102 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



February, 1918 



HEADS OF GRAIN g^^O TDIFFERENT FIELDS 



lb see a queen-breeder 

 rear queens he 



can bo6b, 

 ueensin hi5 rin^er6 

 ^ queens ir\ a ca^Je, 



He shall have queen bees 

 of every ape 



Diddle diddle Vumplmp, Pfy son John 

 (vent lathe Bee-yard uuith his gloves on, 

 Best coat off and bee-veil on, 

 diddle diddle dumpling, My son John, 



How to Winter Bees My method of winter- 

 bv Burying. ing is to bury mv bees. 



On Nov. 15, 1913, I 

 buried 14 hives. After spending the winter 

 in Scotland I returned and about Apr. 10 

 took out my bees and found all in good 

 condition, one hive even swarming as early 

 as May 24. In general I have had fewer 

 dead bees from my buried colonies than from 

 those wintered in the cellar. 



In preparing for winter, I make a stand 

 five inches high, 44 inches wide and 28 feet 

 long. This is made of three boards. The 

 outside ones are 10 inches wide and the 

 center one is 12 inches wide. Under the 

 boards and at right angles to them are placed 

 blocks, about three feet apart, so that the 

 weight of the hives will not bend down the 

 boards. Having arranged the stand, the 

 hive bottoms are removed and the hives 

 placed on the stand in two rows facing each 

 other. All the entrances are at the center 

 of the 12-ineh plank, and the opposite ends 

 of the hives are at the outer edges of the 

 two 10-inch planks. At the inner end of 

 the two rows of four hives each, is placed 

 a perpendicular air pipe, 4 ft. long and 3 ins. 

 in diameter, thus, connecting the air space 

 with the outer air. Next two rows of eight 

 hives each are placed in the same way and 



then another 4-foot airpipe. Two more rows 

 of four hives each fill the stand. The 

 whole is then covered with hay or straw and 

 eight inches of ground on top. The two 

 pipes mentioned give plenty of ventilation 

 for the 32 colonies. A high and dry loca- 

 tion should be chosen so there will be no 

 danger of water getting under the hives in 

 the spring. 



This year I have 67 colonies which I 

 buried Nov. 23. One stand has 32 hives and 

 the other 35. In December the snow was 

 about two feet deep around the stands. 



Winchester, Ont. N. SUMMERS. 



A Spraying Solu- Hark ye, all who have 



tion Not Fatal. suffered from the in- 



considerate spraying 

 by city or town officials; all ye who have lost 

 bees and honey, yea, who have lost even 

 hopes of future share in the good things of 

 the earth going to waste in the flowers 

 around about because of the bullheadedness 

 of public servants who learn not, care not 

 and shoulder their respective ways thru mat- 

 ters over delicate for their comprehension. 

 All ye, read the following from a public of- 

 ficial of quite another kind, and take hope 

 again. Also, show it to your own officials, 

 first discretely cutting off this preface which 

 is intended for your eyes alone, and the 

 reading of which by said officials might 

 cause a moral obfustication and strabismus 

 and various other mental and physical ills 

 with sonorous-sounding names and shorter 

 meanings, sometimes compressed into one 

 curt phrase — ' ' sheer cussedness. ' ' 



Optimistic tho the letter be, and worthy 

 of all praise from its spirit of helpful co- 

 operation, the last word on safety hasn 't 

 been spoken yet, as there is still room for 

 further perfection in the mixture, or so I am 

 told. But it surely does help, and I hope will en- 

 courage other sprayers to experiment further 

 in their turn, until a perfect spray in effect 

 and safety has been found. 



Here is the letter, received by me from 

 Wm. H. Colton, forest commissioner of the 

 beautiful city of Newton, Mass.: 



"Dear Mr. True: — I was very glad to Iiear from 

 you attain regarding the possibility of keeping- hone •- 

 bees without danger of losing them thru the spray- 

 ing of trees with arsenate of lead. 



"I am pleased to report that after two years' 

 experimenting with the solution which we have 

 added to our arsenate of lead spraying material, 

 we feel pretty well satisfied the effect on honey-lees 

 in that locality has not been detrimental. I have 

 not heard from any of the beekeepers in Waban 

 as yet regarding the results of our 1917 spraying 

 but have concluded that ' no news is good news,' 

 and that there were no fatalities this year from 

 our spraying. Last year I kept in pretty close 

 touch with them and in spraying with this solution 

 mentioned they all reported favorably regarding it. 

 I am planning to use the same solution the coming 

 year and think that you will be safe in trying to 



