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GLEANIKGS IN BEE CULTURE 



December, 1918 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



Columbia, as the flows are generally slow 

 and the queen goes to the top story unless 

 confined below by an excluder. 



Looking closely at the f)hoto on Gleanings 

 cover for August, it shows that on the bot- 

 tom-board of the tallest stack is a Danzen- 

 baker, next a ten-frame L. with excluder, 

 and on top of this another ten-frame with 

 another excluder above, leading one to be- 



They have some big honey yields away up in the 

 northern country of British Columbia. 



lieve that the surplus above is the work 

 of two queens, or properly, two colonies. If 

 this is correct, the record is not remarkable. 

 Another hive in the photo shows two exclud- 

 ers, and if this view is correct, I am curious 

 to know where is the advantage. It is, 

 however, a creditable showing. 



When it comes to building ' ' stacks ' ' of 

 supers we of the virgin Northwest are not 

 to be outdone by the "effete East." But 

 do not pack up and move here to keep 

 bees, as climatic conditions are not often 

 favorable and low averages are the rule; but 

 complete failures have never been known. 



W. H. Lewis. 



Edmonds, B. C. 



ANOTHER POINT IN ITS FAVOR 



Demuth Winter Case Greatly Diminishes Heat 

 Loss at Bottom of Frames 



I have taken great interest in the apar- 

 ent practicability of the Demuth case. All 

 the points of advantage have been well set 

 forth. However, there is one point which 

 seems to me most apparent, and which has 

 not been touched upon particularly. This 

 is direct radiation from the bottom of the 

 frames thru the entrance, which is the 

 cause of the greatest loss of heat in any 

 hive in any system of wintering. It appears 

 to me that, whatever the size of entrance, 

 the bottoms of the combs are directly affect- 

 ed by the changes of outside temperature, 



and especially by the direction and velocity 

 of the wind (currents of air). If a colony is 

 wintered in a 10 -frame hive, there is an area 

 of radiation at the . bottom of the combs 

 18 by 14^^ inches (261 square inches). If 

 the colony is contracted to seven frames (in 

 the horizontal position), the area of radia- 

 tion directly affected by the entrance is 

 10 by 18 inches, or 180 square inches, 

 amounting to nearly 31 per cent saving of 

 heat radiation. When wintered under the 

 Demuth system on seven Hoffman frames the 

 self-spacing device gives added protection, 

 reducing the area of direct exposure of the 

 combs to about 6 by 10 inches, or 60 square 

 inches at the bottom end of the seven frames 

 — an advantage of a reduction of 77 per cent 

 radiation compared with the ten frames, or 

 33 1/3 per cent reduction in relation to seven 

 frames in a horizontal position. In present- 

 ing this argument I purposely have not con- 

 sidered the advantage of the increased 

 height of the chamber and its proportion- 

 al advantage. 



The above figures, it appears to me, fully 

 account for any advantage that may be ex- 

 perienced by the use of the Demuth system 

 of wintering bees. 



Winthrop Filleherin. 



Kingston, Mass. 



[Your point with regard to the Demuth 

 case having a relatively small amount of bot- 

 tom exposure is well taken. Of course, we 

 all realize that the bottom of any hive will 

 necessarily be the coldest part of that hive. 

 But we have never made so careful an esti- 

 mate along this line as you have done. The 

 smaller the bottom is relatively, and the 

 deeper the room, the better for the bees. — 

 Editor.] 



TWO CROPS FROM ONE SEEDING 



Beekeepers Will be Interested in this Man's Hand- 

 ling of Sweet Clover 



My success with sweet clover and barley 

 this year ought to point a way to beekeep- 

 ers how to have a big nectar-producing crop 

 of sweet clover, as well as a big field crop. 

 In Ajjril I seeded at the same time to barley 

 and sweet clover an eight-acre field. In 

 July the barley crop was harvested. It 

 yielded 40 bushels to the acre. In October 

 the first cutting of sweet clover was secured, 

 which yielded 20 big loads of choice hay. 

 Next year I can reasonably expect from this 

 and another 10 acres of sweet clover, which 

 I am now pasturing, enough to fill a 14 by 

 40 foot silo with silage the last of May, and 

 to yield a crop of seed in September and 

 leave the soil in prime condition for bumper 

 corn crops the next two years. 



Who can beat it? Henry Stewart. 



Prophetstown, 111. 



