 

 lar, and partly from being taken out too 

 early so as to feed them. It began to get 

 into my head that, with the thermometer 

 generally ranging from 50 to 60, bees would 

 use up a lot more food. So I aimed to have 

 a heavier supply for last winter. Yet one 

 starved in cellar, and, I am ashamed to say, 

 one starved after being taken out. That 

 was the only winter or spring loss, except 

 those I broke up because of queenlessness 



