1890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



215 



in thickness. Sometimes a ridge of glue would ex- 

 tend clean around the edge of the top-bar of 

 the section, providing- the quilt lay flat upon it; 

 but oftt'u it was plastered over any part of the 

 top, depending upon how the quilt lay upon it. Re- 

 luctantly I concluded to try whether I could dis- 

 pense with the quilt over the sections, and had a 

 few cleated covers made to fit the supers, with no 

 thought of using any thing of the kind on the hives. 

 The result was so satisfactory that I had covers 

 enough made to supply all my colonies. I suppose, 

 friend Root, 1 was just as strongly in favor of quilts 

 as you, but I feel pretty certain that, after enough 

 experience both ways, you would say you never 

 want any quilt over a T super, even if you should 

 continue to use them directly over brood-frames. 

 You say. "The great reason why I prefer enameled- 

 cloth sheets is, that the hive may be opened and 

 closed without killing bees." In the case before us, 

 with the five-sixteenths space over the sections, I'll 

 agree to put on the board cover without killing a 

 bee, and I'll do it in less time than you will put on 

 the cloth and cover, if you don't kill any bees. You 

 .see, there is no chance to kill any bees with the 

 boai-d alone, except on the upper edge of the super 

 rim, and you can put on one end of the cover and 

 then plaj' it up and down a few times as you gradu- 

 ally close it, and every bee will get out of the way. 

 As you very properly say, " It takes time to replace 

 the enameled cloth in such a manner that not a sin- 

 gle bee can get above it." And then after you have 

 taken time to accomplish this, if you promptly put 

 on the cover you are quite likely to imprison some 

 bees between the cloth and the tops of the sections. 

 I know, for I have done it. You say, " It is worth a 

 good deal to me to be able to pick up any cover 

 from any hive in the apiary, without any snapping 

 or prying." True; and it's worth no little to me, 

 as I lie in bed at night, when the wind is blowing 

 great guns, to know that my covers are all glued 

 down, and that I'll not have to hustle around in the 

 morning to cover up hives in the out-apiaries, 

 which the wind has uncovered, letting in the 

 drenching rain. You say, " The enameled cloth 

 also prevents the bees from pushing up burr- 

 combs above the tops of the frames." Why, Mr. 

 Root, the--what are you talking about, any way? I 

 have scraped ofl' pounds upon pounds of burr- 

 combs that the bees had built over the brood-combs, 

 pushing up the quilts to do so as much as half an 

 inch and even an inch! In the case before us they 

 could not do so, for there is only a flve-sixteenths 

 space. 



For queen-rearing it is certainly nice to peel up a 

 cloth; and yet if only a five-sixteenths space is to be 

 allowed, I think ray answer is wrong, for I am quite 

 sure a good many bees would be killed by the cloth. 

 I certainly would want a larger space if using a 

 cloth, unless, indeed, the possibly coming heavy 

 top-bar prevents all brace-combs above the brood- 

 frames, in which case I think I should dispense 

 with cloths, even for queen-rearing. 



Marengo, 111., Feb. 1. C.C.Miller. 



Friend M., some of the quotations you 

 make were expressions I made a good while 

 ago— at least it seems a good \vhile as I read 

 them just now. Another thing, my experi- 

 ence was mainly with hives tor queen-rear- 

 ing ; and in sending off nuclei we have been 

 in the habit of taking pretty much all of tlie 

 honey stored, about as fast as it comes — 



that is, as fast as it comes when the colonies 

 are divided and subdivided whenever they 

 get strong enough to bear it and preserve 

 enough bees and brood to take care of the 

 qiteen. Another thing, this matter of wide 

 and thick top-bars seems to be tearing up 

 everything; and I confess that I can not 

 imagine how it is. that, when we did have 

 great heavy wooden top-bars, fifteen or 

 twenty years ago, nobody discovered that, 

 if made of just the right dimensions, they 

 would effectually do away with burr-combs 

 —too wide and too thick, as it seems to me. 

 Over them was just the kind of a honey- 

 board you describe, on which to place the 

 boxes. Now, this liouey-board, so far as I 

 can remember, was just about a bee-space 

 above the top-bars; and yet, whenever a 

 honey-board was removed, there would be 

 so many burr-combs filled with honey that 

 one coiild scarcely see the top-bars at all. 

 Having such a mass of honey and wax every 

 time we wished to take out the frames was 

 such a daub and a nuisance that I gladly 

 welcomed the quilts, as they prevented it; 

 and we used the enamel cloth for years after, 

 with great satisfaction. We are now going 

 back to almost where we were years ago. 

 This is not only true of top-bars, but oth- 

 er things, also, are swinging around in the 

 same sort of way. Even the Peet cage, 

 that has been of such benefit year after 

 year, is to be laid aside, and something very 

 inuch like our old-fashioned one substituted 

 —at least, the boys are recommending some- 

 thing of the sort ; but notwithstanding all 

 this, we are making progress. Our imple- 

 ments are becoming cheaper and simpler 

 and cleaner. I think, however, it behooves 

 us to go slow, and to be careful about 

 throwing away some new things, and going 

 back to old ones. 



A PROTEST. 



AUTOMATIC SWARMING AND CARNIOLANS. 



While Mr. Alley and others are disputing about 

 the self-hiving arrangement, and Mr. Doolittle is 

 giving advice concerning other arrangements for 

 hiving the bees without having them («warm, 1 wish 

 to protest against the whole arrangement as being 

 unsatisfactory and entirely too expensive. None 

 of the plans suggested can be made a success with- 

 out an extra hive for every colony fif bees owned 

 by the apiarist practicing such methods. Hundreds 

 of bee-keepers have all the bees they want, and it 

 is no more expense, and a good deal more satisfac- 

 tory, to keep a good hand in each out-apiary than it 

 is to have a couple of hundred dollars' worth of 

 empty hives around, watching for just what we 

 don't want— swarms. 



The most of these teachers are queen-breeders. 

 They encourage the swarming impulse in their 

 bi-eeding operations, and send their queens to all 

 parts of the country, diffusing this swarming ma- 

 nia wherever they go. Why not spend more time, 

 thought, and energy, in jiroducing strains of tiees 

 that are indisposed to swarm? la niy first experi- 

 ence with bees, a noticeable feature was, that some 

 colonies were predisposed to swarm, while others 

 were Just as determined not to swarm. Our in- 

 crease came from the swarms, while the greater 



