310 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



A Condensed View of Current 

 Bee Writings. 



E. E. HASTY. 



pERCOLATION is the word. What a lot 

 1 of bees will go into the winter this time 

 on percolated syrup. And before the dust set- 

 tles just let me shoot off my mouth at random 

 — kindo' naughty like. I don't like the idea 

 of filtering syrups through bed clothing. 

 (Old bachelor's whim !) Yes, but I wouldn't 

 give a cent for the man who has no whims — 

 that is to say for the bloodless creature who 

 thinks that seyitiment should have no hear- 

 ing at all. Man has, and ought to have, a 

 sentimental side to his nature. If he had 

 more of it he'd be less of a brute. Let's 

 have our filters not only decent but, like 

 Cesar's wife, above suspicion and snuffing. 

 Just the right amount of boiling and sal- 

 soda, or some other laundry treatment, will 

 doubtless put the right kind of new flannel 

 into the right kind of texture and condition 

 for a filter. It seems that raw, new flannel 

 sometimes fails : and perhaps the wrong 

 kind would always fail. The current treat- 

 ment of the woolen duds that absorb the ex- 

 cretions of our bodies is never to boil them 

 at all ; consequently, I fear, they are seldom 

 or never really clean, even from a whimless 

 biologist's point of view. (Getting ready to 

 hit me with the mop now.) Get mad, if you 

 like ; but I reckon it's so — and one excellent 

 reason for wearing cotton under-clothing 

 instead of woolen. 



Once again. I don't like filters made by 

 punching rags into cracks. Too hap-haz- 

 ard. If we mean business let us have prop- 

 er arrangements for our business, not bung- 

 led up utensils that can't do anything else 

 than go wrong half the time. Otherwise let 

 us stand back till some one else tests the 

 matter and reaches the conclusion. 



" When I've killed the queen of a cross colony 

 I've noticed that I didn't have to wait till there 

 was time for all the bees to be changed, but that 

 the bees were good-natured before the new gen- 

 eration came on the stage— at least it seemed 

 that way." Dr. Miller in Gleanings, 793. 



The habit of pitching at everybody in 

 range, was it not really only the outward 

 sign of an inward vim and go that made the 

 colony one of the very best ? Perchance the 

 death of the queen blunted forever the keen 

 edge and zest of their energy, their pugnac- 

 ity and their working qualities delcining to- 



gether, and at once. I do not affirm the 

 above as a certainty, but I suspect it. Hard 

 to have the very best bees, and to have them 

 very gentle too. The colony that " holds the 

 record " for surplus in my apiary was the 

 crossest I ever had. 



In Gleanings, 764, Mr. Doolittle treats with 

 ability the important subject of drones for 

 late service. He confesses frequent total 

 failure after the middle of August. Yet, to 

 hear some of the boys talk, you would think 

 getting late drones was as simple a matter as 

 popping corn. This year when a heart of a 

 colony was pretty well filled with drone 

 comb, and feeding kept up, a surprising 

 number of workers reared in drone cells was 

 the result. About the best thing that can be 

 done, according to Mr. Doolittle, is to seize 

 the last of the drone brood in all the desira- 

 ble colonies and put it in a big queenless 

 hive. Then feed, give frequent brood, and 

 boom the establishment generally. Even 

 when you get late drones they are useless, 

 unless well fed and kindly treated. Then he 

 advises hand picking the drones, at the cost 

 of many hours of work on cool, cloudy days. 

 Just right, perchance — yet I suspect that 

 none of the really inferior drones killed 

 would ever succeed in securing a queen, if 

 let alone. What Demosthenes wanted of an 

 orator was " action, action, action :" what 

 we want from the drone is, vim, vim, vim. 

 And the chaps that lack the vim are pretty 

 sure to all get left any way in nature's pro- 

 cesses ; and the lusty ones that get ready 

 quickly will get the queens. (Theory, to be 

 taken for what it is worth.) 



Last year I had some very late drones in a 

 fertile worker colony that were so lusty that 

 they would pop open when caught. As one 

 colony had a young queen become fertile 

 quite late, I credit her to these parthenogen- 

 etic drones, and am watching her perform- 

 ance with interest accordingly. This year 

 the storing of that colony was well up to the 

 head, but not the very first. Possibly the 

 incident furnishes a pointer both in regard 

 to late drones and in regard to the improve- 

 ment of stock. I don't incline to think the 

 bothersome fertile worker business wholly a 

 mere blunder of nature. Some utility in 

 some direction is more likely. 



HEDDON'S QUARTERLY. 



In strict speech the name of this is " The 

 Dowagiac Times, bee-keeper's edition ;" 

 but that name was rather adopted per-force, 



