1134 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE, 



Sept. 1 



matter if you have picked out the best cell." 



"But suppose I do not shake the bees off 

 any of the frames." 



'•If you do not shake the bees off their 

 combs, then you must brush them off, which 

 is a job I do not care to undertake at a time 

 they are the most prone to resent such treat- 

 ment." 



"Why shake or brush at all?" 



"Because if you do not there is a reason- 

 able possibility that some cell will be over- 

 looked by being under some cluster of bees, 

 or hidden away in some out-of-the-way place 

 which the bees help to make obscure. If you 

 miss a single cell besides the one you intend 

 to save, the thing you are wishing to avoid 

 (after-swarming) will as surely result as 

 though you did n<jt try to cat the cells at all." 



"1 see. Have you any other objection?" 



"Yes, we are not always blessed, as a rule, 

 with apiaries in which everij colony in the 

 same is the best of stock; hence if we adopt 

 this selection-ofcell plan we will be contin- 

 uing inferior stock in our apiary." 



"That is right. Strange I had not thought 

 of that. How do you work?" 



"Under such conditions as we have been 

 talking about I much prefer to rear queens 

 from my heat stock, planning so the cells 

 from which these queens will emerge will be 

 about ripe when the cutting of cells will be 

 likely to occur, when after all the cells are 

 off, before closing the hive, I insert one of 

 these cells with an assurance of a re&Wy good 

 queen, not given by any other plan from 

 queen cells with which I am acquainted. 

 Besides, if we have planned rightly the queen 

 from the inserted cell will be laying a day or 

 two earlier than would be the one from a 

 selected cell, which will make a little gain in 

 this matter." 



NORMAL HUNEY FREE FROM GERMS. 



Lately Edinger has discovered that ^jo^ws- 

 smm rhodanale is the active principle in sa- 

 liva which destroys germs in food when well 

 masticated, but it is harmless to the individ- 

 ual. The germicidal properties of saliva as 

 exhibited during recent experiments were 

 remarkable, for in a solution of three parts 

 to the thousand the bacilli of cholera morbus 

 were destroyed in a minute, while the diph- 

 theria bacillus was destroyed in the san.e 

 timeby a solution of three times that strength. 

 This strongly upholds my theory that the 

 head secretion added to nectar by the bee is 

 a germ-destroyer and a preventive of germ 

 development in honey. 



We also learn more than ever the impor- 

 tance of eating and drinking slowly, and the 



more so when we are in strange places, where 

 neither food nor water may be free from 

 germs injurious to health. 



RED OH BLIND LOUSE PARASITE. 



"Has any one noticed how very prevalent 

 has been the red or blind louse parasite on 

 queens this year ? I have noticed some queens 

 only three weeks old covered with these ver- 

 min. — Amateur, Cheltenham," in British 

 Bee Journal, Sept. 6, 1906. I remember these 

 parasites on queens some 27 years ago when 

 I was with I). A. Jones. They, no doubt, 

 were imported with queens from the island 

 of Cypress and from Palestine. Since that 

 time I have never seen such a parasite. The 

 creature having been imported, and not 

 spi-ead, there must surely be something in 

 our climate which does not agree with them. 

 ^^ 



SIDE-OPKNING VS. TOP-OPENING HIVES. 



In L. Stachelhausen's article on page 1009, 

 Gleanings, 100(5, he states many good things. 

 He has sent for many samples of self-spacers 

 for frames. I, too, have sent for the samples. 

 The one I prefer is not there illustrated. It 

 is a brass-headed nail which drives to the 

 head, the latter being broad at the base, and 

 sloping toward the crown to prevent the 

 nail heads from catching on neighboring top- 

 bars. I prefer this to a staple. He states, 

 "In a top opening hive, or one which is 

 operated from one of the ends, the correct 

 place for the spacer is on the hive." I could 

 not be induced to use svich a spacer at all. 



WHAT IS INSTINCT? 



To me instinct in animals, including bees, 

 siiuply means that these naturally follow a 

 law implanted in them when created, as re- 

 counted in Genesis; so seen, all is to me easy 

 to comprehend. Scripture (Heb. 1 1 :3) speaks 

 of "science falsely so called," and states, 

 "Through faith we understand that the 

 worlds were framed by the word of God. so 

 that things which are seen were not made of 

 things which do appear. ' ' Science will never 

 master the question; but through faith, those 

 which have become as little children may. 



PROPOLIS. 



On page 484 J. L. Byers gently raps me 

 over the knuckles for advising rubbing a lit- 

 tle propolis on the lingers before touching a 

 queen. He states, "Dear me! the problem 

 with a number of us has been how to keep the 

 propolis 0^' our lingers." I can largely solve 

 this for our friend. Scrape every part of the 

 hive in the spring. If Mrs. Byers did not 

 clean house occasionally— but, enough said. 

 Tjaat has more to do with the matter than lo- 

 cality; 'fess now, Byers (and others), if pro- 

 polis is so very troublesome you do not do 

 this in the spring. 



CARNIOLAN BEFS. 



Friend Byers in the same article g'.ves his 

 experience with Italian and Carniolan bees 



