li)01 



GI.EANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



147 



that way, even though they never freeze to 

 death." 



" How time has flown ! It is time I were 

 doing my noonday chores. Good morning." 



"Good morning. Come again when you 

 wish something further." 



[We have never found a cluster of bees 

 dead unless the food supply had been eaten 

 away from the cluster for two or three inches. 

 I reason that the outside of cluster becoming 

 chilled stiff prevents the cluster from moving 

 over to the stores, and hence they starve to 

 death. But we must not infer that, because 

 bees can stand cold, they do not need any 

 protection. They should have plenty of it. — 

 Ed ] 



HOW TO MAKE A GI.OSSOMETER. 



I think Dr. Miller has hit on the right prin- 

 ciple in the construction of glossometers. 

 The figure here represents a cut of such an in- 

 strument as I would construct. 



The dotted line shows the wire cloth. The 

 depth at one end should be ^ inch, decreas- 

 ing toward the other end to nothing. The 



bottom should be divided by well-marked 

 lines across in 25 parts, as shown in the scale 

 under the cut of the instrument. The wire 

 cloth should be straight, and for that purpose 

 the instrument should not be more than i( 

 inch wide inside, otherwise bulged places in 

 the wire cloth could not be avoided. 



Put the instrument in an empty super on 

 the hive ; fill it with syrup or honey ; level it, 

 which is easily done by observing whether the 

 syrup is flush all over with the cloth. 



When the bees have helped themselves to 

 all they can take, note, before disturbing the 

 instrument, to which division the remaining 

 syrup reaches. If it reaches to the 17th divi- 

 sion, as shown in the cut of the scale above, 

 the length of their tongues, or at least the 

 space between the wire cloth and the level of 

 the syrup, would be yVu inch. 



The above is merely an illustration of the 

 principle. For instance, the deeper end might 

 be ^^0^^ inch instead of ^, and the other end 

 ^V(T instead of nothing. The divisions would 

 then read from ^YV to -^^s^ instead of from to 

 -j'o^ij of an inch. 



With the longer-tongues subject, the size of 

 bees will necessarily be brought out again ; 

 for the maximum length of tongue that can 



be reached will be greater in the larger strain 

 of bees. Adrian Getaz. 



Knoxville, Tenn. 



[Dr. Miller proposed something like this a 

 short time ago. While the principle is all 

 right, yet I doubt very much whether you 

 could get the measurement as easily and 

 quickly as by the way I have described in 

 Gleanings. Of course, it might show more 

 exactly the actual reach of the bees. In the 

 matter of breeding, it is not so important to 

 knoA? the actual reach as it is to know the 

 comparative length of tongues between the 

 bees of one queen and the bees of another. 

 Those of you who believe in that kind of gloss- 

 ometer, make one and send in your report ; 

 but in the mean time I think I can measure 

 ten lots of bees while you are measuring one 

 lot. Sometimes we have four or five cages to 

 measure in a day, from bee-keepers in differ- 

 ent parts of the country ; and if we were to 

 use a plan like that shown above, it would 

 make an all day's job, where now the work 

 can be done inside of an hour ; and for com- 

 parative results it is just as good.— Ed.] 



RELATIVE WEIGHTS OF TALL AND SQUARE 

 SECTIONS WHEN FILLED WITH HONEY. 



I wish to run one of my apiaries this coming 

 season for comb honey, and will you kindly 

 assist me in deciding what to adopt by ans- 

 wering the following questions? 



My preference is the plain tall section, one 

 holding a guaranteed pound, or a little over, 

 but not less. 



1. Will the Danz. 4x5X1^ section meet 

 this requirement ? 



2. Will the Danz. 4x5x1^, when filled, 

 average as heavy as the 4^ X 4^ old beeway 

 section ? 



3. How would the 5x4XXl>^ do? Can 

 you furnish them, also cartons for same ? 

 What super can they be used in, 10-frame 

 size ? Charles Steiger. 



Spring, 111., Jan. 18. 



[1. It depends on how full the sections are 

 filled. Unless they are completed clear out to 

 the wood, nearly every cell .sealed, they will 

 fall short about an ounce of making a pound. 

 All the so-called pound sections are scant 

 pounds. There is no market that seems to 

 want a section that runs a little over. Every 

 salesman says he would prefer to have the box 

 run a little under rather than a little over a 

 pound. If you desire a 4x5 section to aver- 

 age a pound year in and year out, with the 

 seasons as they run, cells sealed clear out to 

 the wood, the sections should he lyi in. wide, 

 but then you would be troubled with over- 

 weights so much that the trade would object. 



2. Yes, the regular Danzenbaker section will 

 average as heavy as the i^^X^^/^XlJ^s ; or, in 

 other words, if the old-style 4}4 section with 

 beeways was heavy enough to meet your re- 

 quirements, then the Danzenbaker 4x5Xl|^ 

 will be. 



3. The 4/:(X5xl;^s would run altogether 

 too heavy — over a pound. If you adopt a 

 4j4 X5 better have it lj4 in. thick, then you 



