1-J4 



GLEANINGS 1^' JJEE CULTUilE. 



Vem. 



beey; but using cases or racks spread over the 

 whole of a ten-frame L. hive, we all have colonies 

 which will do more and better work without tiering-, 

 if we can quickly take out sections as fast as they 

 are filled, and put in others; and we are far less 

 likely to be caught with a large number half filled 

 at the end of the season. 



Uy closely watching the seasons, and liaving a hive 

 on scales, we can tell when to draw in and close up, 

 and in time contract, by not replacing the sections 

 drawn out, and using separators shoved up to one 

 i<ide, and covering the vacancy with a quilt. 



Now as to honey-boards. Why were they discard- 

 ed, and why now by many recommendedV By 

 their use were any such results ever obtained as 

 have Vieen since they were discarded? None re- 

 ported have ever come under our notice. 



To get the bees at work quickly, and to present 

 the least impediment to their entrance to the sur- 

 plus-chamber, is surel.v an object. The honey- 

 board was cast aside as an impediment. There is 

 hardly a doubt but that bridge-building and brac- 

 ing combs, so annoying to the manipulator, can in 

 a great measure be prevented by l(>ssening the 

 space between the sections. I have found it to 

 greatly diminish the number of brace-combs, to 

 bring the rack down so as to leave only I4 inch 

 space, above brood-combs. A friend tells me he 

 succeeded well with strips of enameled cloth across 

 and directlj'on the brood-frames. With my rack rest- 

 ing on a 'j-inch strip across each end of it, T can, 

 with a knife, loosen the rack without disturbing 

 the brood-frames. 



In manipulating we have frequent need to get in- 

 to the brood chamber, and any honey-board is in 

 the waj'. Did we not all think it a grand step for- 

 ward when the flexible (juilt was substituted for 

 tbe cumbersome honey-board? J. W. Portek. 



Charlottesville, Va. 



MICHIGAN STATE CONVENTION. 

 What I Saw and Learned.— No. 4. 



A BEE-CELLAK WITH A KUKNING SPUING IN IT. 



J II. IIOBERTSOX Still succeeds nicely 

 J in wintering with his large cellar witli 

 ft a s]tring in it. lie did not agree, tliat 

 *^ • V'"'ll('" was the cause of the dysentery 

 among his bees. Prof. Cook suggest- 

 ed it was liecause of the stream of water 

 tliat e(}ualizes the temperature. ]Vow. it oc- 

 curs to me riglit here that possibly a stream 

 of sprip.g water running througli the cellar 

 may be as good, or better. than the sub-earth 

 ventihitor. The water would l)e constantly 

 l)ringing lieat from the body of the eartli, 

 and tlie stream might be spread out in its 

 I)assage through, so as to yield up a great 

 part of its heat before it goes off. 



S.WING HONKY UY CKLLAH WlXl'KHIXG. 



A number of testimonies seemed to indi- 

 cate pretty decidedly that a saving of some- 

 thing like ](» lbs. of honey ]»er colony was 

 made by wintering in cellar. (•omi>ared with 

 outdooi- wintering. I suggested tliat a good 

 chair liive sliould give almost as good re- 

 sults as a good cellar: l)ut 1 was' told by 

 (|nite a number that I was mistaken. Xow. 

 I kjiow there is a saving of lioney by liaving 

 bees in a good cellai': l)iil in oiir State of 



Ohio I can hardly think it amounts to as 

 ' much as .3 lbs. per colony. This o lbs. of 

 stores, at the present price of sugar, need 

 iiot rei)resent more than i") cts.: and I do 

 not believe we could put our colonies into 

 the celhir. and take them out. including the 

 ; prei)aration needed to make the cellar dark, 

 well ventilated, etc.. for much less than 2■'^ 

 ' cts. per colony. J^Jesides, with the change- 

 ■ able weather we have here, sometimes almost 

 i a week when there is not a bit of frost right 

 I in the middle of January, most of our Ohio 

 people are, I believe, decidedly in favor of 

 i outdoor wintering, especially late yeai's. 

 I I was not present at the afternoon session 

 I of the last day. and therefore I take the fol- 

 lowing from notes sent me : 



Friend Hutchinson says he would prefer 



i frames for queen-rearing not over S or K) 



1 inches square. This levives the old question 



j of a divided Langstroth frame, or a frame to 



hang crosswise in the Ileddon Langsti-oth 



Hive. 



now KAI! .VTAKT 3IUST HIVES 1!K rLAC'ED 

 IN TIIK APIARY? 



James Ure thought they should be placed 

 about f> feet; Dr. Mason thought (1 feet, 

 and Dr. Wliiting thought they might be as 

 near as ftix inches. I think all of the gentle- 

 ! men may be right; but if entianees are only 

 I ('} inches ai)art. there should l)e some strong- 

 j ly marked difference between the entrances. 

 ! With our arrangement of the house-apiary 

 , there is no confusion, even though the en^- 

 trances are but a few inches apart, because 

 I there are only three entrances on a side, 

 I wliile with lawn chaff hives, made exactly 

 ] alike in every respect, and facing the same 

 way, there is often confusion when they are 

 i as much as U feet apart. Prof. Cook illus- 

 trated it in this way : His house and Prof. 

 Carpenter's liouse are almost exactly alike in 

 ; appearance and points of the compass. Now. 

 although they are several rods apart, when 

 honey w^as exposed on Prof. Cook's back 

 i porch, so that the bees got to robbing, they 

 1 would swarm around the back porch of the 

 other house, and I should be pretty sure 

 they would, had he not said so. This is one 

 considerable trouble in not making a lot of 

 hives alike, even if they are several rods 

 apart in a large apiary. "I once before sug- 

 gested that we might make use of this fea- 

 ture in making artilicial swarms and nuclei. 

 Nobody has worked it out yet. that I know 

 of. A methodical bee-keeper likes to have 

 his hives uniform ; but if he does, he will be 

 pretty sure to have bees getting into the 

 wrong hives. Making them face to the same 

 points of the compass helps the matter; but 

 then we have bees wasting their time while 

 heavily laden, trying to get in at the back 

 side of some hivt where there is not an en- 

 trance. 



AVe copy the following paragraph from the 

 A)ner)C0i Bee Journed : 



GETTING NICE HONEV. 



Upon request. Miss Wilkiiis told how she and her 

 sister maiiayi'd to secure such nice honey. They 

 used the Doolitlli' s> stem and removed the honey 

 as soon as sealed. 'riu'\' use the nicest white-poidar 

 sections that tliev can procure, as thev tlKnight that 

 this UKKle a gieat dmerence in the appearanee of 

 the honey. Tlii' propolis is not only scraped from 

 tile sections as soon as they ar<' taken from the 



