1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



525 



is the greater benefactor, the schoolteacher or 

 the inventor ? It would be like the old discus- 

 sion in our school-days, that could be argued 

 ad inflnitum— the beauties of spring versus 

 those of fall.— Ed.] 



SHALLOW BROOD -CHAMBERS. 



THOSE NON-SWARMING AND NON-STINGING 

 BEES. 



Bi/ Henry Alley. 



Friend Root;— You wish to l^now about the 

 non-swarming and non-stinging bees. I have 

 this to say of them: In May, 1894, I formed a 

 six-frame nucleus for the purpose of preserving 

 some fine drones to be used in an out-apiary two 

 miles from home. Of course, the colony was 

 queenless, or the drones might have been de- 

 stroyed. In July the drones had nearly all dis- 

 appeared from this hive ; but in the meantime 

 a queen had been reared, and the young bees 

 were hatching out, and it seemed that they 

 were more than commonly beautiful, and of a 

 leather color. The colony was taken home, 

 more combs added, and in a few weeks it was 

 one of the most powerful hives of bees in my 

 yard. This colony was used to rear cells in an 

 upper story the rest of the season ; and before 

 the season closed they had built 250 queen-cells 

 of the finest quality; that is, the queens from 

 these cells were extra fine. You want to know, 

 too, whether the bees are stingless. Well, I am 

 hardly able to reply. I can say that not even 

 one bee of this particular hive has ever used its 

 sting on me; nevertheless, I presume these bees 

 have stings, yet they do not seem to know how 

 to use them. I have opened this hive not less 

 than fifty times, but never knew a bee to take 

 wing or to sting during any operation. Practic- 

 ally this is a strain of non-stinging bees. 



Now about the non-swarming part. I have 

 had this strain of bees in my apiary six years, 

 and have never had a swarm of bees from them; 

 and, what is more, 1 have never heard of any 

 one ever having a swarm from that strain. It 

 strikes me that I can safely claim that they are 

 non-swarmers. 



About the colony spoken of, I will say that 

 they are very industrious and active, and win- 

 tered finely. They are now the strongest colo- 

 ny in my apiary, and have drones in abun- 

 dance. I propose to use the drones of this hive 

 for my young queens that will be reared from 

 other fine queens of the same strain now in my 

 apiary. The bees are leather-colored, very in- 

 dustrious, hardy, and gentle. I believe in prop- 

 agating a race of bees of this kind. Don't you ? 



Wenham, Mass. Henky Alley. 



[Where any thing is advertised out of the or- 

 dinary we generally require an explanation. 

 In our last issue Mr. Alley advertised non- 

 swarming and non-stinging bees. I wrote him. 

 asking him whether he had bees that could 

 not sting, or bees that, under ordinary circum- 

 stances, loould not, although having the power 

 to do so if necessary, and the above is his ex- 

 planation.— Ed.] 



MR. HEDDON REPLIES TO THE EDITORIAL ON P. 409. 



TSro. Rant:— I am quite surprised at the import of 

 your editorial on pajfe 409. Either j-oii liave not yet 

 g'ot the liantf of liandling- my hive (and you must 

 use more tlian one to ever get it* or 1 liave no knowl- 

 edge, either |)raetical or tlieoretical, of handling- the 

 old styles, or you never could come to the conclu- 

 sion that you could compete with a- divisible brood- 

 chamber in rapidly determining the true condition 

 of the colonies. 1 think it would be very difficult to 

 convince those who have tested my hives that any 

 style of single brood-cli amber or deep brood-cham- 

 ber can for a moment compete. You had to open 

 your hive at the top, pull out a division-board, and 

 then pry along one half of your frames with that 

 wire nail before you could determine any thing, 

 hardly, beyond what might be determined from the 

 outside without opening the hive at all. This gave 

 plenty of time fiu- robbers to get into your hive, if 

 any were about, as is usually the case at such times. 

 With the divisible brood-chamber I do not remove 

 the cover at all, but split it in two in the middle, 

 turn up the upper half, and look into both halves 

 at once, or as nearly at once as possible for one not 

 cross-eyed, and put back the little case before a 

 robber could get a taste. My opinion is, that I can 

 handle hives for this purpose somewhere about six 

 or ten to your one. 



Yes, you were correct regarding the reason 1 

 made the top and bottom bars to my frames only \% 

 wide, which is just the width that a brood-comb is 

 thick. Now, you find that, between the shallow 

 brood-cases, the bees will put in brace-combs. Cer- 

 tainly they will; but all they put in amounts to 

 more of a bugbear than a real detriment. These 

 brace-combs have some little advantages, and the 

 annoyance is very slight. Those who have learned 

 the great advantages of the use of a divisible brood- 

 chamber look upon these brace-combs as of no mo- 

 ment. I trust that bee-keepers who have not used 

 the hive will remember that, where an opening is 

 made between sets of frames so near the hattorn of 

 a brooding-apartment, much fewer brace-combs are 

 built therein. 



What you state concerning the space in the mid- 

 dle of the brood-nest retarding the production of 

 brood is, in my opinion, a groundless theory from 

 first to last, wholly in opposition to practical results. 

 It's a part and parcel of the same theory that hives 

 should be square or tall, in order that tlie brood- 

 nest may be spherical in form. The Bingham eiglit- 

 frame liive, containing frames holding combs 4V4 

 inches deep and 33 inches long, will show as much 

 brood, and I believe more, than anj- other style of 

 hive. We have been terribly handicapped in adapt- 

 ing hives to the bee-master, because of false theo- 

 ries regarding adaptability to the bees. 



I hardly know why you mention the matter of 

 burr combs between the toj) of the brood-chamber 

 and bottom of tlie surplus-receptacles. I can not 

 see that this is a fit subject, when comparing differ- 

 ent hive*, for they are all subject to the same laws 

 and conditions; whether the brood-chamber is divis- 

 ible or not makes no difference. At the top of the 

 brt)od-chamber, where we place our surplus-cases, 

 with all hives, is where brace-combs are much more 

 liable to l)e built, and here 1 always use and for ever 

 advocate the break-joint honey-ljoard. Those who 

 oppose it now will use it later. I assert this from 

 twenty-eight years' experience in bee-keeping, and 

 more than twenty years' use of thick and deep top- 

 bars. 



Will you allow me to thank Mr. Richardson for his 

 truthful statement concerning the merits of a 

 divisible brood-chamber, etc., as found in my hive, 

 presented to your readers on page 450 ? I must con- 

 fess I can not agree witli my friend and colaborer 

 on the point he touches, concerning my being 

 derelict in my duty, in not better advertising the 

 hive. Surely many bee-keepers naturally would, 

 and have discovered its merits. To a certain extent 

 they have published these merits to the world, and 

 would have done so, and so would I, to a much 

 greater extent, had it not been that we were refus- 

 ed space in the journals. I think I have done pretty 

 well in my book, " Success in Bee Culture;" and 

 now in my pamphlet, just issued. I think the job is 

 completed. I can not understand Bro. Richardson's 

 allusion to the matter of others inventing what I 

 did, perhaps, had I not patented my invention, or 

 had I better explained the same. One who can not 



