16 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 1 



out bee-cellars. Get a dozen or so galvanized 

 pans, and galvanized netting 6 mesh or so 

 to the inch, to rest on each pan. Put a pound 

 or so of the salt on each piece of netting; dis- 

 tribute the pans in the cellar, and as often 

 as the salt is dissolved dry it out in the stove 

 oven. May be good. [While I have not tried 

 it, I should suppose this would be rather ex- 

 pensive, and that a stove or ventilator, or 

 both, would be cheaper and better. — Ed.] 



W. H. Crawford, referring to the Straw 

 about my bees gathering pollen late, p. 1347, 

 says that his bees, in October, 1904, gathered 

 powder from cottonvvood leaves after frost 

 had turned them yellow; also rust from oats, 

 and in February smut from shocks of Kaffir 

 coi'n; and, strangest of all, the dry dust from 

 sheep manure. Then he hands me this ques- 

 tion: "Do you suppose this substance was a 

 real benefit in brood-rearing?" I don't 

 know; but I hardly think the bees would 

 waste time gathering useless material. [Why 

 could they not use it for next year's brood- 

 rearing?— Ed.] 



One reason Congress gave for sitting 

 down on Roosevelt's spelling was that the 

 printers would be confused in using the two 

 kinds. I've been trying it a few years, and 

 had no trouble from the first in writing 

 "woi'ked" for print and "workt" in private 

 cori-espondence. [Personally I was sorry 

 that Congress "sat down" on Roosevelt on 

 this spelling reform. You may, then, ask 

 why we do not adopt it. Simply because 

 Gleanings is not big enough to blaze the 

 way for the reform. If two or three of the 

 large publications like the Ladies^ Home Jour- 

 nal would adopt it, we should be glad to fol- 

 low suit. — Ed.] 



Stenog, you're all right in saying "jjro- 

 po-lis," p. 1564, but are you sure "the origin 

 of the word would seem to show that that is 

 the best way " ? If so, wouldn't the fix'st syl- 

 lable be accented in "proboscis," "produc- 

 tion," "prohibit"? [I am glad you have 

 called in question the correctness of the defi- 

 nition of the word lyrojjolis — that is, "in front 

 of the city." That could have no bearing in 

 apiculture. You seem to think there was 

 some misunderstanding as to which syllable 

 we should accent. Certainly the first; but 

 the point in dispute in England was as to 

 whether that syllable should be called pro, 

 with a long o. as in pro-bation, or short as 

 in 7)rop-er. — St.] 



"Jacob Funk, winner of the gi'and prize at 

 the International Stock Show, whose herd of 

 Black Angus cattle brought the record-bi'eak- 

 ing price of $17 per hundred on the hoof, is 

 a resident of Bloomington. In addition to 

 the regulation corn and oats and pasture 

 diet, the cattle were given molasses every 

 afternoon. Mr. Funk maintains that sweets 

 improve the beef and make it sweeter. " — Chi- 

 cago Daily. Think of $17.00 per 100, live 

 weight! Sweets in right amount, no doubt, 

 improve the human herd also. Two things 

 we should take pains that they know: First, 

 that no other sweet compares with honey in 

 luscioussnes; second, that honey stands in the 



front rank as an easily assimilated food. [I 

 once reported the case of a bee-keeper, Mr. 

 Frank Boomhower, of Gallupville, N. Y., 

 who fed a hog on some unsalable buckwheat 

 honey. I happened to visit him at the time, 

 and I never saw a finer and nicer specimen 

 of a pig than that, and he was very docile 

 and gentle. I have heard since then that, 

 if you want to make a horse or any other 

 animal docile and kind, you should feed him 

 sugar. Of course, honey would be better. — 

 Ed.] 



D. LaBerge gives as a "fact" that, "if 

 you make a hive queen less, the bees must 

 move either eggs or larvaj in order to raise 

 another queen." Oh, no! friend LaBerge, 

 there's no "must" in the case; and if your 

 bees did it, it was a very, very exceptional 

 case. [Are you not going to the other ex- 

 treme, doctor? In going over the index for 

 several years back, I am surprised at the 

 number of cases where bees moved eggs. 

 While I grant that cells will usually be built 

 around eggs laid by a queen, the cases are 

 not so very exceptional where they will 

 move an egg over to a cell already built, or 

 partially so. In our queen-rearing apiary 

 we see evidences of this more than you would 

 in a comb-honey yard. — Ed.] 



DooLiTTLE keeps water in his apiary to 

 wash honey off his hands, page 1563. Good 

 thing. I don't always have it — not often, if 

 you must know — and I scratch up a handful 

 of soil, wash the honey off with it, and then 

 wipe my hands on the grass. It feels clean 

 in comparison with the honey, and is always 

 at hand with no trouble. [1 have tried this 

 scheme of rubbing my hand in dust or loos- 

 ened soil many a time, and have found it to 

 be very effective. A little more rubbing will 

 then remove the dirt as well as the honey, 

 leaving practically nothing but a stain of 

 mother Earth. Of course, the use of water 

 and a towel is -better; but very often at an 

 out-yard such conveniences are not at hand. 

 -Ed.] 



Apropos of your plan of enclosing bees 

 and giving them a fiight on good days, Mr. 

 Editor, page 1560, the French authority, De- 

 vauchelle, tried something of the kind with 

 30 colonies or more, and reports quite fully 

 in December U Ajyiculteur, page 448. One 

 trouble was that he couldn't be sure of the 

 weather in advance. When every thing was 

 favorable and he opened up, there would 

 come clouds and falling temperature, with 

 heavy loss. Moreover, when thi enclosed 

 colonies were given their liberty they came 

 out in more dense masses than the free col- 

 onies, with corresponding loss. I think he 

 is still experimenting. But I think his hives 

 are made dark, with special provision for 

 ventilation, somewhat after the Gouttefange- 

 as plan. [The more we test those cages for 

 outdoor bees, the more we feel uncertain of 

 their value. I am fearful that they may do 

 more harm than good; but if the bee-keeper 

 can be on hand at the right time, and take 

 them off before the bees know they are con- 

 fined, and keep them in at other times wheii 



