338 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Jl'NE 1 



Stray Straws 



By Dk. C. C. Miller, Marengo, 111. 



I^oolittle's i^lan for introducing, ji. 247, 

 is entirely safe. I used the same plan, only 

 I merely put the (pieen and brood in a hive 

 and set it o/y/- a strong colony with double 

 wire cloth between the two stories. Less 

 trouble, and safe if weather is warm. 



It is true, as Mr. Simmins says, p. ;>24, 

 that V% inchgreater thickness of a bar makes 

 a greater distance from the brood-comb to 

 sections; but is not the disadvantage over- 

 balanced by the advantage that, the further 

 apart brood -combs and sections are, the whit- 

 er the sections will be? 



"Do ROSE8 offer any thing for bees to 

 work on?" is a question discussed with some 

 warmth in L' Apicidtfur. Some accept and 

 some denounce my statement in a Straw, 

 that bees had torn ojien buds on my roses. 

 M. ( laston Bonnier, whose opinions are al- 

 ways entitled to respect, says the bees could 

 only have been after pollen. 



.1. E. Crane is quite right in saying size 

 of entrance for wintering depends on what's 

 on top, ]). .'lOn; and that's true whether out- 

 doors or in the cellar. My bees in the cellar 

 have a 12 X 2 entrance with sealed to]). AVhen 

 I first cellared bees it was just the reverse — 

 every thing sealed tight at the bottom, and 

 all open at top. The whole hive (box hive) 

 was just turned upside down. 



Abbe (iUVOT has an out -apiary of 9 colo- 

 nies. To miles distant, which he visits only 

 once a year, just to harvest the crop! In his 

 brood-chamber he has 15 frames 1;'>X1;5 — a 

 little larger than a Langstroth frame. Over 

 this a board covering with %-inch holes at 

 the outer edge to allow access to the five 

 .shallow extracting-supers. He averages 110 

 pounds per colony. — L' Apiculieur, 1B5. 



George W. Williams, j). .'i21, I don't be- 

 lieve establishing a non-swarming strain of 

 bees is so hopeless as it might seem, even 

 with no control of drones. Please remem- 

 ber that, with full control of queens, by se- 

 lection you are constantly alfecting the 

 drones, making it only a matter of longer 

 time to reach the goal. I believe it's worth 

 your while to try it. 



M. K. Sbvalle reports, L'Apic/ulteur, 9:i, 

 that a late swarm was hived in a box, its 

 ow'ner not knowing whence it issued. After 

 eight days. M. Sevalle (lumped the swarm 

 on the ground, found and caged the queen, 

 and the bees soon arose and went to their 

 old home, where they were kindly received. 

 He does not feel sure a swarm would always 

 be kindly received after so long a time; biit 

 the plan of finding the mother colony is 

 good. 



" Or. Miller asks for a safe method, and 

 is told that there isnoabsolutely sure plan," 



]). :ii;'.. Oh! but there is, friend liuchanan, 

 a i)lan of queen introduction that is ahs^n- 

 lut( 1)1 sure. I have use<l it for a valuable 

 ((ueen. Take eight or more frames of hatch- 

 ing brood — no unsealed brood — without a 

 single bee; put it in the hive with the queen, 

 over a strong colony, with wire cloth between, 

 and close bee-tight. In five days set the 

 hive on its own stand, giving very small en- 

 trance. 



Karl (Jiienther, in his r>o years' experi- 

 ence, has seen hundreds of young queens 

 return from theirwedding-flight, and thinks 

 that, under normal conditions, they are not 

 balled on their return. That they were ball- 

 ed ujion returning to a small hive with glass 

 walls was what might l)e expected. The 

 light shining in alarmed the queens so as to 

 set them to running, and then the bees ball- 

 ed them. — Leipz. Bztg., oS. Mr. Tritchard 

 is all right. [Mr. ( Junther offers a very rea- 

 sonable explanation of why the queens were 

 Ijalled in those little glass hives; and in this 

 connection it is some satisfaction to feel that 

 our own exi)erience is backed by the thirty- 

 five years of Mr. (xunther. — Ed.] 



An eight-frame hive is not large enough 

 in the breeding season for an extra-good 

 queen. Neither is a ten-frame hive. A sec- 

 ond story must be added; and the two-story 

 eight-frame is better than the two-story ten- 

 frame. As the season advances, an eight- 

 frame hive with abundant super room is 

 large enough. But when fall comes the 

 large hive is much better — for the bees. Of 

 course, the lighter hives and lighter supers 

 are much nicer to handle. All in all, I sus- 

 pect thousands of eight-frame hives are in 

 use where ten-frame would be better. If 

 only one size is to be made, let it be ten- 

 frame, sure. [You say that the two-story 

 eight-frame is better than the two-story ten- 

 frame. Are you sure about that? AVe agree 

 with you that a ten-frame hive is not large 

 enough for some good queens. There are 

 times when two eight-frames would not ac- 

 commodate such queens. We have been 

 slowly coming to the conclusion that, even 

 for the i)roduction of comb honey, we should 

 prefer the ten-frame size; and in the case of 

 an extra-prolific queen we would ])ut on an 

 iipi)er story. When she got brood well start- 

 ed in both stories, and it was time for put- 

 ting on comb-honey supers, we would take 

 off the ui)per story, crowding the solid frames 

 of brood down into the lower story, and give 

 the other frames to weak colonies. In the 

 meantime we would put on our comb-honey 

 su])ers, one or two as the strength of the col- 

 ony might require. With ten frames below 

 filled with brood, the first honey coming in 

 ought to go into the supers. " Mut," you 

 say, "how about i)ollen?" Young hatching 

 brood would leave room for the storage of 

 pollen. Or, )ierhai)s better still, we woidd 

 l)ut on a shallow extracting-sujjer and a 

 comb-honey sujjcr. The first mentioned 

 woukl leave room for storage of pollen. It 

 might be necessary to put a queen-excluder 

 on top of the lower story. — Ed.] 



