1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



635 



her bees would sting as bad as hornets. To-day 

 1 took out the queen and clipped her; placed 

 lier on a leaf on the t pof frames, and, as she 

 went down, the bees got after her. I lifted out 

 two or three frames at once, and found her 

 balled on the bottom-board. I smoked the bees 

 ■off, and she was stung to death. Is that un- 

 usual? Geo. W. Martin. 

 Saltsburg, Pa.. July 23. 



[The case is not an uncommon one with cross 

 bees, though usually there is time enough al- 

 lowed to get the qu(;en out of the ball before 

 she is stung. — Ed.1 



N. A. M.. N. If.— Snnw piled against the hives 

 in winter is no detriment of itself, and affords 

 ■some protection. The only trouble arisfs when 

 it thaws and clogs up the entrance with ice. 

 This trouble can largely be avoided by giving 

 the hives a little slant forward in order to run 

 the water from the entrance. 



I. D., Mich. — The reason why bees fill in small 

 •slabs of comb between the frames is due, many 

 times, to improper spacing, and to combs that 

 are irregular. If combs are flat as a board, and 

 •spaced li?^ from center to center, and if the top- 

 bars are IV inchts wide, there will be but very 

 little trouble. The building of similar pieces of 

 comb in the sections can be avoided by the use 

 ■of separators in connection with full sheets of 

 foundation. In most cases, separators with 

 -starters are effective. 



F. L. W., Ta. — We have not tried using chaff 

 hives single-walled at the sides, and packed at 

 the ends only; but reports from those who did 

 try them were rather unfavorable, because the 

 division-boards, even when 3 inches thick, do 

 not seem to take the place of the thick double 

 walls of the hives. Most colonies in our locali- 

 ty, even in chaff hives, are contracted down to 

 leave a chaff' division-board at one or both 

 sides; and. of course, in the case of the smaller 

 ■colonies, this gives additional protection; and, 

 when large enough to fill the whole brood-nest, 

 the division-boards are not needed. 



B. F. M., Texas. — Bees, as a general rule, kill 

 •off drones immediately after the honey-flow. 

 This is one of the economiesof the hive; for the 

 bees can not afford to support drones when 

 ■swarming is over, and there is nothing before 

 them but to save up their stores and go through 

 winter. Useless consumers and non-producers 

 must be killed oft' and got rid of. Of course, in 

 •queen-rearing you can prevent the loss of the 

 drones by feeding the colony a little every day; 

 and if you desire increase, divide, and feed each 

 divided half a little feed to keep them going on 

 in brood-rearing. 



W. H. S., T'r(.— If your bees are clustering on 

 the front of the hives, and refuse to work in the 

 supers; and if, too, other colonies are gathering 

 honey, tne probabilities are they are preparing 

 to swarm; or if the hive is improperly ventilat- 

 ed, and exposed to the hot sun during the mid- 

 dle of the day. give them plenty of super room, 

 and, if necessary, raise the cover up a little and 

 then drive them in with smoke. Of course, it is 

 very essential that they have shade. If you 

 can not give it to them any other way, use what 

 is called a shade board — that is, two or three 

 boards cleated at the ends so as to make a pro- 

 jecting top that will extend six or eight inches 

 beyond the sides and ends of the hive. Of 

 course, said shade- board should be elevated 

 above the hive-cover an inch or so, to permit of 

 a free circulation of air under it. In our cata- 

 log, page 4, is illustrated and described what we 

 call the ventilated gable cover, combining to a 

 great extent the ordinary cover and shade- 

 board together. 



Basswood is done for this season, and a good 

 honey flow. We have had goldenrod, and other 

 fall flowers promise well in sections where the 

 low lands are. A. G. Acklin. 



St. Paul, Minn., July 17. 



My best colony stored 119 lbs. from fruit- 

 bloom and scarlet clover. This season white 

 clover is almost a complete failure. You can't 

 go wrong in sowing it for honey. It will come 

 as near paying expense of cultivation for its 

 nectar as any plant with which I am acquaint- 

 ed. J. Colby Smith. 



Willow Grove, Del., Aug. 5. 



We are having the largest honey-flow I have 

 ever seen. My 50 colonies of bees keep me busy 

 wailing on them, while they are just rolling in 

 it. But, strange to say, my neighbors' bees 

 are doing almost nothing. I have the leather- 

 colored Italians, while they have hybrids and 

 golden Italians. Edw. Smith. 



Carpenter, 111.. .July 22. 



EPORTSKJ _ 

 DlSCOURACle 



bitter with the sweet. 

 Bees are doing very little ; no basswood what- 

 ever. Last year at this time I had 1.500 V>s. of 

 nice honey, and now not even .50 lt>s. ; but we 

 have to take the bitcer with the sweet. 



Stephen Roe.se. 

 Maiden Rock, Wis., July 22. 



