1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



597 



—the shallow, used In producing section honey. I 

 might in time find some way to wide-space the 

 Danzenbaker frames; but if you can tell me, why 

 should I worry? 



Notwithstanding I had many more bees to the 

 colony May 1 than June 1 1 have had good success- 

 something like 1300 lbs. from 20 hives, spring count. 

 I caught a few swarms in June, but It was so very 

 dry that there was not much swarming. But two 

 of my swarms made queen-cells. 



If Mr. Townsend uses honey-boards and does not 

 go near his outyards, how does he manage about 

 the swarius which make queen-cells above the 

 honey-boards?. 



1 have 21 swarms over honey-boards, and have 

 already found queen-cells. If this is to continue, 

 and I have to look over all the supers to see if cells 

 are started. It will mean considerable work. X. 



[The Danzenbaker is more particularly a comb- 

 honey hive, although it can be used tor extracted. 

 It would hardly be practicable to space eight Dan- 

 zenbaker closed-end frames in a ten-frame body. 

 The frames, as you know, would not stand up, but 

 topple over against each other. We do not know 

 how you could overcome the dlrticulty unless you 

 made a sort of rake or comb, the teeth of which 

 would slip down between the spaces between the 

 end-bars of frames when spaced apart so that eight 

 would just fill a ten-frame body. The back of the 

 comb or rake should be made of tin, while the 

 teeth should be square wooden pegs secured to the 

 tin by means of one or two nails. 



Mr. Townsend does not have any trouble with 

 cells above honey-boards, but uses a different hive, 

 the ten-frame Langstroth. The difference in cli- 

 mate, the difference in hive, and possible differ- 

 ence in management, may account for your differ- 

 ences in experience.— Ed.] 



^/^ A easy 



3l 



USH 



USH 



Poor Success in Introducing a Queen to a Full- 

 sized Colony. 



In regard to introducing a queen to a full colony, 

 p. 465. July 15, T am having Mr. Alexander's experi- 

 ence. A queen that I purchased and gave to a full 

 colony three weeks ago is being superseded. How 

 can I prevent it? I don't want the bees to raise 

 their own queen, as the chances are she would not 

 be purely mated. I was thinking of dividing the 

 colony, leaving a few queen-cells below, and put- 

 ting the queen and .some young bees above with 

 wire cloth between. Then kill the young queen, if 

 they raise one, and unite the colonies before cold 

 weather. Would this be all right? 



Edinburg, X. D., Aug. 6. Mks. M. S. Trouslin. 



[When we have a valuable queen that the bees 

 are irying to supersede we keep taking away the 

 cells or virgins as fast as they raise them. In this 

 way the bees will keep the queen laying, ."^nme- 

 times you can allow a virgin to mature to a laving 

 queen: but there is danger that the bees will supei-- 

 sede the old mother. It sometimes happens that 

 the queen which the bees are trying to supersede 

 kill the cells as fast as they are filled. The bees 

 will not long put up with that, and before long 

 they will dispose of the old mother.— Ed.] 



(••■■ 



III •••• 



^EL Yard 



3uCKWM£AT 



A Buckwheat-Field that the Bees Found by Scent. 



On page 230, April 1, J. L. Byer rather doubts that 

 case of Mr. Thompson's regarding l)ees finding new 

 pasture by scent. It was only last fall that I visited 

 one of my outyards. and every thing was as quiet 

 as could be: but next day every thing was in an 

 uproar. A warm south wind was blowing at the 

 time, and I was afraid they they were finding 

 honey-dew in some place, because I was unaware 

 of any buckwheat being within reach. This day I 

 went home by the Lake Shore Road, and a farmer 

 friend of mine hailed me and said that his buck- 

 wheat (12 acres) was alive with yellow bees, and he 

 had not seen them until then. In the yard referred 

 to above are the only Italian bees within six miles. 

 and for them to get to that field of buckwheat they 

 had to fly VA, miles to a high timbered bush, and 

 either go over the top or go roundabout, then cross 

 a large field, then encounter another bush of high 

 timber, then about another half-mile to the buck- 

 wheat — VA miles in all. I am quite satisfied tho.se 

 bees would never have found that pasture if the 

 wind had not blown the scent in the direction of 

 the yard. 



Burlington, Ont., April 18. Isaac Bai.mer. 



The Advisability of Storing Comb Honey Up- 

 stairs; a Concrete Floor for a Bee-yard. 



I am thinking of building a bee-house two stories 

 high, and keeping the comb honey in the upper 

 story, about a foot off the floor. From the top of 

 the floor to the eaves of the roof it is to be oJ4 feet. 

 The building will be 

 covered with a comb 

 roof, the comb being 

 about 6 feet from the 

 square of the building. 

 Do you think it would 

 be a dry enough place 

 to put comb honey in 

 the second story, the 

 roof being covered 

 with chestnut shin- 

 gles? Some years ago 

 I placed comb honey 

 under a slate roof, and 



it was so hot that It 



boiled the honey out 



of the cells. 



Do you t h 1 n k it 

 would be a good idea 

 to place two inches of 

 concrete over a bee- 

 yard to keep down the 

 ^ grass and weeds? Would it be too cold 



^ for the bees in the winter, and retard 



brood-rearing in the spring by setting 

 the colonies on the concrete? 

 Williamson, Pa. L. H. Lin'DEMUTH. 

 [We see no reason why you could not 

 store comb honey in the upper story of 

 the building to which you refer, but we 

 think It would hardly be a suitable place 

 during the winter months. If the tem- 

 perature becomes hot enough during summer to 

 melt down the combs it would not be a safe jilace 

 to put your honey. Honey is heavy stuff to han- 

 dle; and the nearer you can keep it on the ground 

 level in a warm dry place that is frost-proof and se- 

 cure from insects, rats, and mice, the better. 



We would not advise putting concrete two inches 

 thick over a bee-yard. The frost would break it to 

 pieces if it were only two inches thick. We do not 

 suppose that it would greatly affect the tempera- 

 ture Inside of a hive.— Ed. ] 



Hive-covers Made Both of Wood and Concrete. 



I have tried every way I can think of to make a 

 wooden cover without putting factory work on it, 

 but have always failed, as they will not stay the 

 way I make them. I have made a few that I be- 

 lieve I shall like, although I have not yet tried 

 them. With K or J's inch lumber I make a cover as 

 wide as the hive, and long enough to nail half-inch 

 cleats on each end I then make another cover, 

 out of concrete, which is 2 ft. long and 16 in. wide. 

 These are Wx in. thick on the two sides, and 2 in. 

 thick in the middle. I find that these covers cost 



