22 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 1 



it; but if they got any from the cotton bloom 

 it has escaped me. 



In conclusion I am sure that in any year or 

 any locality where cotton has sufficient mois- 

 ture to induce vigorous growth its bloom 

 will yield nectar; and in the fall months, with 

 cool nights, it will yield abundantly. 



Blum, Tex. 



[From various reports that have been sent 

 in we have been led to believe that honey 

 from cotton is of indifferent flavor. We 

 should be glad to get reports from others. — 

 Ed.] 



THE BEST PLACE FOR BAIT SECTIONS, worker comb above 



empty combs on top only invites her higher 

 up. When we come to extract, the colony 

 is in any thing but an ideal condition, with 

 brood scattered through the whole hive; and 

 if the extra bodies of combs have been 

 spaced wide they are not in the best shape 

 for a brood-nest, even if brood were wanted 

 here. Many of the extracting-combs we use 

 are not suitable for brood anyhow — mainly 

 because of drone-cells or a great plenty of 

 sagged cells in the upper part (unsplinted 

 combs) . 



The presence of drone comb in the super 

 is not the whole cause of queens going up, 

 for they work up just the same witn all 



A Valuable Article. 



BY H. E. CROWTHER. 



As to the best place in a comb-honey su- 

 per (corners or center) for bait sections I am 

 inclined, after using them both ways, to do 

 as Mr. Bevins does. He says, "Last year 

 I put the baits in the corners; but the results 

 were not satisfactory. Some were untouch- 

 ed when the rest of the super was finished, 

 and many were left uncapped. Bees natu- 

 rally begin work in the center of the supers, 

 and that, 1 believe, is the best place for 

 baits." 



I think the object of bait sections is not to 

 get the super filled out at the corners but to 

 get work started in the super, and the corners 

 •will take care of themselves. Later, if the 

 honey-flow amounts to any thing, and if it is 

 poor, possibly the four-cornered super would 

 be left empty instead of half full like the 

 one with a good start, in the center. 



SHORT SPLINTS PREVENT BUCKLING. 



I have had no trouble with buckling in us- 

 ing five-inch splints, as has Dr. Miller. I 

 used them on both medium-brood and light- 

 brood foundation. The frames were wired 

 with three horizontal wires, two of which 

 helped support the splints, and were all that 

 are necessary, I think. I intend using, the 

 coming season, two wires and five short 

 splints. Combs nearly always break within 

 two inches of the top-bar, and with four or 

 five splints reaching well below this weak 

 place and supported by the wires very few 

 combs will ever break; and splints of this 

 length are much easier to apply. I have yet 

 to find any poor combs built over this ar- 

 rangement. Of course, another season may 

 be different; but I will try it anyhow. 



Unsplinted combs that break near the top- 

 bar will be quite well fixed up if they can be 

 put in a strong colony upside down for a 

 while and properly spacecf; otherwise it is a 

 waste of time to put them back at all. 



EXCLUDERS DO NOT INTERFERE WITH THE 

 STORING OF HONEY. 



I would not do without excluders on ex- 

 tracted-honey colonies, and have not found 

 them to be honey-excluders. If a queen 

 goes above (that is, I mean when excluders 

 are not used) she gradually deserts the low- 

 er hive; and the addition of another body of 



DOES THE DISTANCE BEES FLY HAVE A BEAR- 

 ING ON THE AMOUNT OF HONEY GATH- 

 ERED? 



A friend of mine has a homestead three- 

 fourths of a mile above the irrigation canal, 

 and has 150 colonies of bees on his place. 



This year his crop was about one-third as 

 good as the average from well-cared-for bees 

 kept below the canal among the alfalfa- 

 fields. Has this short distance made that 

 difference in the crop? There is nothing 

 above the canal for trie bees except a few 

 early fluwers for breeding up in the spring. 

 His crop the year before was somewhat bet- 

 ter. The bees, of course, get less than half 

 a range, but I know of bees located directly 

 on the canal with only half a range that do 

 as well as full-range vards in the same neigh- 

 borhood. Does the bare half-mile make the 

 difference? 



Will three yards of bees produce less hon- 

 ey if located too close together in a straight 

 line than the same bees would if all were in 

 the two end yards, by reason of the bees in 

 the middle yard being handicapped by com- 

 ing to the dry streak on each side, and not 

 passing over, so losing all benefit, of the 

 range further out? 



Another neighbor had a queen-mating 

 yard seven miles back in the hills, and he 

 says that even his nuclei carried plenty of 

 alfalfa honey from the valley seven miles 

 away. 



Parma, Idaho. 



[In answer to your question whether the 

 bare half-mile from the forage would explain 

 why those 150 colonies did not do better, it 

 would seem hardly probable. If there were 

 other yards, the bees of which were located 

 nearer the same ran^e, then it would be 

 easy to see why bees turther or half a mile 

 away should not do as well. This is an in- 

 teresting subject for discussion, and we hope 

 that some of our readers in the alfalfa re- 

 gions will give us data. 



We should also like to get further reports 

 on the question whether queen-excluders 

 are also honey-excluders. The mass of evi- 

 dence so far received would seem to indicate 

 very strongly that there is no appreciable 

 loss, and that, on the other hand, it does not 

 pay any bee-keeper, when running for ex- 

 tracted honey, to let the queen have full 

 range of the hive, supers and all. 



