1885 



GLEAXINGS IX BEE CULTURE. 



825 



with two or more sheets of burlap between the 

 cushion and frames. 



Last year I bought, on trial, a kind of L. Sim- 

 plicity hive. The surplus arrangement of this 

 hive consists of half-stories, into which a slotted 

 honey-board is fitted. After inserting the division- 

 boards I spread a sheet of burlap over the honey- 

 board, and filled the half-story with chaff, making a 

 layer about 4 inches thick. Every one of the six 

 colonies in this style of hive came through in first- 

 class condition. I have found that bees winter ; 

 best in the sun, because dampness, from whatever 

 source it comes, evaporates more readily. Those 

 shaded will become positively wet, and I find they 

 are more aflfected with dysenterJ^ and dwindle ■ 

 worse in the spring. Now, every one of these six 

 stood in the shade, and three of them were the most 

 densely shaded in the apiary; yet all kept dry, and 

 all went into summer booming. Of some 2.5 other 

 colonies in the shade, two died, and nearly ail 

 dwindled. The only extra good one was the only 

 one wintered largely on sugar stores. Excejjt in 

 the features named, the chances of all wore so 

 nearly alike that I attributed the differonc." in re- 

 sults to the difference in treatment. I am about 

 convinced that a covering of loose chaff is more 

 than half the battle, and I have told why. Now 

 will Mr. Heddon kindly give us a reason for the 

 faith that is in him? 



HOW MANY FRAMES IN THE BKOOI)-<H AMIIEIJ? 



Mr. Hutchinson says, page 0.")", Oct. 1st, that when 

 given but 5 frames they will build no drone comb; 

 but it is possible that, when hived in a large brood- 

 nest, they will build some. My experience is, that 

 they will build a great deal, even when allowed 

 access to the surplus boxes at the start. But, does 

 not Mr. H. use an eight-frame hive? Does he fill 

 the extra space with division-boards? Do the bees 

 work as well over these dummies as over brood- , 

 frames? Will Mr. H. please explain? Moreover, 

 arc those .5 frames enough to accommodate a thrifty , 

 queen? Mine that have not swarmed, or- before 

 swarming, will use ten frames, and I have had a 

 great deal of trouble with queens (with 7 or 8) going 

 into the sections, because they become crowded ^ 

 below. This is caused in part by the immense , 

 quantity of pollen gathered in the spring. They 

 will store enough to almost pack 3 entire frames. ! 

 This superabundance of pollen often becomes a 

 nuisance to me. Ts this locality peculiar for that? 

 Mr. Doolittle once intimated that queens will lay j 

 more heavily a few weeks before swarming, or in , 

 the early part of the season, than they will after. | 

 Is that so? I am inclined to think it is. 



Mechanicsburg, 111. Geo. F. UoiiniNS. 



Friend R., I think I agree with yon in re- 

 gard to absorbents over the bees; but as 

 friend Ileddon has absorbents at the sides, i 

 his arrangement may be such that it answers 

 evei'y purpose. I do believe in having the 

 bees, when wintered outdoors, liave all the 

 sunshine that can possibly be given them, 

 and I am also strongly in favor of loose 

 chatf or tolerably loose' leaves ; and where 

 the material over them is loose I do not think 

 it matters whether it is a foot thick or two 

 feet thick. If it is jjaclrd down so as to be 

 heavy, it may become damp and sodden, 

 and this we vv'ish by all means to avoid.— I 

 think your locality must be a little peculiar 

 in regard to the quantity of pollen. We 

 never have too much here. Will friends I 



Ileddon and Ilntchinson answer the inqni- 

 ries aboveV 



AUTOMATIC SWARMING. 



EXPERIMENTS OF AN A B C SCHOLAR. 



S you request the ABC scholars to experi- 

 ment with automatic swarming, I will send 

 you the results of my experiments. I can 

 not say that the plan has been a perfect suc- 

 cess, but it is simple, and has the elements of 

 success in it. On page 208 of A B C, in speaking of 

 "Odor of Bees," we find it stated, " The odor of a 

 laying queen has a strong attraction for bees," and 

 that they will bo attracted by the odor on a person, 

 or a piece of wood, for days after a laying queen 

 has touched it. On page 259 we find it stated, that 

 " swarms are attracted, and are apt to cluster upon 

 the same spot where a swarm has recently been 

 clustered, because of the odor left by the queen of 

 the previous swarm," etc. 



Now, i)utting these two statements together, it is 

 very easy to see that, if we wish a swarm to cluster 

 in any particular place, we have only to manage 

 some way to perfume the spot with the odor of a 

 laying queen, and the chances are strongly in fa- 

 vor of the swarm clustering there; and after the first 

 swarm has clustered there, the probabilities are still 

 more favorable, and increase with each succeeding 

 swarm; and how can we manage to secure the de- 

 sired odor, more easily and quickly than with queen- 

 cages that have recently contained laying queens? 

 This looks like a very simple problem, and now for 

 the proof: 



When I first started out on this plan in the spring, 

 I did not think of trying to get them to entera bive, 

 but only wished to have them settle in a desirable 

 place; nor did I get them to enter a hive at all, for 

 the simple reason that I had none prepared, when 

 any of the swarms clustered in the place I prepared 

 for them; although, upon placing the hive in posi- 

 tion immediately after they had clustered, they 

 readily entered it. 



Of all the swarms that issued and settled, some 18 

 or 20 in all, more than half of them settled on this 

 place, and in no other place did two swarms cluster. 

 Now, by fixing hives on different sides of the apiary, 

 in dtsirable places, and placing the cages immedi- 

 ately in front of them, in a little bunch of limbs, 

 and placing a shingle, or some such passageway, 

 from the top of where the cluster will be to the en- 

 trance, for a bridge, as it were, it is probable, from 

 the success I had, that we can cause nearlj' all our 

 swarms to enter the decoy hives of their own accord. 

 Economy, Ind. Geo. W. Williams. 



If I get your idea, friend W., it is to fix a 

 hive", suppose we call it a decoy hive, on a 

 suitable platform, up in a tree, at about 

 such a height as a swarm would be likely to 

 cluster ; give the spot the odor of a laying 

 queen, by putting there a queen-cage, or 

 several queen - cages containing laying 

 queens, or having recently contained laying 

 queens. If a laving queen were there at the 

 time the bees "clustered, it would hinder 

 them from going into the hive, perliaps. 

 On this account it might not be best to have 

 any live queens at all ; and it strikes me it 

 can be arranged so the bees would cluster on 

 that spot, and go into the hive. When you 

 get home, place the hive where you wish, 

 and substitute another, and so on. 



