1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



517 



of 12>^ Langstroth frames, all healthy, and 

 in splendid condition. 



I would advise Miss Beattie to requeen 

 her afTected colonies, and earnestly ask that 

 her letter and your humble servant's reply 

 be sent to Dr. E. F. Phillips, as my obser- 

 vations may suggest the line of investiga- 

 tion. Requeening is the cure, but it is well 

 to know the cause of the trouble. 



Have you any record of alfalfa failing to 

 set seed because of the scarcity of bees to 

 bring about the needed fructification? I 

 have a case reported from a hot irrigated dis- 

 trict. 



Victoria, B. C. 



[Dr. Phillips' opinion on this question 

 would be appreciated by our readers. Can 

 a queen bring trouble of this kind? 



In reply to your last paragrai)h, we do 

 not recall any such record or report. — Kc] 



SHAKING BEES. 



The Experience of One who has Actually " Shook 

 'em." 



BY WALTER S. POUDER. 



I have just read the article by Geo. W. 

 Williams, page 449, July 15, in which he 

 wishes to hear from those who have had ex- 

 perience rather than further theories. I am 

 shaking as if I had palsy to reply to that ar- 

 ticle. Some fifteen years ago shaking bees 

 was one of my hobbies, and I wrote it up at 

 that time for the Indiana Farmer under 

 the caption of "Swarming Without In- 

 crease." I did a lot of experimenting to 

 learn the limitations, and I watched many 

 others take it up, some with success and 

 many with failures. If Mr. Williams will 

 keep on shaking his bees during a poor hon- 

 ey season, or at any time when honey is 

 scarce, he will soon shake his bees all away. 

 On the other hand, shaking, swarming, and 

 producing comb honey fits in most beauti- 

 fully if a certain course is pursued. Who 

 has not been seriously annoyed by having 

 a swarm issue when a super was just about 

 half or more filled? We hive the new swarm; 

 but by the time the two hives have gained 

 strength to work again in supers, the flow 

 is a thing of the past. In such cases I learn- 

 ed to shake the bees from the parent colony 

 with the new swarm, but I found certain 

 conditions that meant failure or success, ac- 

 cording to several very important details. 

 The new swarm must be hived with starters 

 only in brood-frames, using a queen-exclud- 

 ing honey-board and placing the comb-hon- 

 ey super on the hive. Every bee should 

 then be brushed or shaken with the new 

 swarm. This hive will now produce more 

 surplus comb honey than any other hive 

 supposed to be a normal hive in the same 

 yard. Some will ask why. AVell, the bees 

 j:o right in the super, storing and build- 

 ing comb. They will build nice worker 

 comb in the brood-frames, and fast enough 



to accommodate the queen. There is no 

 brood to be taken care of, and the entire 

 force concentrate their energies on storing 

 honey in super. 



Mr. Williams infers that he gets as satis- 

 factory results by placing one frame of 

 brood in brood-chamber, or returning all 

 the brood. With me, this or either would 

 be ruinous and a total failure. If a comb is 

 placed in the brood-chamber the bees will 

 exert their energies there instead of in the 

 super, and the honey-cells on the comb will 

 be drawn to an abnormal length, ruining 

 the adjoining combs. To return all the 

 brood would be worse than folly, with me. 

 Full sheets wired in the brood-chamber are 

 not desirable, because they provide too 

 much storage, and our object is to get hon- 

 ey stored in the super. Those who have re- 

 ported failures to me have invariably com- 

 mitted one of the errors about conditions in 

 the brood-chamber. Inch starters in brood- 

 frames is the correct method, and any devi- 

 ation will bring unfavorable results. 



Now some one will ask about the combs 

 of brood which we have to take care of. They 

 can be distributed to weaker colonies; but if 

 you are a good bee-keeper you are not likely 

 to have weak colonies during the swarming^ 

 season, because you are supposed to have 

 equalized the strength before the season 

 opened. If one has an extractor, perhaps 

 the most profitable method would be to 

 place the brood in a third story on a hive 

 with a queen-excluder on the lower brood- 

 chamber. As fast as brood hatches, the cells 

 will be used for honey; and in a few days all 

 larvae are sealed over, so that in extracting 

 there is no thromng-out of larvse. 



In this we have natural swarming with- 

 out increase; but if one desired increase the 

 plans could be deviated accordingly. For 

 instance, queen-cells could be saved, and 

 enough bees left on the brood to protect it. 



Indianapolis, Ind. 



SUB-EARTH VENTILATION FOR BEE-CEL- 

 LARS. 



The Pipe Line Should be Water-tight. 



BY S. T. PETTIT. 



In the 80's, or about a quarter of a centu- 

 ry ago, a good deal was said about sub-earth 

 ventilators. The thing looked so reasona- 

 ble, that, without due consideration, I spent 

 some money on it, and put down one that 

 I thought was right up to date, and so it 

 was. But it proved to be only an edifying 

 failure. It was simply a six-inch tile-drain, 

 varying in depth from three to six feet. It 

 entered the cellar about two feet above the 

 bottom. From the cellar it extended north- 

 west. This was in its favor, for the coldest 

 winds are generally from that direction, 

 which increased the flow of air through it 

 into the cellar when most needed. 



It proved a decided help in maintaining 

 an even temperature in the cellar; but it 

 filled the cellar with air saturated with 



