872 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 15 



the disturbance were kept up long- enough 

 the balling would kill her — starve her — 

 just as a mother has sometimes killed her 

 baby by too much care, smothering it. 

 [Bees balling a queen to protect her — why, 

 that is possible, but I have always associ- 

 ated the idea of balling with the feeling of 

 hostility on the part of the bees. I never 

 saw a ball of bees yet where the bees were 

 not tugging and pulling at the queen. If 

 they were endeavoring to protect her, would 

 they not turn right face about, prepared to 

 grab the intruder, just as they stand when 

 they catch a robber on the wing at the en- 

 trance? I should like to know what friend 

 Doolittle thinks of such a proposition. — Ed.] 



Well, as I was saying, heretofore the 

 biggest yield I ever had from a single col- 

 ony was 192 sections; this year it was 300, 

 with a number of colonies tagging pretty 

 closely after it. I credit it partly to select- 

 ing best storers to breed from, but chiefly 

 to the phenomenal flow of white clover. 

 Bees stored from it till Sept. 1; and even 

 now, Oct. 5, a good deal of white clover is 

 yet in bloom. [Well, well! that's good. 

 We congratulate you, doctor. Not many 

 years ago you were lamenting because j'our 

 locality was so poor, and I was urging that 

 you go to a place where you could get bass- 

 woods as well as clover? I think you said 

 something to the effect that you were too 

 old a bird to move, and that you would 

 take your chances. But, look out! Some 

 fellow will be moving over next to one of 

 your yards. As I made you tell the yield, 

 I will help to fight him off in case he does 

 come. — Ed.] 



A. I. Root will need a whole lifetime to 

 find just the right ration to keep him in 

 perfect health; and when he has found it 

 he'll find it needs to be changed every time 

 conditions change; and then when he has 

 found the ration to fit each different condi- 

 tion he'll find it will not exactly fit any 

 stomach in the world but his. Don't un- 

 derstand I'm throwing mud at A. I. Root 

 for his investigations — he's doing good; 

 and although he ma}' never reach the exact 

 knowledge he's seeking, he's all the time 

 giving us useful pointers, and I for one am 

 watching his investigations with interest. 

 [You are exactly right when you say that 

 a ration that will fit one man's stomach 

 will not fit that of another. A very good 

 rule is to eat what agrees with one, provid- 

 ing his judgment is not too much swayed 

 by what he likes rather than by what 

 makes \\\\x\.feel well and sleep well. When 

 I get run down I invariably have to get 

 back to lean beefsteak, with some simple 

 cereal food or toasted bread. — Ed.] 



Replying to those who say that the 

 drones are needed for heat, C. P. Dadant 

 gives the following clincher in American 

 Bee Journal: " If drones had been intended 

 at all for warmth, they would have been 

 kept when the weather is cold in the 

 spring. But the reverse is the case. Let 

 there be a few weeks of warm weather, 



early drones will be reared ; then let a cold ! 

 spell come when the brood needs care and | 

 warmth, and at that very time 3'ou will see , 

 the workers persecuting the drones, driv- , 

 ing them out mercilessly, one by one, to 

 tolerate them again when the heat re- 

 turns " [Yes, indeed, that does seem like 

 a clincher; but is it not possible that, dur- 

 ing hot weather or the swarming season, 

 they help to increase the heat so that comb- 

 building may fairly progress? I know 

 this: That drones have a good deal of an- 

 imal heat, for I once put a double handful 

 of them in my hat, and then astonished the 

 natives by doffing my hat to a crowd, to 

 their utter dismay, resulting in their paw- | 

 ing the air and scattering for cover. As I 1 

 walked up town I could feel a considerable ' 

 degree of warmth, although I must confess 

 the great clumsy fellows crawling through 

 my hair gave me a sort of "buggy" feel- 

 ing. See page 881. — Ed.] 



Speaking of the wax-press as a honey- 

 squeezer, p. 836, a great deal of honey in 

 Europe is pressed out, heather honey being 

 too thick to be emptied by an extractor. 

 [Very true. The trouble in this country is 

 that Americans seem to feel that chunks of 

 honey can not be treated in any way but 

 through the solar wax-extractor. This al- 

 ways impairs the flavor of the honey, even 

 if it does not ruin it. It is high time that 

 practical bee-keepers were doing some 

 squeezing as well as extracting. A honey- 

 press in European catalogs is a regular 

 article of sale, and they would no more be 

 complete without a honey-press than with- 

 out a honey-extractor. There is a great 

 deal of chunk honey broken out from combs 

 built to covers, behind division-boards, etc., 

 that will accumulate in spite of good bee- 

 keepers and fairly good management. In 

 the rush of the season one is apt to have 

 more than he can do, with the result that 

 the bees get ahead of him, and build chunks 

 of honey where they ought not to. The only 

 rational way to treat these is to put them 

 into a press, squeeze the honey out cold, 

 then melt the wax afterward. The honey 

 will bring two cents a pound more, and 

 the wax will be much handier to run 

 through the wax-press. — Ed.] 



If I MAY BE allowed to say a word on 

 the matter of diet, I should say that the 

 one thing above all others needed by this 

 nation is to eat less. A large number 

 whose digestive machinery is constantly 

 out of repair would be greatly benefited by 

 having all their meals cut square in two ; 

 and a great majority of those who are not 

 engaged in severe physical labor would get 

 more nourishment from their food if they 

 had only two-thirds as much. The great 

 study seems to be how to get up some new 

 dish more appetizing so as to get more food 

 eaten, and condiments of the hottest kind 

 are used to whip up the jaded stomach to 

 make it carry its load. No wonder the 

 poor thing balks. The no-breakfast fad is 

 probably doing good to many people, just 

 because they can't gorge themselves as 



