888 



GLEANlKGa IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dkc. 1. 



end of the hive to the super without going 

 through the brood -nest? 



Friend Scndder objects to a lop-bar % thick, 

 because bees don't iil<e to travel so far. I have 

 had no ditiiculty in getting my bees to wori< 

 through a greater space, mal<ing it worse by 

 having two ?^ air spaces to cross. If the bees 

 go up the end of the hive, then the thickness of 

 the top-bar will not matter. There is surely a 

 little more danger of sagging with % than with 

 X; and. as I have already said, if there were 

 no need of thickness to prevent sagging or 

 brace-combs, 1 should still want the greater 

 thickness as security against darkening the 

 sections by too great nearness to the brood-nest. 



DRONE CELLS FOK QUEEN-CUPS. 



Friend Cormal. who gives the ingenious way 

 of handling royal jelly on page 811, will hanily 

 object to drone cells in which to start young 

 queens, when he remembers that just as large 

 queens are started in worker-cells as in queen- 

 cells. In neither case are the bees limited to 

 the usual size of a worker or a drone cell, such 

 cell not being really occupied by the young 

 queen at the last, but only a prolongation of 

 the cell. At least, I suppose the drone-cell 

 would be used much as the worker-cell. 



Doesn't friend Cormal make the diameters of 

 cells too small? Ought not the worker to be 

 5% instead of ^^, and the drone w^ instead of ^v? 



Marengo, III', c. C. Millek." 



[Well, now, doctor, we were in hopes you 

 would say that those queens were reared under 

 abnormal conditions, and would admit that 

 they were abnormally small; but when you say 

 they were reared under the swarming impulse, 

 we are forced to the conclusion that a few good 

 queens, even when reared under ihe swarming 

 impulsu,may besmailer than the average of their 

 sisters. We liave carefully measured with a 

 micrometer every row of perforations iu our 

 zinc: the largest perforaiions are not as large 

 as those of Dr. Tinker's lot; and the smallest 

 perforations are about ^(,. But with only two 

 exceptions do the hole^ vary in size from the 

 16.5 mark. In one, we lielifve the hole measured 

 1(59 and the other 1(54. Tho holes that your 

 queen got througn were t'on^- hi'uce we must 

 conclude that zinc can't be made to exclude all 

 queens, but it does the great majority, there is 

 no doubt. 



We do not think so much of that Scudder 

 top- bar as we did. The foreman of our wood- 

 working building says it is a very expensive 

 thing to make, because the la'Jt cuts— those 

 which narrow up the ends of X\\o top-bars to 

 give the finger room, would have to be done 

 one at a time, and, worse than all. each top- 

 bar would have to be handled sep.iraiely. This 

 would make them so expensive that very few 

 bee-keepers would want to buy them. We can 

 narrow up the end'^ of the top bars providing 

 we do not have to have a different thickness — 

 that is, any thing thicker than % inch. Hello! 

 hero is an article from Dr. Tinker, on the zinc 

 question:] 



THE PERFORATED -ZINC ftUESTION, AGAIN. 



THE SLIGHT DIFFERENCE IN SIZE OF DIFFER- 

 ENT VARIETIES OF BEES; THE EXACT 

 RIGHT SIZE. 



Friend Root: — I was greatly interested in 

 your note to my article on page 830 I note tlie 

 slight difference in our conclusions about the 

 "exact right size" the perforations in queen- 

 excluder zinc should be, and can account for 

 the same only on the suggestion you have 

 given; viz., that my Syrio albinos may be a 



little larger than the average Italian. There- 

 is certainly a small difference in the size of 

 bees, not only in the same colony, but between 

 different strains. I have had but one colony of 

 Carniohins. and I am sure they were no larger 

 than the bees of my strain. As my Syrio- 

 albinos have been frequently crossed with 

 drones from choice unrelated Italian queens, 

 this will account for their large size and great 

 working qualities. The most of my queens are 

 directly descended from a pure Syrian mother, 

 and I believe the stock to be invaluable. From 

 the frequent crossing with Italian drones, the 

 strain is practically Italian, although the bees 

 still show I heir Syrian origin after some nine^ 

 years of breeding. Thanks for your reference 

 to them. 



From II that has been said it appears that 

 qiieen-excludi'r zinc may vary in size all the 

 way from ]^on% to iVoa- '"-'k^ g've good results. 

 It only remains for bee-keepers to know that 

 no really good and valuable queen can get 

 through such zinc. Dr. G. L. Tinker. 



New Philadelphia, O., Nov. 14. 



Lad/es' Conversazione. 



SWARMING VERSUS NON-S'W ARMING. 



A STRONG ARGUMENT IN FAVOR OF LETTING 

 BEES SWARM. 



Ed. Gleanin(js:~As I have seen no reports 

 from this part of the world. I will send mine to- 

 swell tlit^ list of " Reports Encouraging." Last 

 fall I had 40 colonies of Italians in eight- frame 

 Dovetailed hives. We left them on their sum- 

 mer stands on Heddon hivcvstands. We put a 

 piece of heavy ducking cut to fit tin' hive over 

 the frames, aiid then set on the empty super, 

 and put in a, chaff cushion big enough to fill 

 it. The cover was then put on. and nothing: 

 more was done until about the middle of 

 March, when we looked them over, and found 

 that there had been no winter loss, and we had 

 no weak colonies. We found two queenless 

 ones, however, and doubled them up on others. 

 The cloth was plastered down tight, and l^he- 

 hives were dry and lots of brood started. Some 

 weie short of feed, so we fed out about 300 lbs. 

 of honey that we had stored away in brood- 

 combs for that purpose. We put out four 

 combs a day until we used them all, and then 

 fed 150 lbs. of sugar. 



Oui- first surphis honey came in on the 15th of 

 June, and almost at once the bees made prepa- 

 raiioti for swarming. I set apart 25 colonies for 

 comb honey, and ran the other 22 lor extracted 

 honey. I vvanted honey more than bees, and 

 determined to keep tlu^ comb-honey bees at 

 work and not let ihem swarm. Every Monday 

 I went through those 25 colonies and cut out all 

 the queen-cells. I continued this treatment 

 for four weeks. In the meantime the bees 

 loafed and did but little except gnaw the foun- 

 dation out of their sections. Finally I conclud- 

 ed that they could do no worse if I let them 

 swarm, so I let them go and hived the swarms 

 in eight frame hives on four frames with two- 

 inch ' starters of foundation, and added four 

 frames of honey from their old hive. I put on 

 supers at once, and they began to carry the 

 honey up and store it in S(^ctions. Before th(> 

 season ended they had made me over .50 lbs. of 

 beautiful honey to the hive. Henceforth my 

 bees shall swarm as soon as I can get them to 

 do .so, unless Gleanings can tell me how to 

 make them so to work. 



My 22 colonies made 4640 lbs. of honey, as 



