1890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



93 



ward the Benton, or a cage after the one you 

 describe. On account of the splendid rec- 

 ord of the former for mailing queens suc- 

 cessfully long distances, I have rather favor- 

 ed it. You very modestly, and with con- 

 sistency, too, disclaim any originality for the 

 invention in your cage. Looking back in 

 Gleanings for iss.5, page 738, November, 

 J find a very similar one described by C. W. 

 Costellow, of Waterboro, Me., a cut of 

 which I reproduce as it then appeared. 



Even he does not claim it to be wholly origi- 

 nal with him. Such a disposition on the 

 part of both is indeed refreshing in these 

 days when apicultural priority in invention 

 is so eagerly— yes, greedily— sought after. 

 The cage is cheap, and very easily con- 

 structed. On account of the liability of the 

 block splitting in No. 3 of your cage, I be- 

 lieve I should prefer the Costellow plan. 

 There is one point you do not mention ; and 

 that is, the facility with which queen-bees 

 can be examined. Another point is, the ra- 

 pidity with which such a cage can be gotten 

 ready for the mails by slipping it into its 

 wooden case. You have added a feature, 

 which I believe you alone are using ; and 

 that is, the use of perforated zinc. While 

 the idea seems to be a good one, I should re- 

 gard it as a little extra labor, and perhaps 

 unnecessary. We introduce queene right 

 along by the candy plan in our apiary. By 

 the '"candy plan " I mean causing the bees 

 to liberate the queen by gnawing through a 

 plug of candy— the plug being of such a size 

 that the queen will be liberated in from 3(j to 

 48 hours. With the very small percentage 

 of loss we have had, I should hardly consid- 

 er it of enough moment to go to the trovxble 

 and expense of the perforated zinc. Now, 

 if your cage would send queens by mail as 

 successfully as the Benton, which I very 

 much doubt, then I should consider it the 

 very best cage ever invented ; but in the 

 Benton cage, when the occupants are sub- 

 jected to an extreme of temperature, as in 

 going over the mountains, they can seek an 

 inner and warmer apartment; and, again, 

 when they come into a very warm climate 

 they can enter a more open and better ven- 

 tilated apartment. In one sense of the 

 word, the Benton is climatic. It is this 

 feature, I think, which gives the Benton 

 such universal success. I will shortly de- 

 scribe it in Gleanings. Ernest. 



Since receiving the first letter of descrip- 

 tion, friend Morrison writes in regard to 

 the priority matter in reply to ours. Men- 

 tioning the Costellow cage, lie says : 



Dear Sir:— I had forgotten the illustration of 

 Costellow's cage. I don't doubt that Costellow got 

 his idea of the cage from my cage. Don't you re- 

 member I sent you a queen in this cage in 18S8? I 

 shipped over three hundred queens in it during 

 1888. The queen-excluder zinc was added to all 

 cages used in 1889, and I think it an important ad- 

 dition. So far as I have learned, Boomhower made 

 the cages first, and E. Flory, of California (I have 



lost his address), suggested to me the use of the 

 perforated zinc early in the season of 1888. 

 Oxford, Pa., Dec 33. S. W. Morrison. 



Yes, we remember receiving the cage in 

 18SS, but Mr. Costellow sent his cage in 1S85. 



SPKEADING BKOOD IN THE SPRING. 



MRS. HARRISON TAKES BRO. DOOLITTLE TO TASK. 



I HAVE long wanted to pick a crow with Bro. Doo- 

 little. Although it is pretty old and tough, I think 

 I can still pull out the feathers, though I may have 

 to tug pretty hard at the tail and wings. 



The old grudge is all about spreading brood. 

 Somewhere about nine years ago, during the cold 

 winters, I lost nearly all my bees, having the rem- 

 nants of about sixteen colonies left. I had but one 

 idea, and that was to build them up as soon as pos- 

 sible; and with that end in view I read upon the 

 subject, and finally chose to follow in Bro. Doollt- 

 tle's wake as closely as possible. I followed his di- 

 rections to the letter, and my bees were soon all 

 dead; and I've always firmly believed that, if I had 

 not meddled with them, they would have come 

 through all right. I do not doubt but that Bro. 

 Doolittle succeeds in this way; but he knows better 

 than his readers, when the conditions will justify 

 spreading. 



I saw something lately from his pen, with refer- 

 ence to spreading brood (but it is not at hand just 

 now), in which he says a week may be gained in this 

 way. Now, there is one thing which ought to be 

 taken into consideration more than it is; and that 

 is, difference in climate. Some years we do not ap- 

 pear to have any spring. Tt is cool until it is hot; 

 we can wear winter clothes until we put on sum- 

 mer wear. Now, if brood is spread, and there 

 comes a cold windy day, which may occur as late 

 as May, it will damage a colony even if it does not 

 prove fatal to it. Still, cool weather, even down to 

 freezing, might not be so hurtful as these winds, 

 which penetrate to the very marrow of our bones, 

 and soon exhaust the life of a divided brood-nest. 



I'll take back all I ever said about working with 

 bees in the spring— better do it the fall before. If 

 bees have plenty of stores, and are protected as 

 much as is possible to do in the open air, against 

 cold and piercing winds, it is safer, according to the 

 light I now have, to let them manage their own do- 

 mestic affairs until after fruit-bloom. 



Peoria, 111., Jan. 14. Mrs. L. Harrison. 



Mrs. H., I wish that both you and Mr. 

 Doolittle had been present at the recent 

 Michigan Convention. The question came 

 up, and was discussed pretty thoroughly ; 

 and, if I am correct, a vote was taken in re- 

 gard to the matter ; and while one or two 

 advocated spreading, the heavy producers, 

 together with a good many others, were 

 pretty vehemently against it, unless delay- 

 ed, as you say, until after fruit-bloom or 

 considerably later. I am sure that I have 

 killed fair stocks by spreading the brood ; 

 and I very greatly doubt whether we can 

 help the bees very much by taking the mat- 

 ter into our own hands. In the latter part 

 of May, or in June, putting empty comb in 

 the center of a strong colony will very likely 

 assist the bees in starting an unusual 

 amount of brood. We should remember, 



