92 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



are located. The hives are painted on the bottom, 

 and the dampness of the ground does not affect the 

 hive or beee. 



With the above arrangement the packing gets on- 

 ly slightly damp, which is soon dried out by taking 

 off the cover of the winter-case once in two or 

 three weeks when the sun shines clear. If the 

 packing gets quite damp over the brood chamber 

 (and it often gets soon the cool days of spring), I 

 throw it all out to dry on the cover, which is invert- 

 ed on the ground. The sun is also allowed to shine 

 full upon the inside cover of the brood-chamber. 

 The effect of this treatment on the bees in the 

 spring is very remarkable, and especially upon the 

 laying of the queen and the rapid extension of the 

 brood. The covers are usually taken off about 10 

 A. M., and returned at 4 p. m. Where upward ven- 

 tilation is given, the entrance is closed to 2 inches 

 by ■;'«, and no holes are made in the bottom of the 

 hive. Over the brood-chamber is laid two thick- 

 nesses of cheap cotton cloth, and four or Ave inches 

 of packing. I prefer the cloth to lay flat on the 

 frames without any cross-sticks for passageways. 

 With this arrangement, after a few weeks of cold 

 weather the surface of the packing will become 

 quite wet, while it is warm (.50°) and dry beneath. 

 I use mostly the excelsior sawdust on the brood- 

 chamber, loose, as it can be handled almost as easi- 

 ly as a cushion, and is readily dried out, while a 

 cushion is wet. When ready for the sections it 

 may be taken out and stored in barrels, for future 

 use; but the packing around the first story is left 

 in place, as a rule, all the year. 



A properly constructed double-wall hive is sim- 

 ply a winter-case- for a single-wall hive. They 

 should not be constructed all in one, as the packing, 

 if it becomes damp, can not be removed to dry it 

 out. My winter case is made of thin boards, ■"■2 

 thick by 20 inches long, nailed up and down to a 

 frame at the top and bottom. The bottom and cov- 

 er are also lined with the same thin stuff; and the 

 whole, with the flat tin roof, weighs under 25 lbs. 

 It is light, easy to handle, and very durable. After 

 flvfe years' use I have yet to lose a colony in them. 

 In summer we take most of the packing away, 

 when they become excellent summer hives. 



In conclusion, allow me again to call the atten- 

 sion of bee-keepers to the matter of bottom ventila- 

 tion for winter hives. Dr. G. L. Tinker. 



New Philadelphia, O., Jan. 16. 



I think, doctor, I agree with you on al- 

 most every point you make. At the recent 

 convention in Lansing, Mich., quite a ma- 

 jority recommended, with a good deal of 

 emphasis, having the hives packed with 

 chaff, or some equivalent, after they were 

 set out in the spring, even where they were 

 wintered indoors. A good many were quite 

 decided on the point, a little to my surprise. 

 Those who advocated single-walled hives, 

 even after the bees were set outside in the 

 spring, were very few ; and I am inclined to 

 think the objection to chaff hives for sum- 

 mer as well as winter has been mostly owing 

 to the fact that the outside siding was not 

 made so as to allow the packing to dry out. 

 In my travels I have seen great numbers of 

 chaff hives with the outside covering made 

 of whole wide boards. I would not think of 

 making a hive in that way any more than I 

 would make a corn-crib out of boards in- 

 stead of slats. A^entilation at the bottom 



seems to be finding much favor, both in the 

 wintering repository as well as outside. I 

 do not like loose outside boxes, principally 

 because they are too much machinery, and 

 it requires too much tinkering. The point 

 you make in italics, that you can get a third 

 more brood in a double-walled hive than in 

 a single one, by the first of June, it seems 

 to me pretty nearly settles the matter. If 

 we need chaff packing on, as late as the 

 first of June, and then require it again as 

 early as September, why in the world should 

 we dispense with it at all? 



MORKISON'S QUEEN-CAGE. 



PERFORATED ZINC AND THE CANDY METHOD 

 COMBINED. 



I SEND by this mail a queen-cage which I have 

 been using for two years past. I do not claim any 

 originality for myself in this cage, but I have com- 

 bined some ideas of others. I believe it is the best 

 combined mailing and introducing cage yet devised. 



1. It insures safe carriage through the mails, by 

 its strength. 



2. It has been examined and approved, both by 

 the postoffice authorities of this country and Cana- 

 da. 



3. No other cage combines so many advantages 

 in introducing the queen. You will notice that, 

 when the cage containing the queen is pushed 

 down between two combs, the bees have an oppor- 

 tunity to become acquainted with her through the 

 screen. A few hours afterward the tin piece can 

 be quietly turned, and the bees now have access to 



2 3 



MORRISON'S MAILING AND INTRODUCING CAGE. 



the interior of the cage through the queenexclud- 

 ing zinc piece. The queen will never be killed un- 

 til the zinc is turned. At the end of 24 hours, after 

 the bees have entered the cage turn the zinc and 

 plug the hole with a little hard candy. This will 

 prevent an attempt of the queen to go out of the 

 cage for a few minutes after closing the hive, 

 when, if not friendly, a guard at the entrance will 

 admonish her to stay in. 



I also call your attention to the candy in the cage. 

 That candy will be in as good order if kept in a dry 

 room a year from this as now. It was made ac- 

 cording to the formula I sent you some weeks 

 since; the only materials in its composition being 

 confectioner's sugar and honey, boiled as in mak- 

 ing cream candy. With this cage and this candy I 

 send queens to European countries without any 

 more thought or care than to sections of our own 

 country. In cold weather I wrap the cage, so as to 

 close one end, with waxed paper. 



S. W. Morrison, M. D. 

 Oxford, Pa., Dec. 16, 1889. 



Thanks, friend M. I have been studying 

 on this matter of queen-cages for a couple 

 of years back ; and I had already, before 

 yours came to hand, directed my fancy to- 



