536 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 1. 



fullj- understand tlie merits and working- of the 

 hive, from the explanations 1 liave made, and im- 

 mediately after the patent was issued, certainly 

 never could alone have discovered its merits. If I 

 am to blame for not giving it wider advertising, at 

 an earlier date, what shall we say of those who now 

 claim to have discovered and used some of its meri- 

 torious features, and yet never published a word to 

 the world concerning them? There is only one 

 thing we can say, and perhaps that had better not 

 be said. James Heddon. 



Dowagiac, Mich., June 7. 



[As I have not yet had reason to change my views 

 as expressed in the editorial under consideration. I 

 will let Mr. Heddon's reply stand on its own merits, 

 without further comment.— Ed] 



average dealer here or in Canada will sell It for 

 just what it is, for then it would not sell at all. 



It is said there are exceptions to all rules. 

 We usually say that a swarm never comes 

 forth unless they have something that they re- 

 gard as a queen, either young or old. We had 

 the exception this morning that proves the 

 rule. Of course, they went back. 



Some of our apicultural writers are having a 

 little sport over the way in which the editor of 

 the Cosmopolitan " put a head " on W. Z. 

 Hutchinson's articles, designating the bee as 

 masculine. Well, we can quite excuse his ig- 

 norance in view of the splendid way in which 

 the magazine sets forth W. Z. H.'s beautiful 

 photos. 



We tried a swarm-catcher last week— not the 

 automatic device, but a large cage with a wide 

 mouth to clap over the entrance as the bees 

 rush out. Perhaps we were too late in getting 

 it applied; but it didn't work as we thought it 

 ought to. One swallow doesn't make a sum- 

 mer; but I suspect bees do not feel really sat- 

 isfied unless they have had a big " pow wow " 

 in the air. - 



Basswoods are blooming beautifully; and 

 the frequent and warm rains that we are now 

 having give promise of an abundant honey 

 flow from that source. Letters go to show that 

 white clover has been largely a failure almost 

 everywhere. If any one has secured a fine crop 

 ef white-clover honey, let him hold up his hand. 

 There is going to be a crop of honey in Califor- 

 nia; but, as Rambler says elsewhere, it will 

 not be such a very large one after all. 



It comes to us in a sort of roundabout way 

 that there are some bee-keepers in Canada who 

 are producing sugar honey— that is, a so-called 

 honey produced by feeding sugar to the bees. 

 There is little or none of that thing going on in 

 this country, I believe, and I really hope there 

 never will be. In Canada, some of the prom- 

 inent bee-keepers are taking vigorous measures 

 to keep such honey out of the market, and I 

 hope they will, for I can not believe that the 



NEW vs. OLD METHODS OF RAISING CELLS. 



We have something over 3.50 queen-rearing 

 colonies in our home yard. After having tried 

 very faithfully all the later methods, such as 

 artificial cell-cups, raising cells in the upper 

 story of a strong colony having a queen in the 

 lower story separated by a perforated zinc, and 

 all such new methods, we have gone back to 

 the good old ways. The artificial cell-cups are 

 too expensive to make — at least, for us; too 

 expensive to put in royal jelly and larv»; and 

 then, worse than all, we find that too large a 

 percentage of them are rejected. Completing 

 the cells in the upper story of a strong colony 

 with a queen below, works sometimes, and 

 sometimes not. The uncertainty of the plan 

 has caused us to abandon it for a good strong 

 colony of queenless bees. We save all our cell- 

 cups, and cells from first-class breeders, and 

 put the frame or frames containing them into 

 the queenless colony or colonies on hand for 

 that purpose. There is thus a certainty of 

 results; and where we are selling as many 

 queens as we are now, we always have quite a 

 number of partially completed cells from choice 

 breeders that have been sold out a few days 

 previously. By this plan our cells really cost 

 us nothing, any more than the time of taking 

 out the frames with the cells thereon, and put- 

 ting them into one or two special queenless col- 

 onies, by them to be completed. 



WIDE AND NAKEOW TOP-BARS IN SECTIONAL 



OR DOUBLE-BROOD-NEST HIVES, AND 



THEIR EFFECT UPON BKOOD- 



ING-SPAQE. 



The double-brood-chamber Danzenbaker hive 

 still seems unfavorable for the rearing of a full 

 amount of brood. We find that a queen will 

 fill clear full one section of the brood-nest be- 

 fore she will go into the other. I feel more 

 convinced than ever that wide top-bars for 

 double brood-nests or sectional brood-nests are 

 not the thing. 



A year or so ago the bees all died in our Hed- 

 don hive, and combs got wormy. This spring 

 we got out the comb, put in frames of founda- 

 tion, and hived a swarm on them. The top- 

 bars of these frames are K x }i. The queen and 

 bees seem to be working fairly well in both 

 stories at this writing, although I can see there 

 is a tendency on the part of the queen to accept 

 one section rather than both at the same time. 

 I can not but feel that the slightest barrier 

 through the center of the brood-nest is some- 

 what of an obstruction, and a waste of brood- 

 space. The narrower this barrier or top-bar, 

 the less the obstruction. But wide top-bars, or 

 wide and deep either, for that matter, do not 

 seem to hinder the bees. In fact, they may be 

 considered an advantage in that they keep the 



