1882 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



i;^3 



so on through the whole season. By the above 

 method the laying queens are always kept in a full 

 colony, where they can do the most good. "In 

 union there is strength; in division, weakness." 

 One queen in a strong colony will produce more 

 eggs than two queens in two weak ones. 



TAKING NOTES. 



Perhaps my method of reading bee .iournals will 

 be new to some. On sitting down to read a bee 

 paper I do not try to take it all in at one mouthful, 

 but "bite" off what I can "chew." With pencil 

 and note-book in hand 1 commence reading; when I 

 find anything that I want to remember, I put it 

 down under the heading it belongs to. Headings 

 read something as follows: Wintering; Hints on 

 handling bees for comb hpnty; Uniting colonies; 

 Introducing queens; Work to be done this winter, 

 etc. I find after pursuing this course for a short 

 time, I have a complete A B C, or bee dictionary. 

 Very often the note gives only the No., page, and 

 heading of the article in reference. If every be- 

 ginner would adopt the above plan, he would save to 

 himself a large amount of anxiety and worry, be- 

 sides a great many blunders and losses, and, if I am 

 not mistaken, a good many of Mr. Root's postal 

 cards, to say nothing of the time consumed in writ- 

 ing them. 



SEPARATORS TO BE USED BETWEEN BROOD-COMBS. 



I do not remember of ever seeing the above men- 

 tioned. If any one has used them, will he please 

 state with what success? I have had a great deal of 

 trouble in getting foundation drawn out evenly, 

 when hung by the side of an empty comb —the bees 

 bulging the latter so much that it prevented getting 

 a perfect comb from the sheet of fdn. ; also necessi- 

 tating the trimming of the bulged comb. I presume 

 others have had the same trouble. Now, it occurs 

 to my mind that, to use a separator of thin wood 

 about three inches wide, hung between the two, 

 would make every comb as smooth and neat as sec- 

 tion-box honey. To make the separator, get out 

 pieces the right width, and one inch shorter than 

 the hive it is to be used in. Clasp the ends with 

 folded tin, one end of which has been clipped and 

 turned back to form the projection, and you have it. 

 When finished, it should hang about half an inch be- 

 low the mat covering the frames. L. D. Gale. 



Stedman, Chaut. Co., N. Y., Feb. 9, 1883. 



Your plan of increase, friend G., is exact- 

 ly the one I pursued in increasing 11 to 48 in 

 a single season. At present I do not know 

 of any better way, including, of course, the 

 aid of empty couibs, or fdn., and the lamp 

 nursery for hatching the queens. — Professor 

 Cook, at the convention, suggested. a similar 

 way of taking notes, and I think it is by all 

 means to be commended. You will observe 

 that GLKANiNGshas broad margins, and the 

 paper will admit of writing nicely and plain- 

 ly on it, with ink. — You will lind, in the first 

 volume of the American Bee Journal, exact- 

 ly your plan for getting straight combs, giv- 

 en by Mr. Langstroth, with illustrations, 

 over 20 years ago. lie used sheets of both 

 tin and wood. Notwithstanding this, the 

 Patent-Office afterward granted a patent on 

 tin separators for getting straight combs. 

 The plan was abandoned, because it took up 

 so much room in the heart of the brood-nest, 

 and because the bees would often swarm out 

 and desert such hives. 



WINTERING ON SUGAR. 



ABSENCE OF POLLEN, ETC. 



JANUARY' 23d the mercury fell as low as 13 ° 

 below zero. It gradually got warmer up to 

 tho 27th, on which day it was 60° in the shade 

 at noon, and the bees had a regular jubilee. I made 

 an examination of all my colonies; laid out the 

 packing, which is rye straw and lawn-mower clip- 

 pings, etc., and let the sun dry out all the moisture; 

 looked to see if there were any dead bees on tho 

 bottom-board, and see if they had enough stores, 

 etc. Well, Ifound them in good shape. Two-thii'ds 

 of them were fed last fall on thick coffee A sugar 

 syrup; and they did not have a grain of pollen, so 

 far as I know. When I looked at them they did not 

 have any brood either; neither did those that had 

 pollen. Those that were fed on sugar were some I 

 got in the country, and saved from being brim- 

 stoned. I put several of them (seven in one in- 

 stance) into one hive on full sheets of foundation. I 

 mean to test the point, whether it is possible to rear 

 brood without pollen. My hive is similar to the 

 Doolittle, so arranged that I can pack five inches ail 

 around the brood-chamber. 



MEASURING BEES' TONGUES. 



Will you or Prof. Cook tell us the best way to 

 measure the length of the worker's tongue? Why 

 should we not try to breed a race of bees that can 

 get the nectar from the most thrifty red clover? I 

 think that, with the required skill and energy, this 

 can be accomplished. 



In the matter of 



DRAWING OUT FOUNDATION, 



it has been my experience that the black bees are 

 ahead. Last fall I had a colony of Italians that I 

 feared were not strong enough for winter, as they 

 covered but four Gallup frames. I turned in a col- 

 ony of blacks with them, and put three full frames 

 of foundation in the center. Two days after, I 

 found nearly all the blacks on the foundation, draw- 

 ing it out in nice shape, and but few Italians among 

 them. The latter were lounging around in a sort of 

 lazy way on the other combs. 

 According to my notion, the 



SHEPARD SWARMING-BOX 



is far superior to the improvement of Rev. Mr. 

 Jones (see page 78). Tho "improvement" has too 

 many places for limbs, etc., to catch on; and if I 

 got the bees in it, I would be afraid a stray limb 

 would tip it up, and throw them all out again before 

 I got them to the ground. J. S. Hoffman. 



Williamsport, Pa., Feb. 6, 1883. 



At the convention, Professor Cook had a 

 queen-cage which he said was the one used 

 in measuring bees' tongues. You can doubt- 

 less get one from him on application .—The 

 matter of taking bees that are to be brim- 

 stoned, and wintering them on sugar and 

 fdn., is quite an important one. Let us see 

 to it, that no more bees are brimstoned in 

 this fair land of ours.— Is it not possible 

 that your black bees were young ones, and 

 the Italians old, that made the difference 

 you mention? I am inclined to think we 

 shall find there is no great difference in the 

 two races in working fdn., only that certain 

 stocks will go at it with much more vigor 

 than others. The extra energy of the Ital- 

 ians would seem to make them go ahead, as 

 a rule, I believe. 



