90 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1 



ey per annum. The shilling- here mention- 

 ed should be reckoned as a "quarter" (25 

 cents) in our money. 



\i< 

 The readers of Gleanings all know that 

 Mr. Eugene Secor has for years been the 

 poet laureate of American bee-keepers. I 

 don't think he ever sought the position, but 

 it fell to him by common consent. In addi- 

 tion to numerous eif usions from his muse 

 that have appeared in these columns he has 

 just published a neat little poem called 

 The Hollow. It is a review of his boyhood 

 days in the eastern part of New York, 

 where he was born. I give here the first 

 stanza, of which there are 24 in the book. 



On a certain small farm near the rugged old Highlands 



Where the Hudson has worn its waj- through, 

 lyeaving points that jut out to greet picturesque islands 



Past winch Henrick steamed nor h with his crew ; 

 Within sound of the guns at West Point — Death atrain- 

 ing- 



And the bellowing whistles of trade, 

 There, between rocky hills, on poor soil, uncomplain- 

 ing, 



Is the place where eleven youngsters played. 



It is not clear who this Henrick (or Hen- 

 drick) was who steamed up the Hudson. If 

 it was the Dutchman who gave a name to 

 that river, I fear his steaming must have 

 been over a cook-stove, as he had been dead 

 200 years when Fulton first applied steam 

 to boats. But that's a small matter. The 

 whole book will touch a sympathetic chord 

 in every heart. Mr. Secor describes well 

 the incidents of farm life, schoolboy days, 

 hunting, etc. The book is elegantly print- 

 ed, and is a gem throughout. There seems 

 to be no price set on it. I would advise all 

 to write to Mr. Secor and get a copy, for it 

 is a nice ornament on any center-table. 



AGE OF AND POLLEN IN BROOD-COMBS. 



"Good morning, Mr. Doolittle. I see you 

 are busy this morning"." 



"Well, perhaps no more than usual, Mr. 

 Brown. The practical bee-keeper can al- 

 ways find something to do, winter and sum- 

 mer. He is something- like the practical 

 farmer, who, whenever he takes a vacation, 

 must always leave something which he 

 would almost as soon do as to take the vaca- 

 tion. But I am not too busy to have a little 

 chat with you if you have any thing- you 

 would like to know along- the apicultural 

 line." 



" Thank you. I am looking over some 

 old combs which I have, preparatory for 

 next season, and I came across some yes- 

 terday that are eight or ten years old, and 

 the cells seemed so small to me that I won- 



dered if they should not be renewed. How 

 many years can combs be used for brood- 

 ing- purposes before they want renewing?" 



"I have combs in my hives which have 

 been in constant use in the brood-chamber 

 for 25 years; and, while the cells do appear 

 small in looking at them, yet, so far as I 

 can see, it makes no difference in the size 

 of the bees emerging from these cells." 



"Is that possible? I was reading a short 

 time ago in one of my papers that brood- 

 combs should be renewed every six or sev- 

 en years, or else the bees would become too 

 small to be of value; and a few years ago a 

 foundation-maker advised me to melt up 

 all my old combs and bring him the wax 

 therefrom, from which he would make me 

 foundation for the bees so that the cells 

 from this would give me bigger bees than 

 could be obtained from my old comb; and 

 here you are talking about no perceptible 

 difference in the size of bees when the combs 

 are 25 years old." 



"I know that it has been talked that 

 combs should be renewed every 5, 10, 15, or 

 20 years, and such a course might be to the 

 advantage of the foundation-manufacturers; 

 but I have yet to see the comb which I ever 

 thought it advisable to throw away on 

 account of the age of it. If you are surpris- 

 ed at what I have said to you, you doubtless 

 will be more so when I tell you that an 

 old bee-keeper told me once, when we were 

 talking on these matters, that he had combs 

 which had been in constant use lor brood- 

 rearing purposes for 40 years, and yet, so 

 so far as any one could see, there was no per- 

 ceptible difference in the looks of bees com- 

 ing from these combs." 



"But have you never seen lots of small 

 bees in certain hives? I have." 



"Yes. I have seen plenty- of smaller bees 

 in colonies; but I do not remember seeing a 

 greater difference in those colonies having 

 the older combs, as compared with those 

 having combs more lately built. All bees, 

 when first emerged from the cells, look small; 

 but wait till they are from 48 to 72'hours 

 old, and it will be seen that thej^ look alto- 

 gether different, especially during a honey- 

 flow." 



"Do you argue that a bee grows after it 

 emerges from its cell?" 



"I certainly do. Some seem to think 

 that bees do not grow any after they cut 

 out of the cells; but I think that a little care- 

 ful observation will satisfy any one that 

 the young bee 'plumps out' considerably 

 after it emerges from the cell." 



"Then you think that the size of the cell 

 has little or nothing to do with the size of 

 the bee reared therein." 



"I do not know that I should wish to say 

 just that; but I do not think it has so much 

 to do with the size of the bees as some would 

 have us suppose. Several times during 

 past years I have compelled the bees to rear 

 workers in drone-celU, and, so far as I 

 could discover, using the closest scrutiny, 

 said bees were not a whit larger three days 

 after emerging than were those of the same 



