276 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 



I had not come, so he drove to the postoflice after 

 his mail, and so I missed him. 



After partaking of a hearty supper we retired to 

 the parlor, where we had a very enjoyable bee-con- 

 vention. T found that each member of the family 

 was interested in John's bees, and that all read the 

 various bee-journals, of which John is a subscriber 

 as well as an able correspondent when he can be in- 

 duced to put his thoughts on paper. 



I had not been in the parlor long before I saw 

 ■evident traces of Rambler's visit at this country 

 home of the honey-bee, and I was often impressed 

 with the thought that our friend Rambler must be 

 a very busy and industrious rambler indeed, judg- 

 ing from the many photographic prints he left in 

 that pleasant home. After discussing the new 

 method of " raising honey on a fork," my friend 

 John asked several questions as follows: 



" Mr. M., what is your opinion in regard to the 

 bees wintering well this mild winter?" 



" Well," said I, " owing to the fact that our bees 

 stored more or less honey-dew last fall, I think the 

 mild winter, which has given them an opportunity 

 to fly often, has been very favorable so far as dis- 

 ease is concerned. My only fear is now that they 

 will, owing to this warm weather, commence breed- 

 ing too early, so that, if we should have an unfavor- 

 able March and April, the bees will very likely suf- 

 fer during the spring, owing to chilled brood which 

 they would likely have. But should March and 

 April be favorable they will come out strong and 

 healthy during the spring." 



" Have you seen any signs of diarrhea among 

 yours?" 



" No, not in the hives; but each time they have a 

 fly they spot things pretty well. Hence I say the 

 several flights they have had, 1 think, has saved 

 them so far." 



" Do you find that your colonies have shrunk very 

 much in bees?" 



" No, not as much as some years, owing, I think, 

 to the fact that last fall they flew solate and worked 

 so hard that the old bees nearly all died off before 

 winter set in; and when I packed my bees I re- 

 marked to my men that they appeared lighter in 

 numbers than usual; but knowing that they were 

 all young bees, hatched in August and September, 

 I apprehended no trouble from that source. I 

 feared honey-dew more than any thing else." 



" Do you find the entrances clogged very much?" 



" No, not as much as usual. I have been to all 

 my apiaries twice this winter, to clear tne en- 

 trances; but, owing to the facts above mentioned, 

 they were very free from dead bees." 



Having now been reminded that it was past elev- 

 en o'clock we adjourned until morning, when the 

 convention was again opened in friend John's 

 apiary. It being a bright warm morning, a few 

 bees were flying. We opened several hives, to find 

 that the bees were all in splendid condition, and 

 wintering well, with no signs of diarrhea. 



" What are you going to do with this timber lying 

 here, John?" I said. 



" I am going to put up a honey-house and shop, 

 as you see the one I have is too small." 



" How large do you intend to build?" I again 

 asked. 



" I have laid my plans for a building 18x;36." 

 "Well, my friend," said I, "you will find that 

 will be too small in a year or two, as you say you al- 

 ready have the wood-shed and corn-house chambers 



full of bee-fixtures; and here your present building 

 is also full; and when you come to move all of your 

 stuff into the new building you will have it full on 

 the start; so, what will you do in two or three years 

 if you increase your colonies as you intend to do? 

 Now, I have had some experience in building addi- 

 tion after addition, and yet I am short of room; so 

 let me advise you to build larger than you euer ex- 

 pect to need, and even then you will soon be cramp- 

 ed for room. You will find that a building 24 x 43 

 will suit you much better in the end than the size 

 you mention." 



" I suppose, Mr. Manum. you have read the dis- 

 cussions relative to burr-combs, and how to prevent 

 them. Do you think that thick top-bars will pre- 

 vent brace-combs?" 



" Well," I said, " it is so warm and pleasant, let 

 us sit down here on this lumber, where we can en- 

 joy the hum of the bees as well as the sun. In re- 

 gard to brace-combs, I hardly think it necessary to 

 adopt those thick clumsy top-bars to prevent them. 

 First, they are too expensive to make; and, second- 

 ly, they take up too much comb space in the hive. 

 Let us figure. A Js-thick top-bar is J thicker than 

 one % thick. This extra t takes up the space of 3i 

 cells; and if the frame is 18 inches long, at .5 cells to 

 the inch we find that we have 460 cells less in each 

 frame, with a % top-bar, than with one %. Now, if 

 we use 10 frames to the hive, we find that this extra 

 I costs us 4.500 cells to each hive; and if we get 3 

 hatches from these extra cells, by the time bass- 

 wood blooms we have 13,500 more bees in each hive 

 than we should have with the thick top-bars, which 

 means quite a little swarm of bees of themselves." 



" Yes, but how are you going to prevent brace- 

 combs? that is the question. What is your practice 

 and theory?" 



"I am coming to that now," I replied. "My 

 practice and theory are very closely related in this 

 matter. First, I make my top-bars one inch wide 

 by TB thick, and space them Its from center to cen- 

 ter. This close spacing has a tendency to prevent 

 storing honey in the upper part of the combs, and 

 induces brood-rearing clear up to the top-bar, so 

 that, there not being any sealed honey below the 

 top-bar, the bees do not seem to have any use for 

 burr-combs immediately above or between the top- 

 bars. Second, I tind there is a vast difference in 

 strains or families of bees about building brace- 

 combs. I have haJ colonies that seemed to delight 

 in filling up every little space below the supers, 

 while other colonies in the same apiary would rare- 

 ly ever build any. I once had a colony that would 

 ttll up the j-g space between the top-bars and supers, 

 and between the edges of the top-bars, as fast as I 

 could clear them out— or, at least, 1 would always 

 find this space filled every time I went to them. So 

 I commenced experimenting with this colony by 

 trying every method I could think of to prevent 

 burr-combs, but without success, until I used plen- 

 ty of hard soap on the top-bars and bottom of the 

 sections. Finally this colony swarmed; and as they 

 left a few very nice queen-cells, I thought I would 

 save them and raise a few queens from them for an 

 experiment, to see if this trait of brace-comb build- 

 ing would be transmitted to the progeny of these 

 young queens. I succeeded in wintering si.v of 

 these young queens, and, sure enough, I found that, 

 as soon as the honey season opened, they were as 

 bad as the old colony. Since then, when selecting 

 queens for breeding, I am very careful about this 



