126 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1.5. 



ing the lower set of combs empty, or nearly so, 

 as fast as the brood hatches. My hive being 

 deep, no doubt gives different results from a 

 shallow one. Bees are inclined to occupy the 

 upper hive when tiered up. This I call forcing 

 the queen. I can, if I wish to continue brood- 

 rearing longer in both hives, set the bottom 

 hive on top. and it is in the most favorable con- 

 dition to tempt the queen above again. But it 

 is not economy to push brood-rearing far into 

 the honey season. 



The tiering feature I find valuable in uniting 

 colonies. I just place one colony over the other, 

 with a honey-cloth or oil cloth between, with a 

 corner turned so that a small passageway en- 

 ables them to get acquainted, and. after a few 

 days, remove the cloth, place the hive to be oc- 

 cupied on top, with the queen. 



In the same way I unite colonies when they 

 are set out of winter quarters; but no cloth is 

 necessary between the hives, nor is it necessary 

 to kill one of the queens. Being of the same 

 scent, they unite without confusion; and often 

 both queens continue work for some time. 

 There has been much of the best thought of 

 our best apiarists expended in devising methods 

 by which brood-rearing could be judiciously en- 

 couraged early in the season, when the colonies 

 are light, and are struggling against vicissi- 

 tudes of weather, with a large amount of brood 

 to care for. Contract the brood-nest by use of 

 division-boards and dummies, the use of cush- 

 ions, and packing and care resorted to for the 

 purpose of protecting the colony and econo- 

 mizing the heat. But these are all expensive, 

 and involve much labor and continual fussing, 

 and I think they are only arguments in favor 

 of smaller as well as more properly constructed 

 hives. 



I have not called attention to the advantage 

 of a small hive over a large one, in the lifting, 

 carrying in and out of winter quarters, etc. 

 The ground has all been gone over, but this I 

 consider an important item not to be overlooked. 



After all, the question is not whether A can 

 get better results with a large hive than with a 

 small one, but whether A can get better results 

 with a large hive than B can with a small one 

 under the same conditions. 



East Townsend, Ohio. 



[For a long time I have been more and more 

 convinced, from various talks that I have had 

 with Mr. Boardmaii, that he is one of the keen- 

 ensi. brightest, and most intelligent bee-keep- 

 ers we have; and if there is a closer observer of 

 Natureand her laws I do not know him. I 

 have been trying to get him to write; but it 

 was not until now that I have prevailed upon 

 him to give us a series of articles, and the one 

 above is ihe first installment. The subject he 

 has taken up and handled so well is one that 

 I assigned to him, as I believed him to be as 

 competent as any one to review the whole situ- 

 ation, now that it is about time to draw the 

 •^/ hive discussion, both large and small, to an end 



of the literature that has appeared in the past 

 in Gleanings. 



I had expected in the present article that he 

 would be somewhat on the "other side of the 

 fence" in this hive discussion: but although 

 he uses a different size of frame, it is somewhat 

 encouraging to see that, with Dooliitle and a 

 host of others, and over a different route, he has 

 settled upon 2000 cubic inches as the correct 

 size of brood-nest. Mr. Boardman says he finds 

 no difhculty in getting brood reared in two 

 hives by tiering up. This is the position that 

 some of us, in opposition to that practical bee- 

 keeper, C. A. Hatch, have held, and I am glad 

 to see one more good authority to sustain us in 

 this.— Ed.] 



A very interesting and valuable article quite 

 in line with Boardman's views will be found in 

 this issue, by G. M. Doolittle. on page 137. 



BEE-KEEPING AS A SPECIALTY. NOT A SUC- 

 CESS. 



FRITIT-GROWING AND BEE-KEEPING A GOOD 

 COMBINATION IN CALIFORNIA. 



By ll'm. O. Hewe« 



'/ 



for the present. Mr. Boardman's articles will 

 probably be somewhat of the nature of a I'eview 



Essays advising that bee-keeping as a busi- 

 ness be made a specialty by the persons en- 

 gaged therein have been written from time to 

 time. The essayists are often eloquent in their 

 advice, but never, I believe, practice what they 

 preach. One of the best of these articles was 

 written by a gentleman in Michigan whom 

 Ernest Root, in his recent bicycle- tour, discov- 

 ered to have a very fine orchard. The "G. in 

 M." has, no doubt, perceived, as has the writer, 

 that the growing of fruit fits in more happily 

 with the production of honey than does any 

 other occupation. 



The bees in this part of California require 

 constant attention during the months of April, 

 May. and June. During the remainder of the 

 year, a few days' attention each month is all 

 that is needed. Now, during the months of 

 April. May, and June, when the lees need con- 

 stant attention, the requirements of an orchard 

 are only cultivation, and this simple work can 

 safely be entrusted to any ordinary farm help. 

 The specialist bee-keeper, by the first of July, 

 is beginning to wonder how he is going to "kill 

 time" for the next nine months (and if it be a 

 dry season following, he will have to kill time 

 for the next twenty-one months) ; but the fruit- 

 growing bee-keeper quits his extracting to at- 

 tend to the drying of his apricots; and from 

 apricots he goes to peaches, to prunes, to pears, 

 to grapes, to figs, to apples, almonds, olives, or 

 oranges, as the soil or climatic conditions of his 

 locality make most profitable. By a proper se- 

 lection of varieties the fruit-growing bee-keep- 

 er can harvest fruit from the end of his honey 

 harvest until the beginning of the winter rains, 

 at which time he has leisure to plow his or- 

 chards and paint his hives, thus occupying the 

 whole year in a way conducive both to his hap- 

 piness and his profit. 



Numerous have been the devices of bee-keep- 



