al4 



GLEANiNCS IN UEH CULTUltE. 



May 



A SUGGESTION IN REGARD TO HAVING THE MOORE 



OR HEDDON CASES SO MADE THAT SEPARATORS 



MAY UE USED. 



I would piip-frrst an improvement in the Moore's 

 cnite, hu iliat it can be used with separators. In- 

 stead of making- the ends and partitions in one 

 piece, have a piece an inch or 's Viide, to which 

 fasten the tin and a piece is inch wide, even with 

 the top to stiffen the rack, and hold sections square. 

 A separator 2^4 inches wide can then te used be- 

 tween each row of sections. I have made some 

 racks like the above, and think they will answer ray 

 purpose better than any thing I have seen. 



Tn reading the article on wide-top brood-frames, 

 by Alley, I think, the following idea came into my 

 head, and I should like to have your opinion of it. 

 Would not a strip of tin l'^ inches wide, tacked on 

 the top of the brood-frames, prevent brace-combs 

 up to the rack, and at lljp same time leave each 

 frame looseV P. A. G.^rretson, 28— S5. 



Hillsborough, N. J., Apr. 7, 1885. 



Friend G., your suggestion is ingenious, and 

 is to nie n new tliought. I presume you mean 

 tliat tlie upper strips should be made mova- 

 ble, althou^^li you do not say SO. It would 

 be a little more work to make and to handle 

 them ; but the separators would go in nice- 

 ly. There would be one trouble if sections 

 were to be removed as fast as tilled: The 

 bees would get over into these spaces be- 

 tween the sections, and could not be got out 

 without some care and trouble in replacing. 

 In these spaces they would probably be im- 

 prisoned, and starve to death. The loss 

 might not be great; but I should never want 

 to close a hive, knowing that I had left a sin- 

 gle bee in that predicament. Tacking thin 

 pieces of wood temporarily to the top-bar of 

 a brood-frame is an idea that was experi- 

 mented on and reported in the ^l. i>. /. as 

 much as fifteen years ago. I believe it did not 

 give very good satisfaction, though tin bars 

 might succeed better; but I think it would 

 be a good deal of machinery and bother. 



FIVE SWAIiMS IX SUCCESSION FROM A SINGLE 

 HIVE. 



I have one hive of bees that have sent out five 

 swarms since March 1st; the four last swarms 

 came out in succession, one each day. James H. 

 AV'hite, of this place, says that he has never heard of 

 such a thing before, and that he doubts their hav- 

 ing queens. What do you think of if? They seem 

 to be working all right. The first swarms have 

 made combs. Geo. Cleveland. 



Kockledge, Fla., March 20, 188.5. 



Friend ('., my explanation of this matter 

 would be, that the old (pieen was lost by 

 some means, and a lot of young queens 

 were raised. Instead of the first ones de- 

 stroying the rest of the cells, a lot of them 

 got loose at once, as sometimes happens ; 

 then came secession and dividing up. iJo 

 yon not lind that it is a week or two before 

 any of these swarms have eggs in their 

 combsV 



HAKF 



I IVES 



HIVES, 



BEHIND Sl-MTLK ITV 

 AFTER ALI-. 



In your answer to my letter in Gleanings of 

 April 1 you were surprised at loss of bees in chaff 

 hives, while none were lost in Simplicity hives up 

 to date. In justice to the chalf hive, I would like to 

 add, that the bees in Simplicity hives all died in the 



following severe weather of March. I found, upon 

 examination, their stores wei-e much the better— 

 which accounts for their holding out longer. I 

 have five swarms left in chaff hives. 

 LaGrange, ()., Apr. 15, 188.5. E. F. Wilcox, ;!5— 5. 



Friend W.. I am not glad to hear that you 

 lost the bees afterward, in Simplicity hives, 

 but I felt i>retly sure theie was some reason 

 for this api)aient dilference. From the way 

 in which you speak of stores, we might in- 

 fer that the trouble was not in the severity 

 of the winter, but in the lack of stores. 

 Xow, suppose you had fed them up until 

 sealed stores of sugar syrup were all around 

 the cluster, as I have told you; namely, be- 

 hind and before, on the right and on the left, 

 and overhead and under foot ; that is the 

 way I like to see bees provisioned. When 

 they are fixed that way, my experience has 

 been tint they get along a good deal better 

 than where there is a good heavy comb off 

 at one side, or several pounds of honey in 

 the further corner. 



report for this localitv. 



One man had 11 colonies, and lost all; another 10, 

 lost all but two; another 14, lost all but one; anoth- 

 er 1, and had 5 left three weeks ago, but thought it 

 rather doubtful, as they were so weak, about get- 

 ting through at all; another man living right near 

 here had 16, fall count; and some in chaff' hives 

 had, the first of this month, onl.\' two left, and those 

 very weak and feeble. 



Some time ago I spoke of having dragged out a 

 queen from under a hive. I took it to be one, at 

 least, and took it with a worker-bee to a very prom- 

 inent bee-mau of our county for e.vaminatiou, and 

 he pronounced it a queen at first sight. It was 

 shriveled up considerably, is what bothered me; 

 so after writing to you it stayed so cold T thought 

 it useless to think of getting a queen in time to save 

 them, and the 24th day of March I drew the hive 

 out of winter quarters for the purpose of distrib- 

 uting among the others, and, on taking out the 

 second frame, I discovered young bees; and on the 

 fourth frame, eggs and larva*, of a fine hybrid 

 queen, which gladlj' snri)iised me. Now, there is a 

 myst ry somewhere. E. B. Haughey. 



Pearson, Fayette Co., ()., April i:!. 



No mystery at all, friend P. The hive 

 you mention" had two (jueens. a young one 

 and an old one. The old one died, and you 

 had the young one left. When she was fer- 

 tilized hist fall she met a common drone, and 

 tlierefore the brood will be hybrids. 



APIS dorsata; a swarm captured at last. 



As a postscript to my last letter on .4. dorKnta, I 

 ha\-e the pleasia-e to inform you that I have at last 

 captured a swarm, and have it safely hived in an 

 observatory hive. There are about half a bushel of 

 bees, and are they not magnificent fellows? My 

 hive is about 6 feet tall, and 3X3 wide and deep. 

 The bees were secured on a very high tree, on 

 which were 13 other swarms. The limb was cut off', 

 and forms the top-bar for the brood, and hangs 

 like a Simplicity frame in the hive. 1 have had a 

 sheet of glass, 9X16 inches, put into the back of the 

 hive, and a door made to shut all up, when one does 

 not want to watch them. The brood-comb is about 

 14X16 in., and is soiid with brood. I see no pollen 

 or honey in the comb. There are young bees and 



