1890 



GLEANINGS IN HKE (TLTrRE. 



899 



I have t'li[)iHHl my own wings from answering 

 this question by not toh-ratiiig the practirc. 

 But. without much (h)uhl. bees arc guided main- 

 ly by smell in the matter of superseding (pieeus. 

 A good (|ueen keeps the liive faintly suffused 

 with the smell of fei'tility: and while this is 

 the case they do not care iu)w lunny legs and 

 wings she chooses to weai'. and would probatdy 

 ask no questions if slu' got along without a head. 



Ohio. N. W. E. E. Hasty. 



Tlie best in the world. When about half of 

 one of my apiaries has clipi)i'd <|ueens and the 

 othei- half not clipited. theii' Idood and age be- 

 ing the same, I found the most and earliest 

 su])ersedur(^s whei-e the queens w(!re clipped: 

 and the tendency for swarms to reswarm was 

 somiMliing liive ten times greatcM' where the 

 queens" wings were cliijped. 



Michigan. S. W. Jamks Hi:])1)()X. 



My two years" expei'ience in clipping all my 

 queens does not afford evidence of their being 

 more readily superseded on account of being 

 eropjx'd. T once hail an imported que(^n that 

 liad one wing off. one rear leg off. anil foot (iff 

 the second leg on the same side. I do not know 

 how old she was when 1 got her, but she con- 

 tinued to lay to the fourth year as well as any 

 queen I had. 



California. S. R. Wilkijj. 



Nothing, except what I have read. I really 

 don't believe it makes any difference. A good 

 many years ago I saw in one of Mr. Roofs colo- 

 nies a queen with no vestige of a wing, looking 

 like a big ant, and yet I think she had the en- 

 tire contidence of the whole community. If 

 supersedure comes from partial loss of wings, 

 this total loss ought to have hastened matters. 

 Did it. friend Root? 



Illinois. N. C. C. Millek. 



Perliaps our good friends Boardman and Hed- 

 don. after seeing the array of heavy testimony 

 to the effect that clipping makes no difference, 

 may modify their decision, unless, indeed, tliey 

 are of a class that never take anything back, 

 no matter liow much proof is offered — w hich I 

 am sure they are not. I have at times thought 

 the bees seemed more disposed to supersede a 

 queen witli her wings clipped: but with these 

 good friends of mine against me. I am quite 

 ready to give up. I do not like to see them 

 clipped myself, however; and a good many 

 times something turns up to make me wish that 

 a certain queen had wings. On this account I 

 have recommended that they be not clipped 

 any more in our own apiaries. I well remember 

 the old queen that looked like a big ant, friend 

 Miller, and I think we had her for at least three 

 seasons, and she certaiidy did as well as any 

 queen In the apiary. 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS, 



AII!-SI'ACK VS. packing: DOUHLE-WAI-I.KI) 

 IIIV'ES. 



Permit me to ask the following question: Are 

 double-walli'd hives with air-s|jaces unjiacked. 

 aseffVctual in retaining the heat generated by 

 the bees as they woidd be with tliose sjiaces 

 packed? and would they be cooler, in sumnu'r. 



luipacked. than otherwise? I should like the 

 i'e[)lies of best authorities on bees tlirougli 

 (ii.EANiNos. E. W. SMrrii. 



\>est Canaan. O.. Nov. 27. 



That is just what we want to know, friend .S. 

 The question was submitted in the Question- 

 Box department, and a majority of the I'espond- 

 ents voted in favor of packing as against air- 

 space. The probabilities are. that any kind of 

 packing beeween the two walls of a hive is bet- 

 ter than none. Howevei-, for several years in 

 our apiary one of our chaff hives which we 

 supposed had been packed was found to have 

 never had any chaff at all, when we canu^, to 

 renovate it of foul brood by boiling. This one 

 hive occupied a conspicuous place in otu- api- 

 ary: and although it had only a dead-air space, 

 it wintered just as well as the packed hives, so 

 far as we could see, for a period of seven or 

 eight years. How much longer it would have 

 continued to do so I can not tell. In a moderate 

 winter climate like ours, I am of the opinion 

 that the air-space will do just as well: but in 

 colder climates, no doubt packing is an addi- 

 tional protection. The W. T. Falconer Co.. of 

 Jamestown, N. Y.. have for years sold what 

 they call their Chautauqua hive. This, I be- 

 lieve, has no packing between the side walls. 

 It is practically a hive with a dead-air space. 

 We have had reports of comparative tests be- 

 tween this and our regular chaff' hive, in which 

 the bees seemed to winter about as well in one 

 as in the other. Just now I do not recollect the 

 exact latitude fi-om which these reports were 

 made. If any of our readers who are located in 

 cold climates have had opportunities for mak- 

 ing such tests, I should be glad to have them 

 report. Henry Alley, in a recent article, said 

 that the air-space did as well as packing in his 

 locality, and we have had many reports to the 

 same effect. This matter is of peculiar impor- 

 tance just now. on account of the discussion 

 going on in regard to an outside protecting 

 shell for winter: for if such a case, without 

 packing, in most localities, will winter success- 

 fully, it will be a great saving in the cost of 

 hives in outdoor wintering. Do not understand 

 that I say this am be done. I am only await- 

 ing the results of experimental tests by oui'stdves 

 and others. E. R. 



DOES CO.MB HONEY EVEH TIMJN YELLOW? 



We notice the comb honey we I'eceived from 

 you in Oclobei' is turning yellow, wliicli iiuikes 

 it unsalabl(>. Please advise us what to do. 



Massillon. O.. Nov. ?9. Dieliienn Bitos. 



I have Ufiver heard of such a thing before. Is 

 it not possible that you are mistaken? We 

 have the same honey in stock, and ours has not 

 changed a particle. I have heard of setting 

 y(dlow comb honey in the >iun in a window, and 

 that the sun would bleach it so as to make it 

 whiter. The hoiu^y yon had was some of Mr. 

 W. K. BalTs, which we have regarded as so 

 very tine. Some of his comb honey had yellow 

 cap])ings. and some white. To make it fair. 



