1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



665 



which has a little more in the shape of side 

 wall. When convenient I like to have the bot- 

 tom staiter of a little lii'avier foundation than 

 the top. 



I always use foundation enough to till the 

 section all but about a quarter of an inch, and I 

 don't know for certain just what would be the 

 result of using a narrower starter both at the 

 top and bottom ; but I suspect that there are 

 times, when honey is not coming in very rap- 

 idly, when a bottom starter under a narrow top 

 starter would be gnawed down; whereas one 

 with only a quarter-inch space between the 

 two would be respected. Where there is a big 

 space between the two starters, the bees are 

 more likely to act as if they thought the bot- 

 tom starter ought to he got out of the way; 

 whereas with only a fouith-inch space between, 

 the bees at once begin to join the two starters, 

 and after that the bottom starter is pretty safe. 



To sum up, then, if you don't want bees to 

 gnaw down your bottom starters, don't have 

 too great a space between them and the top 

 starters; don't use for them foundation too 

 thin, and don't let sections stay on the hive 

 when the bees are idle. 



KEEPING TOPS OF SECTIONS CLEAN. 



A friend thinks there should be some way 

 devised by which the tops of sections in T su- 

 pers and section -holders can be kept clean. It 

 would certainly be a nice thing if they could be 

 taken off the hive looking as clean as when put 

 on; but I have some doubt whether it will ever 

 be accomplished — that is, so that every section 

 shall be entirely clean under all circumstances; 

 for I've seen many so clean that you'd have to 

 look very close to see that bees had ever been 

 on them. 



The only way I know of that you could have 

 sections so that it would be impossible for bees 

 to put glue on them would be to have some- 

 thing solid fitting down perfectly close upon 

 them, and of such weight that bees could not 

 raise it. You can have cloth to fit down close; 

 but the bees can raise the edge, and then little 

 by little they'll raise it more, and you'll have a 

 big pile of bee-glue on top of your sections. 

 You can have what are sometimes called " pat- 

 tern-slats" over your sections, but it's simply 

 impossible to have them fit so close that the 

 bees can not squeeze glue into the cracks. 



On the whole I suspect they are better off 

 with nothing over them, allowing the bees a 

 space above. In the early part of the white- 

 honey harvest, bees don't seem to have the ma- 

 nia for plastering everything with propolis that 

 they develop later. They seem to feel it their 

 duty to glue only cracks and angles: so at 

 such times, if we have one super with nothing 

 but the air-space cover, it will come off clean, 

 while another covered with either cloth or wood 

 will have at least the edges daubed. Later in 

 the season they will varnish a smooth surface 



with propolis; but is it desirable to leave sec- 

 tions on then ? Possibly, to some extent. But 

 I suspect that a good deal of the daubing of the 

 tops of sections comes from leaving them on 

 the hive when they ought to be off. A sec- 

 tion filled and taken off early will be cleaner 

 with nothing over it. If left after the harvest 

 is over, it would be better for a piece of wood 

 over it. 

 Marengo, 111. 



■ w 



M. B. HOLMES. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH BY W. S. HOUGH. 



The subject of this sketch, Mr. M. B. Holmes, 

 was born in the township of Bastard, Leeds Co., 

 Ontario, July 29, 1853, and is of Irish descent. 

 He commenced bee-keeping in 1882, not by his 

 will and consent aforethought, but by a fortu- 

 itous incident, a swarm of bees coming to him in 

 the harvest-field in 1881. [Is it a dream? Was 

 it A. I. Root who, when a boy, had a swarm 

 come to him at a similar time and place, and 

 who gave Pat 50 cents to hive it, thus forming 

 the nucleus of a great and successful apiary'PJ 



'^S^' 



M. B. HOLMES. 



Mr. Holmes, being of a thoughtful turn of 

 mind, acted on such information as he had 

 time to acquire in the spare hours from the du- 

 ties of superintending his farm. In six years 

 he had 60 colonies of bees besides considerable 

 sales and 11,000 fts. of extracted honey. He be- 

 came a member of the Ontario Bee-keepers' 

 Association in 1884, and has been a director in 

 that organization since that date. 



Mr. Holmes, with commendable frankness, 

 admits that reverses came in the shape of se- 

 vere winter losses. Happily, in this case it 

 was no disaster — simply a reverse, as it could 

 not affect him financially. By carefully work- 

 ing the nucleus system (imported nuclei) he 

 soon regained the lost ground, averaging in 

 1893 70 tbs. per colony. 



