840 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. L 



chamber. However, there are very many ex- 

 tensive bee-keepers who use and recommend 

 them, as well as closed-end fi'ames. Notwith- 

 standins that, as vet I do not feel the need of 

 adopting them. They may be veiy essential in 

 some localities, for surely some of our brightest 

 lights say they are a success. I am, therefore, 

 of the ojiinion that we Vermonters do not know 

 it all yet. P.nt. Charles. I can not help believ- 

 ing thei'e is a little too much sti'css ])nt ujjon 

 the supei'iority of thick toi) - bars over thin 

 ones." 



" Have you got yoiu' b(M^s all fed up for the 

 winter?" asks Charles. 



" Yes, all fed and packed, and my bee-work 

 is done for this season. By reducing my num- 

 ber of colonies to a much less number tliiin I 

 have had foi- a number of years, I \\as alilc to 

 feed them up to 25 pounds (\T,ch, with only 14 

 barrels of sugar." 



"Why! I thought you always fed up to 30 

 pounds," says Charle.s. 



" Yes, I have usually: but. you see. when I 

 came to examine my purse I found it rather 

 thin. So I concluded to I'isk them with 25 

 pounds. That will winter them, and I can feed 

 them in May, should they get nothing from 

 soft maples and willows. 



"What is the prospect for another year, 

 judging from the present outlook?" 



'• Well. Cliarles. I never felt more hopeful in 

 my life than I do this fall. Every thing, to me. 

 looks very promising. Surely clover never 

 looked better at this season of the year than it 

 does this fall: and next year, being our full 

 basswood year, it does seem to me that we 

 ought to get another boom: and, with this hope 

 uppermost in my mind, I am going to prepare 

 for it this winter, in order to be ready for what- 

 ever iiatui'e may have in store for me. I feel so 

 conlident that we are to have an extra good 

 honey crop next year that I am going to pre- 

 pare and have in readiness 128 sections to each 

 colony that I now have: that will be eight 

 clamps, of h) sectiims each, to the colony." 



" Well, surely. Manum. you are counting on 

 a large crop, sure. I think 100 sections to the 

 colony would be enough." 



" Yes, Charles. I am; and perhaps I am mak- 

 ing too extensive preparations: but I believe it 

 is well to be ready, and to get ready dui'ing the 

 long winter, so as not to be obliged to sit up hot 

 summer niglits, when I am V(^ry tired, to jtre- 

 pare sections to meet the demands of a rush in 

 the honey-flow. Be ye ready is the woixl." 



Bristol. Vt.. Nov., i890. A. E. Manum. 



" I should have been very glad to have met 

 your friend Charles, but perhaps we can talk it 

 over yet. I think I can explain our apparent 

 differences. You Vermonters, or, at least, 

 those bee-keepers round about you, use the 

 Manum frame, the size of which is very nearly 

 the crosswise Langstroth. Your top - bai' is 

 only about two-thirds the length of the top-bar 

 on the Langstroth fi'ame: hence I am not sur- 

 prised that you and your friend should not be 

 troubled with sagging of % bars, when those of 

 us using the Langstroth frame are. Dr. Miller, 

 whom I have just visited, opened up a number 

 of colonies for me. He has used exclusively, 

 for years, top-bars •?« inch thick: but you could 

 scarcely find in his apiary a bar of that thick- 

 ness that had not sagged more or less, and I 

 think you will find about that state of affairs in 

 most apiaries using the thin bars of Langstroth 

 length, where the same is not suppoi'ted by di- 



agonal wires and a tin bar; and the majority 

 of apiarists, if I am correctly informed, do not 

 so brace their top-bars. To sum it up, your 

 top - bar % would be about equivalent to a 

 Langstroth top-bar of ^; and it begins to look 

 as if % inch thick, and a full inch wide, would 

 answei-. 



There is no doubt that the strain of bees has 

 something to do in the matter of building much 

 or little biuT - comb. We have observed the 

 same thing in our own apiaries. The point is, 

 we want to make (tU strains of bees quit that 

 unnecessary work. 



When I visited youi' place I was surprised 

 that you did not have burr-combs on your top- 

 bars, to the extent we do. It is quite likely 

 that your bees do not build as many as the 

 average Italians; but I think you told me that 

 you used only )^-inch bee-space, and your bars 

 were an inch wide. Either one of these factors 

 alone, outside of any disposition on the part of 

 the bees, would tend very materially to dimin- 

 ish the building of brace-combs. 



Next time I visit you, friend M.. I hope your 

 friend Charles will be present. Possibly I am 

 now over-enthusiastic, and the next time I visit 

 you I may have changed my views a little. I 

 don't wish to ever get to that point where I 

 ■won't be set right if wrong. E. R. 



THE EIGHT BEE-SPACE. 



THE I$UKR-COiMB QUESTIOX. AND THE .SPACING 

 OF FKAM1<:S. 



Referring to the burr-comb question. I do not 

 understand why Mr. El\vood"s inch-wide by %"- 

 thick top-liars with distances " fixed " with 

 closed end-bars are any better than the same 

 bars would be with distances fixed with a spac- 

 ing-stick or measure. The secret, probably, is 

 in the inch-wide top-bars with ^^ spacing and 

 no sagging. This fall my bees seem to be shov- 

 ing uj) the quilts, and building brace-combs 

 between the quilts and bi'ood-frames, leaving 

 little passagewavs for themselves. ISIeasuring 

 the ones just the right height for the bees, I 

 find tlK'm an exact j^. From this I should con- 

 clude that the right distance between the 

 brood-combs and supers is i^^, of an inch. The 

 distance Ijetween the top-bars should be twice 

 i^g, or ■■'h. the old I^angstroth bee-space. Then 

 with the V)n spacing, give us the 1-inch top- 

 bar, and we have the % space between the 

 bai's. 



The sections in T supers can be held square 

 with an extra set of T tins between the tops of 

 the s(^ctions, the same as the bottom. The 

 combined crate has given me the best satisfac- 

 tion so far for a super, on account of the bars 

 with insets to suit the sections. I presume the 

 s(>ction-holders would do as well, although I 

 have not tried them yet. 



EGGS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF liOYAE JELLY. 



Two or three experiments this summer incline 

 nn^ to the idea that bees use eggs in the manu- 

 facture of royal jelly for queen-cells. I have 

 not yet been able to prove or disprove the idea. 

 I wish somebody with more time would try it. 



A drone is a son of his mother, but not of his 

 father. In fact, he has no father. Although 

 he has no father, yet he is a grandson of his 



