IN 



5EE CULTUDE 



Published by The A. I. Root eompany, Medina. Ohio 



E. R. Root, Editor A. L. Boyden, Advertisins:Mg:r 



H. H. Root, Asst. Ed. J. T. Calvert, Business Msrr 



A. I. Root, Editor of Home Departmeat 



Vol. XXXV. 



MAY 15, 1907. 



No. 10. 



That maximum of 80,000 to 60,000 bees in 

 a colony needs reconciling with the "40,000 

 to 70,000 cells occupied with eggs and brood, " 

 p. 624. Besides, 60,000 as the greatest limit 

 is antiquated, very. [Probably it is. — W. K. 

 M.] 



E. E. Hasty reports in A7nerica7i Bee Jour- 

 nal the tirst pollen-gathering record for 28 

 springs. The earliest was March 2. 1882, and 

 the latest April 18, 1897. a difference of 47 

 days! Who says we have a monotonously 

 uniform climate? 



G. M. DooLiTTLE, in American Bee Jotir- 

 nal, advises putting brood in spring in the 

 center of the hive, so that bees may expand 

 in both directions. I've always put it to one 

 side as a matter of convenience, tjut his may 

 be the better way. 



J. E. Chambers says in American Bee 

 Journal that for years his bees have worked 

 on sumacs three miles distant, to the neglect 

 of like plants on like soil only a mile away, 

 and his Carniolans are seen by the thousands 

 five miles from home, no other Carniolans 

 being in the surrounding country. 



W. A. Pryal kills moth-larvaj by shaking 

 them out on a black cover for the hot sun to 

 kill. — Am,erican Bee Journal. Good way if 

 they are obliging enough to come out and 

 the sun is hot enough. [But Mr. Pryal after- 

 wai'd set combs out in the sun and said, 

 "Larvae came hustling out .... and 

 soon died . . . ." We understood that 

 the heat drove them out. — Ed.] 



R. F. HoLTER.MANN says, "Cut the wings 

 on both sides evenly," p. 620. Why on both 

 sides? Possibly that the queen may be more 

 readily found. A queen can make a better 

 stagger at flying with both wings clipped 



than with only one (try it with a pigeon and 

 see). I'd i-ather have the wings whole on 

 one side to pick up the queen by. [It is gen- 

 erally advised to clip the wings on one side 

 for the reasons given by Dr. Miller. We 

 should want one pair of wings by which we 

 might pick her up. — Ed.] 



Sumac {Rhus glabra) seems a more impor- 

 tant honey-plant than it has generally been 

 considered, p. 626. But the sumac of Texas 

 must be something quite different. J. E. 

 Chambers, American Bee Jourtial, page 279, 

 speaks of its ' ' great creamy blooms ' ' and 

 "the creamy white of the flowers." One 

 must look close at Rhus glabra to see it has 

 any bloom at all. 



That cumarin, from sweet clover, resem- 

 bles vanilla, p. 615, interests me. Years ago 

 I reported honey that appeared to be white- 

 clover honey deliciously flavored with vanil- 

 la, and I suspected there might be a little 

 sweet-clover honey in it. This cumarin bus- 

 iness confirms the suspicion. [The animals 

 seem to think it contains too much vanilla. 

 Of course, the flavor gets into the honey. — 

 W. K. M.] 



Proofs are multiplying that unrelated lay- 

 ing queens may exist in the same colony. 

 There's J. A. Green, p. 618; and Herr Stum- 

 voll reports in a late German bee journal that 

 he found three laying queens in one colony 

 —one in the super with a fine brood-nest, and 

 two in the brood-chamber. But to E. W. 

 Alexander belongs the great credit of being 

 the first to tell us he has put that knowledge 

 to practical use. 



E. Meaker wants me to tell why it is that 

 in pits or clamps with no ventilation bees 

 winter well, although the hives and combs 

 are quite damp and moldy, and yet it is gen- 

 erally insisted that bee-cellars shall be dry 

 and well ventilated. Strictly speaking, there 

 is a little ventilation in the clamp, for a 

 clamp in stiff' impervious clay will not work. 

 The pit holds the temperature evenly at a 

 point where bees are nearly dormant, using 

 so little air that the limited ventilation suf- 

 fices them. They winter, not becatise of the 

 moldy dampness, but in sjnte of it. 



