514 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 1. 



bee-journal, if every thing from cover to cover 

 isn't jost to the taste of the reader, there's a 

 grumble. But the very thing we don't like 

 may just suit another. 



" QuEEN-ExcLTJDER," friend Pettit thinks, 

 should be changed.to " queen-bar." Exclude is 

 to shut out, and " excluder " is an appropriate 

 name when the device is used to shut bees out 

 of supers, but quite inappropriate when it is 

 used to shut bees in a hive, and more and rftore 

 it is thus used as an includer. A bar is "any 

 thing which obstructs, hinders, or prevents." so 

 it is appropriate always, and has the merit of 

 brevity. Shall "bar" be the name? What say 

 you, Mr. Editor, and others? 



HIVES FOR FARMERS. 



WHAT DOOLITTLE ADVISES. 



A correspondent writes that he has been in- 

 duced to take Gleanings, and after reading 

 two or three of my articles in the same, and 

 others by Dr. Miller, Manum, etc., he has be- 

 come interested in bees. He says he is a farmer 

 and wishes me to write an article on the best 

 style of hive, with management of the same, 

 for the farmer who may keep a few colonies of 

 bees. In complying with this request, I would 

 say that all depends upon how " the farmer " 

 intends to keep his bees and what time he ex- 

 pects to spend on them. If he intends only to 

 hive the swarms when they issue, and put on the 

 surplus-boxes when the white clover commences 

 to bloom, paying no other attention to them 

 (which is the way the average farmer tends to 

 the bees), then I would say that the box hive, 

 known as the " Miner Hive," is as good for 

 such a one as any hive in existence. Why I 

 single out the Miner hive from all the other box 

 hives or log gums of the past, is, that, should 

 our farmer ever want to sell his bees, they will 

 bring from fifty cents to one dollar more per 

 hive than they would in any of the others, on 

 account of the provision Mr. Miner made so 

 that the bees nearly, if not quite always, build 

 their combs straight and true, so that, when 

 they come into the possession of the practical 

 bee-master, they are easily transferred to any 

 of the movable-frame hives. 



If, on the other hand, the farmer is willing to 

 give his bees the attention which they require, 

 which is far less than he would give one of his 

 hogs or cows, then I would say that nothing 

 short of a good movable-frame hive will be 

 good enough for him. As to which of the 

 frame hives is the best, I would say that much 

 depends on the locality in which we live. If 

 in the South, then the Langstroth or even 

 shallower frames will do as well as any; but if 

 north of latitude 42°, then I would prefer a 

 deeper frame, if the bees are to be wintered on 

 their summer stands. Of course, chaff packing 

 will help the shallow-frame hive; but I believe 

 it is something conceded by all, that a deep 

 frame is preferable for the extreme North. A 

 hive that will bring the colonies out strong in 

 the spring is something worth looking after, 

 where the crop of white honey comes early in 

 the season, as it always does where white clover 

 is the chief source of supply; and the hive 

 which accomplishes this item the most perfect- 

 ly is the one the farmer, or any other person 

 keeping bees, should look after. Lots of bees 

 in time for the honey-harvest means success to 

 their keeper, while few bees at that time means 

 a failure, no matter how many there may be 

 at all other times. The early management of 

 any hive consists in knowing that the bees 

 have a good queen, plenty of stores, and that 



they are tucked up warm and secui-e at the top 

 of the hive. Bees will build up, even if the top 

 of tlie hive has cracks in it; but all will see 

 that the heat which passes out of these cracks 

 takes so much warmth away from around the 

 cluster, and causes the bees to burn just so 

 much more fuel (honey) to replace the same, 

 only to be carried away again. Therefore it 

 pays well to see that the top of the hive is tight 

 in early spring. 



Plenty of stores are needed, for if the bees 

 have to scrimp on account of fears of starva- 

 tion, not nearly as many bees will be reared as 

 there would be were there so much honey in 

 the hives that the bees could use it lavishly. 

 A hive that has twenty pounds of honey in it 

 on the first day of April will, as a rule, give 

 double the bees at the commencement of the 

 clover harvest, that the one will which has 

 only five pounds, providing the latter does not 

 starve altogether. A good queen is an actual 

 necessity; for, tuck up the hive as well as we 

 may, and give the bees a surplus of stores, to 

 such an extent that they may feel rich, yet if 

 the queen is a poor or failing one, there will be 

 only enough bees raised to keep up the dying 

 population of the hive, resulting in little or no 

 honey to the owner. 



Seeing that the bees have the three requisites 

 named above, little more will be needed from 

 the farmer till swarming-time arrives. When 

 the first swarm issues he will mark the date on 

 the hive, so that in eight days he can go in the 

 evening and listen for the piping of the first 

 young queen, which usually hatches some time 

 during the seventh day, where the swarm issues 

 on tlie sealing of the first queen-cell, as it gen- 

 erally does. If he hears the queen piping, he 

 may know that, if the weather is pleasant, a 

 second swarm will issue the next day, unless 

 thwarted in some way, and also that there is a 

 queen hatched and at liberty in the hive. If he 

 hears this piping, the hive should be opened 

 early the next morning and every queen-cell 

 cut off, which will surely prevent any after- 

 swarm issuing from that hive. To be sure that 

 no queen- cells are missed, it is well to shake 

 the bees off each frame, in front of the hive, so 

 that none are hidden by the bees being so 

 thickly clustered on them. 



The surplus-arrangement should be put on 

 each hive as soon as its combs are filled with 

 brood and there is honey coming in from the 

 fields, no matti^r whether they have swarmed 

 or not, and upon all others as soon as there are 

 bees enough in them so that they can keep up 

 the necessary warmth for brood-rearing, with 

 the surplus-arrangement on. As soon as the 

 sections are filled they are taken off, and more 

 put in their places to the end of the harvest, 

 when no new ones should be put on to become 

 travel-stained and stuck up with propolis, so 

 that the bees will be more likely to finish what 

 are already on. Any farmer can do as much as 

 is here outlined, and I have sometimes seriously 

 questioned whether this will not give any of us 

 as good results as the more frequent manipula- 

 tion of each hive, which has been insisted upon 

 in the past. G. M. Doolittle. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



CHESTNUT HONEY. 



C. p. COFFIN CLAIMS THAT HIS BEES GATHER IT. 



Friend Root:—" Woodchopper," on page 432, 

 is very emphatic in asserting that the common 

 chestnut does not yield honey, but only a small 

 quantity of white pollen. Such is his observa- 

 tion after an experience of 31 years in a chest- 

 nut region, his opinion being that, as basswood 



