386 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



June 15 



slieets of foimdalion or starters. Why not 

 make a sliort cut in tliis way, and save time, 

 foundation, hives, etc.? 'I'lie old boxes or 

 ]ie^s could be burned afterward. 

 C'anii)bell, Cal. M. I. I'hii.iji'Pe. 



THE PHYSICS OF CONTRACTION. 



hLOCKS ITNDEK HIVES DO NOT .^LWAYS PKE- 

 VENT SWARMING. 



From my exi)erience alonfi; the line of i)ut- 

 tinfi; blocks under hi\es, away back in the 

 year IS.Vi, I think that those M'ho rely upon 

 this plan as a preventive of swarming are 

 doometl to disapi)ointment when conditions 

 are fa\orable for SMarming. In those days 

 we had no frames nor modern hives — noth- 

 ing but the log gums or square boxes, and 

 the great bugaboo was the wax-moth. It 

 was claimed that the raising of the hives olf 

 the bench l)y V)locks placed under the cor- 

 ners would cause the moths to collect under 

 the blccks so that they could be destroyed. 

 Although I had good large box hives, my 

 bees swarmed just as much as those that 

 were left with only the common entrance. 



Elwood, Kan. " L. d. Purvis. 



Ffc; 



A NEW AND LKillTER FORM OF ANTI-HORBER CACiE WHU'H 

 HAS BEEN USED IN MEDINA. SEE EDITORIAL, P. ;'>()7. 



HV LEO i:. CJATELV. 



Nothwithstanding the rei)eated and force- 

 ful attacks upon this method of inducing 

 or compelling bees to store their i)roduct 

 where it may I)e a\ailable for other i)uri)Oses 

 than mere bee-food, I am disposed to view 

 the subject in a vastly different light. In a 

 great many if not the majority of localities, 

 some form of contraction is indisputably a 

 necessary essential to insuring satisfactory 

 su])er work. With any amount of nectar 

 coming in, and with skill unlimited, it is 

 practically impossible to attract the bees 

 into surjilus receptacles so long as they have 

 empty combs below. 



A perfectly feasible but rather laborious 

 method, accomplishing the object but elim- 

 inating the necessity for contraction, con- 

 sists, when su])ering, in exchanging combs 

 of brood from ])Oorer colonies for empty 

 combs that the honey-i)roducing ones may 

 have. A better i)lan is to have some sys- 

 tem that will always result in getting the 

 honey where it is want- 



ed, without handling 



combs. 



Swarms or new col- 

 onies placed in large 

 brood - chambers and 

 left to fill them before 

 sections are given can 

 hardly be expected to 

 furnish any surplus in 

 the best of years. Nat- 

 ural swarms should al- 

 ways be hived in con- 

 tracted brood-chambers 

 upon the original 

 stands and sujoers that 

 may have been upon 

 the parent colonies soon 

 after sliifted to them. 

 By so doing, super work 

 will be uninterrupted, 

 and a surplus secured 

 equal in volume to that 

 which would have been 

 obtained if no swarm- 

 ing liad occurred. 



Up to the time of 

 supering, the queen 

 ought to be given un- 

 limited room to secure 

 all the brood obtaiiui- 

 ble. .lust previous to 

 giving surplus recepta- 

 cles, brood - chambers 

 can be reduced tea sin- 

 gle tier of frames, and 

 again enlarged when 

 the harvest is past. 



Those having used a 

 hive witli a super witler 

 than the body, jutting 

 out past the sides of 

 the brood - nest, have 

 undoubtedly noticed 

 the partial or perhaps 



