328 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 15 



tion was examined here, our English friends 

 seem to have gone further in the pros and 

 cons. Looks, price, cost of changing, weight, 

 have all been debated with the fervor of a 

 legal point in court. Space forbids many 

 extracts, but I make the following from an 

 article written by Wm. Boxwell, of Patricks- 

 well, Ireland : 



The sections have been ordered, and are to be 

 packed in boxes holding 250 sections and 50 fences in 

 each box. The fence separators are to have passage- 

 ways cut through the two inner upright cleats to 

 give the bees freer communication laterally from sec- 

 tion to section, and the openings between slats give 

 communication from one row of sections to those on 

 the other side of fence, while the unbroken opening 

 underneath, extending from one end of row of sec- 

 tions to the other, gives the bees almost as much pas- 

 sageway from brood-frames to sections as is to be 

 found between brood and extracting frames. 



As Mr. Sladen has observed, this size section re- 

 quires no change in the section-rack further than to 

 tack on top all round a ^-inch strip, so that every 

 bee-keeper experimentally inclined can try it and 

 report his findings. 



The price of this section, Mr. Taylor thinks, will 

 be higher than that of the ordinary lib. section. This 

 is only for a time, while special; when, or if, estab- 

 lished, as it is narrower and requires less wood than 

 the beeway, it will be cheaper. 



It requires K inch more comb foundation than the 

 4}^inch section. This is now made with so thin a 

 base that practically there can be no fish-bone or 

 observable mid-rib, and the extreme cost is more than 

 compensated by the thick side walls of foundation 

 given to the bees to draw out, and to save elaborating 

 additional wax as in the thicker comb. The sec- 

 tions will be sold to dealers to distribute to bee-keep- 

 ers, or to bee-keepers who take a full box of 250 

 sections at a time, with their fifty fence separators 

 packed with them. 



As to the weight of the new section, Mr. R. 

 M. Lamb says, in replying to a critic : 



Then he need not be afraid that the customers 

 would not get a full 16 oz. of honey, as we could afford 

 to give them 17 oz. or 18 oz. in a thinner section better 

 than 16 oz. in the present. I do not think there is 

 any danger of our adopting a light section. I, for one, 

 would not agree to it. Such a one as I am advocat- 

 ing would be fair to the bees, the bee keeper, and the 

 customers. To fussy customers I would give reason- 

 able information; should any say they would take 

 my remarks with a grain of salt, I would tell them 

 that they are at liberty to take them with all the 

 spices together, but I would recommend them to be 

 taken with common sense. In order to get at the 

 exact weight of wax in proportion to honey in both 

 old and new sections I would suggest that Mr. I,ove- 

 day take a good sample of each to an analyist to deal 

 with, and let us have the results. 



HALLUCINATION OF BEES. 



Sprinkling Ashes on the Snow in the Bee-yard; 



Overstocking the Heath with Bees (?); Plain 



Sections and Fence Separators, etc. 



BY F. GREINER. 



Our bees have been shut in now for over two 

 months. The usual January thaw has not 

 come ; but we are awaiting a chance for our 

 bees to fly now, for, generally speaking, our 

 bees will do better when having an opportuni- 

 ty to empty themselves once or twice during 



the winter months. There is some danger 

 connected with an outpouring of bees when 

 the ground is covered with snow. I have seen 

 bee-keepers cover the snow with straw, so that 

 any bees that drop may not come in contact 

 with the snow, gain a safer foothold, and rise 

 again and not chill. The majority of the bees 

 that drop down to the ground are worthless 

 old ones, ready to die anyhow, and one need 

 not feel bad about the loss of them. But 

 when the sunlight is so very bright, in combi- 

 nation with the whiteness of the snow, the 

 bee seems to be dazzled. The effect upon 

 man's eye is similar when he comes from a 

 dark room suddenly into the sunlight. Under 

 such a condition many strong and healthy 

 bees fly right into the snow and die. This 

 may be effectually prevented by sprinkling 

 ashes and sawdust all about the hives and all 

 through the apiary, thus changing the intense 

 whiteness of the snow to a dark color, lessen- 

 ing also the reflection of the sunlight. The 

 bees can then better take notice of the things 

 around them, and will not fly down into the 

 snow. It is well to pay thus a little attention 

 to our bees at this time. Even a few bees are 

 worth something in the spring. 



In his Straws, Dec. 1, 1900, Dr. Miller says: 

 "In the Lueneburg heath, apiaries of 120 col- 

 onies are located half a mile apart," and he 

 thinks that not many localities here would 

 stand such crowding. Why not? Doesn't 

 Dr. M. overlook the fact that, when the Cen- 

 tralblatt speaks of a mile, it means a mile — 

 not that insignificant little English mile of 

 320 rods, but the equivalent of h'^i English 

 miles ? Thus it will be seen that the heath in 

 Lueneburg is not any more productive as re- 

 gards honey than the majority of localities in 

 the United States. I believe any country that 

 is suitable for bee-keeping may be crowded as 

 closely as that without one apiary interfering 

 seriously with the other. This, in turn, might 

 lead us to the thought, " How far do bees fly 

 in search of food ? " I am aware that a great 

 deal has been written on that subject, and still 

 there might be a thought or two still new. 

 Location may play an important part. In 

 Borodino, bees have been known to travel 7 

 miles or more ; in California, as much as 15 

 miles ; but in most other sections of this coun- 

 try their flights are not nearly as extended. 

 I am inclined to think few bees will go beyond 

 the mile limit. I have many times moved 

 bees during the summer season two or three 

 miles, and I have never seen a bee come back 

 to the old location. It would seem, had they 

 been familiar with the surroundings of two 

 miles around, some would surely have found 

 their way back to their old home as they did 

 when moved but a half-mile, as in the follow- 

 ing instance : Once while moving bees in July 

 a slight accident occurred on the journey. 

 Several upper stories had not been fastened 

 down, and slid off. The respective colonies 

 had to be taken from the wagon right there 

 and then, although it happened in the night. 

 This was about half a mile from home. The 

 bees (three colonies) had to be left there by 

 the roadside till the next night, when they 

 were taken on board with the next load. They 



