1893 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



393 



I trim and put in the protectors, then go to 

 eight colonies that have the poorest queens; 

 kill the queens and destiny their cells, if there 

 siiould he any. and at once place in each colony 

 ouH of the protector-inclosed cells. The queen 

 in th(! cell, if it is a good cell, will hatch out in 

 due time, and soon go to laying, and, as a rule, 

 this colony will notswarm; and if there is honey 

 in the field ihey will gather a large surplus, and 

 they will be in good shape for winter. In my 

 out-yards, to make doubly sure of a cell's hatch- 

 ing in each hive, I sometimes put into a hive 

 two protector-inclosed cills; but to one of them 

 I attach a cage: then if both cells hatch lean 

 use the caged queen elsewhere; if only the cell 

 in the cage hatches, liberate the queen from the 

 cage, and she is at home. In this way one can 

 always have a surplus of queens on hand to use 

 wherever needed; and if care is used in select- 

 ing cells from the best-bred bees, you can bresd 

 all your bees up to a high standard, and keep 

 them there; and you can control your swai'ms 

 to such an extent that you can fix your increase 

 to suit yourself. N. D. West. 



Middleburgh, N. Y. 



[This may seem a little like a free ad. for a 

 well -advertised cell-protector and cage; but as 

 there are many valuable hints given above, 

 no one will object, but. on the contrary, be glad 

 to learn how to raise choice queens at so insig- 

 nificant a cost. Indeed, we believe friend West 

 presents the best and simplest method for the 

 honey-producer. There is no better time to 

 requeen or replace poor (lueens with good ones 

 than during the swarming season, when an 

 abundance of good swarming cells are on hand 

 from select queens.] 



A VISIT TO A. N. DRAPER. 



A BIG TESTIMONIAL FOK THE I.AKGE DADANT 

 HIVES. 



Business calling me to the beautiful little city 

 of Upper Alton, the home of friend A. N. Dra- 

 per, 1 made it a point to visit him and see how 

 his bees had wintered in those large modified 

 Dadant hives that he prefers. He very kindly 

 unpacked hive after hive for my inspection; 

 and I must say that any one who advocates 

 large hives and plenty of bees would have been 

 jubilant at the sight; for. notwithstanding, the 

 severe winter we have just passed through, I 

 never saw bees in this latitude in liner condition. 

 Four and five frames of brood, and plenty of 

 bees, were seen in every hive here, the first of 

 April. Friend Draper has given in former 

 issues of Gleanings his method of packing 

 with dry forest- leaves; but for the benefit of 

 those who have not read it I will give a brief 

 description of his methods. 



In early October, after seeing that each colo- 

 ny has an abundant supply of at least 40 lbs. of 

 honey, he removes the three frames that have 

 the least honey in them, and places two thin 

 dummies or division-boards on each side of the 

 remaining frames (8 in number) with a space 

 between the dummies and the side of the hive. 

 This space he proceeds to fill with dry forest- 

 loaves, and then fills thesix-inch cap full of the 

 same leaves; the cap is then placed in position 

 on the hive, first spreading a cloth of some 

 heavy material over the frames and bees. He 

 claims that the leaves, brought right down on 

 top of the bees, hold the heat, and that, when 

 the sun shines, even in the coldest weather, it 

 imparts some heat to the leaves; and as all 

 moisture passes off rapidly the heat is retained. 

 At any rate, I never saw finer results so early in 

 the season. Many will claim that ordinary 



eight-frame hives would have wintered the bees 

 just as well, had they been packed in a similar 

 manner; but .scattered here and there among 

 the large eleven-comb hives were quite a num- 

 ber of eight-frame old-style Heddon hives, 

 which are practically the same as the Dovetailed 

 hive. These he had packed the same as the 

 large hives, as nearly as it was possible to do. 

 and in thes^me manner as described by himself 

 and also the Dadants in former issues of Glean- 

 ings, by taking lath and placing them in such 

 a manner around the hive that quite a space 

 was left between the lathing and the hive-body, 

 which was filled with leaves, and the cap also 

 filled with leaves. We opened hive after hive 

 of these, and I have no doubt that, had friend 

 Dadant been there, he would have said repeat- 

 edly, "'Didn't I tell you so?" for, without a sin- 

 gle exception, they were not as strong in bees 

 or brood as the larger hives, and in most cases 

 markedly so. 



It goes against the grain to make these ad- 

 missions, for I am decidedly in favor of a less 

 cumbersome hive; but facts are stubborn things. 

 Of course, in milder winters the difTerence would 

 not have been so great; but I am forced to the 

 conclusion that, to those who must have strong 

 colonies early in the season in order to secure 

 any surplus from the white clover, large hives 

 and ample protection are required. 



The prospects for a honey crop in that vicini- 

 ty are fairly good if the clover yields honey this 

 season. His vicinity abounds in elm, maple, 

 box-elder, and fruit-trees, which is one reason 

 he can have good strong colonies for the white- 

 clover harvest; but friend D. is greatly troubled 

 by the apprehension that the fruit-growers in 

 his vicinity will, by spraying their trees while 

 in bloom, ruin his fine strong colonies at his 

 home apiary and the out-apiary adjoining. He 

 has some 320 colonies, and the loss would be a 

 severe one to him. There should be a law pass- 

 ed prohibiting the spraying of fruit-trees until 

 the blossoms have fallen. E. T. Flanagan. 



Belleville, 111., April 5. 



Heads of Grain 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS. 



HOW FAH DO BEES GO FOH HONEY, AND DO 

 WELL ? 



The following is a valuable article that we 

 take pleasure in copying from the American 

 Bee Journal. We have known some of the 

 facts presented to be true; but a little substan- 

 tial confirmation helps to establish them. 



How far do bees ^o in search of honey, and still 

 do good work ? is a question that seems to have 

 received some attention of late, and bee-keepers 

 differ widely in .their opinions, some limiting- tlie 

 distance to ii4 or 2 miles, while others go to tlie op- 

 posite extremi', and say they will go as far as 13 

 miles. However, when honey is plentiful tlie for- 

 mer figures may be nenrly right, and veiy few liees 

 work outside that distance; while, if lioney were 

 scarce in tlieir immediate vicinity they would proli- 

 al)ly go a far greater distance than tluit, al- 

 tliough I never saw bees go over 3'/4 or 4 miles from 

 their homes. 



Well, last summer was the first time I had a 

 chance to test the matter a little, as last year was 

 tlie poorest of the several poor seasons we have had 

 ill succession, and the bees were in a starving con- 

 dition all summer, until the fall blossoms yielded 

 theii' precious sweets, which gave the bees more 

 than tliey could do for about five weeks. 



The main part of our fall crop of honey is from 

 smart weed; now. this smartweeu, or whatever they 

 call it, has its pt'culiar ways of hlooming, and also a 

 decided difference in the amount of honey it pro- 

 duces. Tliat which grows in hilly regions has 



