44 



GLEANIJNGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jax. 15. 



eral times the ordinary length of time, and 

 costs only 3c a hive. But who will tell us what 

 is carbonyle? Perhaps some hideously smell- 

 ing preparation of coal oil. for it must be dried 

 si.\ weeks before bees will stand it. 



G. W. Hole, in B. B. J., says, " With regard 

 to clipping of queens' wings, there are hun- 

 dreds of otherwise good bee-keepors who can 

 not pick her out from among her sisters, even 

 if willing to mutilate her." Seems a bit queer 

 to speak of a good bee-keeper who can't tell a 

 queen from a worker. 



That H) tons of foundation you made in 1894 

 was a lot. Let's figure. Made (J ft. to the 

 pound, it would cover more than .5 acres, and fill 

 2.5(5,750 L. frames. Made 10 to the jiouiid. and S-, 

 in. wide, it would make a strip 2.30 miles long, 

 and fill sections for 1945 tons honey. [Thanks. 

 Figures are not always intelligible except by 

 comparison.— Ed.] 



B. Tayi-ok. in Review, mentions a bee-keep- 

 er whom a bee-journal held up approvingly, 

 saying that he "wasted no time fooling with ex- 

 periments, but just adopted the Quinby hive 

 and system, and went right along making big 

 crops of honey." Then Mr. Taylor shrewd U 

 asks. '"But suppose Mr. Quinby had been like 

 this excellent man." 



Sweet clover seems to be feared with an in- 

 sane fear, as a bad weed. Perhaps this comes 

 from the fact that it will hold its own where 

 nothing else will grow. But will it run out 

 a field of red clover or timothy? A few years 

 ago I had a piece occupied with sweet and red 

 clover. First the red came up and hid the 

 sweet, then the sweet shot up in June and hid 

 the red. But since that year the red has gain- 

 ed the ground. 



Ce.mknt- COATED .N^AiLs must be a good thing: 

 but please tell us whether they are any better 

 than rusted nails. [Rusty nails are good, but 

 they don"l hold like the new cement-coated, 

 for Fve just been trying the experiment. Had 

 a hard time to find some rusty nails around our 

 establishment. The cement is always uniform, 

 while the rusty chaps are apt to be pitted or 

 rusted too much for their real strength. Say. 

 are your nails rusty from choice or because they 

 happen to be so ?— Ed.J 



A Florida paper has an appeal for bee- 

 keepers to contribute a pound of honey for each 

 hive to father Langstroth, on the ground that 

 his hive was never patented. That's a mis- 

 take. The hive was patented, but it was pirat- 

 ed in such a way that he never got the profit 

 to which he was fairly entitled, and it would 

 be a graceful thing for bee-keepers to contrib- 

 ute to the fund being raised by the editor of the 

 .1 nieriam Bee Jourudl. [That's a move in the 

 right direction: but how are the pounds of 

 honey to be collected together without a large 

 expense ? A better way is to send the value of 

 one section for every hive to the editor of the 



Americaii Bee Jounutl. The money can be- 

 conveyed with no danger of breakage or leak- 

 age, and for only two or three cents. — Ed.] 



SEALED COVERS. 



ARRANGEMENT OF OUT-YARDS, ETC. 



By !•:. France. 



Who says sealed covers are no good ? Others 

 are afraid of them, I suppose, because they 

 have never tried them. We cover all our bees 

 with a solid board, made out of inch lumber, 

 dressed on both sides, cleated at the ends to> 

 keep from warping. Over this board we put 

 into the chamber some straw four to six inches 

 deep. The top chamber is made deep enough 

 to hold that much. On some of our hives we 

 have cushions to lay on top of the honey-board — 

 cushions filled with chaff six inches deep. I 

 like the straw ju<t as well. The farmers where 

 we keep the bees furnish the straw. About 

 May 1st to th > middle of the month we take 

 the straw out and throw it in piles out of the 

 way. If we use the cushions they are in the 

 way all summer, as we have no place to store 

 them away. We have been using those sealed 

 covers — honey- boards we call them — over 30- 

 years, and have always wintered outdoors on 

 the summer stands. I think we have averaged 

 as good luck as most bee-keepers. Our winter 

 losses are usually light. 



I have iried covering bees with cloth cushions, 

 stuffed with chaff, straw, and leaves. I find no 

 better way than putting the solid honey-board 

 right on next to the bees, and covering with 

 straw. We prefer to winter out of doors. I 

 have tried cellar wintering, and did not do as 

 well as out of doors. Now, this brings me to- 

 another subject — 



HIVES FOR OtTDOOR WINTERINCi. 



I want a quadruple hive, four colonies in one 

 hive, and I want a large hive at that. Then 

 we never have any little weak colonies— all are 

 good and strong. Make all increase by divi- 

 sion, and always make a new colony — a full col- 

 ony, especially if made late in the season. 



FRAMES. EIGHT OR TEN. 



I have been very much interested in the dis- 

 cussion of the question as to eight or ten frames. 

 I don't know but that I am on the fence, with 

 Dr. Miller. I have eight-frame hives enough to 

 hold over 1.50 colonies; but if you ask me if 

 eight frames are my choice, I don't i-eally know. 

 I have been led to use them, whether it was my 

 choice or not, in this way: I first made one hive 

 to hold four colonies on L. frames. I made it to 

 use nine frames in each set — two stories high. 

 After I had it finished I found it was too wide- 



