1890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



841 



grandfather. He is only a half-brother to his 

 mother's daughters. According to the above 

 tlieory. it is imimrtant that we know the good 

 (lualities of the drone's grandi)arents when we 

 wlsli to rear a special set of drones. 



A (lueen hiys a wiiilc tlien takes a rest. I 

 suppose she goes to " clucking," like an old hen. 

 When she gets to "clucking,'' then she swarms 

 if honey is coming in plentifully. Some queens, 

 lik(> old hens, '• cluck " more than others. 



JJouney, Pa., Oct. 14. Piiilo S. Dil worth. 



It doesn't matter how you fix frames, as far 

 as the burr-comb question is concerned. The 

 point is, convenience of the one or the other 

 method. I feel very sure, that frames fastened 

 with separate and removable spacing -sticks 

 can not be handled as rapidly as the Hoffman 

 or closed-end frames. A visit to one of the 

 large apiaries using either one of these frames 

 will show you the difference. 



I believe you are pretty nearly right in re- 

 gai'd to bee-space; though ^g is a little too 

 small, a quarter-inch, a little scant, if any 

 thing, is about right. 



Bees do assuredly make way with eggs at 

 times, but it remains to be proven whether they 

 use them for food. This has been before ad- 

 vanced. Cheshire says the royal jelly is a secre- 

 tion from glands in the head of the nurse-bees. 



NOTES OF THE SEASON. 



SOME VEKY PKACTICAL SUGGESTIONS FROM H. 

 R. BOAIiDMAN. 



We have had another season of failure in the 

 honey crop, but it has not been without its les- 

 sons of valuable instruction. This may com- 

 pensate in a small degree, although it will not 

 help us much in buying bread and butter this 

 year. "What are we to do under such dis- 

 couraging circumstances of continued failure?" 

 I hiivc l)een lT('i|uentIy asked. 1 can answer 

 only for myself. 1 have already begun, with re- 

 newed energy and determination, the most care- 

 ful preparations for the next season, determined 

 to do my part more thoroughly and faithfully 

 than it has been done, and I have yet confidence 

 in this kind of work, even in a poor season. So 

 long as the almost uni\'(n'sal report shows that 

 the bees were not in the condition they ought to 

 have been at tlie beginning of the honey season, 

 it is quite evident that some share of the re- 

 sponsibility for short crops rests with the bee- 

 keei)er, and is not chargeable wholly to poor 

 seasons. Then the results of a colony here and 

 there that had sutlicient stores to keep up brood- 

 rearing to the beginning of the honey harvest, 

 are suggestive of the remedy. Yet I might as 

 well admit, that, with all the energy and care 

 we may throw into the business, the future of 

 bee-keeping has no very flattering outlook in 

 this part of the countiy. Buteven with all that 

 .seems discouraging, when I look about me and 

 see the sharp competition for bread and butter 

 in eveiy depaitment of life, it becomes evident 

 to me that I could do no better at any thing 

 else I might undertake, and perhaps l'.s7(o/ff(/ 

 not do as well. 



HURR-C'OMBS. 



The discussion at the Cleveland convention, 

 upon thick top-bai's as a means of preventing 

 burr-combs in tin; bee-space al)ove them. set me 

 to thinking u|)on th(^ subject, and especially the 

 question asked by some one present— " Wliy do 



bees build burr-combs?" and I have set about 

 trying to discover some i-easonable answer to 

 the (luestion. 1 lind.in looking over the back 

 numbers of the bee-journal, that favorable re- 

 ports accompanied close spacing, and that im- 

 favorable rejjorts accompanied wide spacing. 

 I went into an examination of my hives and 

 supers that had been used, of which I had an 

 abundantsupply, and, almost without exception, 

 these showed the burr-combs on the tops of the 

 frames to be only a continuation of the combs 

 built from below up through the bee-space by 

 shallow or rudimentary cells built on the sides 

 of th(! top-bars, and thus contracting the bee- 

 space betwe(m the top-bars to that of the combs 

 below. The same thing occurs at the sides of 

 the frames, and burr-combs are bnilt in the 

 same manner lietween tlui side-bars and the 

 sides of the hive whenever the hive becomes 

 crowded, as I had ample opportunity of observ- 

 ing on some old :^-inch side-bars. The break- 

 joint honey-board placed between the brood and 

 surplus chaml)ers intei'cepts these combs that 

 are built upward from the edges of the top-bars, 

 but does not inevent them — simply catches 

 them in a bee-space provided for the purpose. 



I said, if the frames were closely spaced it 

 would at least prevent the bees from Ijuilding 

 up between tlui top-bars for lack of room, and 

 deprive them of these starters from which to 

 build these objectionable combs in the space 

 above the frames. I accordingly arranged 

 about 25 colonies, selected at random in four 

 different apiaries, by spacing nine frames in a 

 hive where I had used but 8. The hive is 13 

 inches inside. This would make the distance 

 of the frames from center to center a little less 

 than l)i inches. I do not undertake to show this 

 to be jus't the right distance for spacing, but it 

 approximates it, and answers the purpose of my 

 experiment. In old colonies thus treated, the 

 combs were trimmed down. In new swarms, 

 natural combs were built only on starters. 

 J-tost of the frames used were X wide by % 

 thick; a few were an inch wide. I was agree- 

 ably surprised at the results of the experiment, 

 as showing the advantages and benefits of close 

 spacing of the frames. I will give the results 

 as they appear to me from the experiment. 



ADVANTAGES OF CLOSE SPACING. 



1. It prevents, or very much reduces, the 

 tendency to build burr-combs above the frames. 

 In some colonies, tested where a close bee-space 

 was preserved above the top- bars, as well as 

 between them, no burr-combs were built at all; 

 but where a wide space was allowed above the 

 frames, more or less combs were built. 



3. It secures the combs built of uniform thick- 

 ness, smooth and even with the frames; conse- 

 quently, 



3. It makes them available for brood to their 

 extreme edg(>s. 



4. It increases the cai)acity of the hive with- 

 out enhirging it. in my case, one comb. 



5. ^^'hiie tiie cai)acity of tlu; hive is increased 

 for brood, it is diminished for bees, and there- 

 fore crowds them out into the surplus apart- 

 ment: and for the same |■ea^ion, 



(). It enables the bees to cover and protect more 

 comb surface, and conseiiuently to rear more 

 brood and to build uj) faster. 



7. \Vher<' natural comb is built it prevent.s 

 the building of drone comb to a great extent. 

 It will be seen that, in close spacing, the build- 

 ing of natural comb has some decided advan- 

 tages, as the bees adjust or spaci' their comb- 

 centers throughout all t heir slightest undula- 

 tions, in a more perect manner than it is possible 

 to do it by any artificial means. The great im- 

 portance of this is apparent. 



One imi)ortant test yet remains — that of 



