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Vol XXXIII. 



JUNE I, 1905. 



No U 



J. A. Green says, page 526, that the 

 nearer sections ' ' approach a pound in aver- 

 age weight the greater will be the variation 

 in individual weights." That's new; I won- 

 der if it's true. [Mr. Green is not far from 

 the truth.— Ed.] 



"Have you ever seen laying workers in 

 the act of laying?" page 548. I never saw 

 but one at the business, and that was laying 

 in a worker-cell, and its wings were pushed 

 up about its head in a very uncomfortable 

 manner. I suspect that's the reason why 

 laying workers show such a decided prefer- 

 ence for drone and queen cells. 



D. R. Waggoner, page 547, nails two 

 short strips on the upper side to direct the 

 bees to the Porter escape. The editor 

 amends by having four strips, one from 

 each corner. Let me amend the amend- 

 ment: Let the four strips come from the 

 middle of the sides and ends, instead of from 

 the corners. Less wood, and less distance 

 for the bees to travel on the strip. But I 

 suspect the Waggoner plan is just as good 

 as either of the amendments, and simpler. 



Lately I met a man who had had honey 

 from me, and he seemed to think that the 

 one honey-leaflet I put in each shipping-case 

 was not enough. I suspect he was right. 

 [Right here is a good suggestion. A large 

 number of bee-keepers have quite a quan- 

 tity of honey-leaflets left. It is not a bad 

 idea to put half a dozen copies in each ship- 

 ping-case of honey. This leaflet tells the 

 truth about honey, and denies the canard 

 about manufactured comb honey. — Ed.] 



The worst time in the whole year to let 

 bees run short of stores is. perhaps, at the 

 time of the usual beginning of the honey 



harvest. It may mean the cessation of 

 brood-rearing; and not only that, but the 

 destruction of all unsealed brood. Don't 

 trust entirely to the fact that there are 

 plenty of flowers. Sometimes there is 

 abundance of bloom but no nectar, and the 

 first intimation that any thing is wrong is 

 seeing the white skins of larvas thrown out 

 at the entrance. 



J. A. Green says, page 525, "My expe- 

 rience is that a shaken swarm to which a 

 frame of brood has been given is much more 

 apt to swarm out than one hived in an empty 

 brood-chamber." I wish he would tell us 

 whether they swarm out the first day or 

 after several days. Mr. Stachelhausen is 

 authority on shaken swarms, and I believe 

 he gives a frame of brood because it holds 

 the swarm; but then he takes it away in 

 two or three days, because, if left, the bees 

 start queen-cells on it. 



The season was unusually early, but there 

 has been so much cool and wet weather late- 

 ly that the bees have been kept in their 

 hives much of the time. It doesn't seem to 

 make much difi'erence as to brood-rearing, 

 the colonies seeming to increase in strength 

 right along, but it makes it necessary to 

 keep watch for fear the bees run out of 

 stores. [While the season has in one way 

 been unfavorable for bees it has not cut 

 down brood-rearing to any great extent, if 

 at all, except in the case of weak colonies. 

 The great amount of rain has put the ground 

 in fine condition for a heavy blooming of 

 clover everywhere. Even if we should have 

 a drouth from now on, it probably could not 

 affect very much the clover crop in this 

 locality, for the ground is thoroughly soaked 

 —a condition which I presume is largely true 

 throughout this clover belt. —Ed.] 



A pound section is one of such measure- 

 ment that the bees will always put into it 

 just enough honey to make it weigh exactly 

 a pound. There is no such measurement; so 

 J. A. Green is exactly right when he says, 

 page 526, "The pound-section idea is a delu- 

 sion and a snare." [Let me see. If my 

 recollection serves me right, there used to 



