508 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1 



these had a cover of >^-itich stuff ; another 

 the usual flat cover, and the third a ventilated 

 cover. The thin-top hive got so hot along the 

 top that the combs all melted loose. The sin- 

 gle flat cover warped, while the ventilated 

 cover retained its shape. This ventilated cov- 

 er is made of a thin board, flat, over the hive. 

 This is let into a strip at each end, and has in 

 addition a }4-inch strip nailed across the cen- 

 ter to prevent warping. The cover is a half- 

 inch above, and is the usual three-piece cover, 

 extending ^< inch beyond the sides, to shed 

 rain. It will be noticed that this test was on 

 the wide ten-frame hive. The usual eight- 

 frame hive is not so apt to warp its covers. 



For twenty years past I have been produc- 

 ing comb honey in two-pound sections. My 

 experience has been that I could secure 50 per 

 cent more in this size than in the usual one- 

 pound size. At the same time I have had a 

 number of one-pound hives in operation ; but, 

 with the exception of two boom years, I have 

 been compelled each year to take the sections 

 off and put on extracting-supers in order to 

 get some honey from these hives. The usual 

 one-pound section with its separators compels 

 the bees to cluster in small bunches of a half- 

 teacupful each ; prevents sociability and the 

 massing of large numbers of bees to make 

 comb. This season I have gone back to an 

 old style, and made frames to take (two deep) 

 Danzenbaker sections. These frames each 

 hold 8 sections, or 64 to the case, using a ten- 

 frame hive. Now, in this super there are no 

 separators, the bees hanging in one sheet from 

 the top of the upper section to the bottom of 

 the lower, and filling all of the space between 

 two sections. By this arrangement I get about 

 four times as many bees to work in the same 

 space. The bees take to these sections kindly, 

 and I expect good results if the season con- 

 tinues favorable. 



It is not always convenient to have to wait 

 for the particles of wax and pollen to rise to 

 the surface before canning. I can all of my 

 honey as fast as extracted. First the honey 

 is allowed to ripen on the hive. If in shak- 

 ing off the bees the honey flies out of the 

 comb, that comb is returned to be ripened up, 

 and only those taken that hold their honey 

 when shaken. When the honey is extracted 

 it is run into a wire-cloth strainer that catches 

 all the small particles of wax, bees, and grubs. 

 From this strainer it flows into another, made 

 of cheese-cloth. When the honey leaves this 

 it is free from all particles of pollen, bright 

 and clear, and ready to go direct to the hive. 

 Where honey is not remelted the presence of 

 small particles of pollen may not injure the 

 honey; but if it is remelted it will color the 

 honey. Some object to the cheese-cloth on 

 account of its being a slow way of straining ; 

 but this depends entirely on the size of the 

 strainer. Mine is 8 inches across and a foot 

 deep, reinforced by strips of cloth sewn over 

 the sack. This will allow the warm honey to 

 flow as fast as the gate on the extractor will 

 deliver it. 



I find that dark combs color honey. Cali- 

 fornians allow the queen access to the supers 

 in the early spring. In consequence, many of 



the combs are dark, and the honey from them 

 a shade darker, so that, to get a shade lighter 

 honey, it will pay to soak these combs in wa- 

 ter before using, and have the water dissolve 

 and take out the color that would otherwise 

 go into the honey. 



Some fifteen years ago I tried fertilizing 

 queens in confinement. I found the queen 

 more than willing, but I could do nothing 

 with the drones. Mr. Davitte has succeeded 

 by first accustoming the drones to confine- 

 ment before liberating the queens, and, second, 

 by using drones that are from queenless hives. 

 It is essential that the drones be content, and 

 that they be from hives which, being queen- 

 less, have their drones " fertilized." 



Murphys, Cal., Mar. 20. 



ARE LONG TONGUES OF VALUE ONLY IN RED- 

 CLOVER REGIONS? 



BY DR. C. C. MILI.ER. 



In the A)iierican Bee Journal, page 293, G. 

 M. Doolittle enters a protest against the fad 

 for long tongues because they are not of spe- 

 cial value where there are no flowers with 

 tubes too long for the reach of ordinary bees, 

 and quotes a remark from Gleanings which 

 he puts in capitals and italics as follows : 

 " The movement for longer tongues is simply 

 to get the red-clover crop of the North, which 

 now is practically all wasted. The bees, no 

 ONE CLAIMS, would be any better except on 

 thai accounts 



Now I want to know who authorized either 

 Stenog or Bro. Doolittle to say that red-clover 

 blossoms are the only ones with tubes too 

 deep for ordinary bees, and yet not so deep 

 that they can not be utilized by some of the 

 bees now in existence that have tongues of 

 unusual length. Are you sure that there are 

 never white clover blossoms so deep that some 

 bees can not reach clear to the bottom ? 



In one place Mr. Doolittle is not quite so 

 bad as Stenog, for the former does not leave 

 red clover as the solitary example of a honey- 

 plant that keeps its nectar tantalizingly near 

 the reach of ordinary bees, and yet just be- 

 yond that reach, for he says, " Long-tongued 

 bees would be an advantage only to those re- 

 siding where red clover and other long-tubed 

 flowers abound." That's as much as to say 

 that, if there would be a gain from red clover 

 through long tongues, there might also be a 

 gain from other plants vnth long tubes, while 

 Stenog bars out all but red clover. To be 

 sure, Mr. Doolittle does seem to do the same 

 barring-out in another place, where he says : 

 " I am satisfied that long tongues are of ad- 

 vantage only to those in red-clover districts," 

 and then he immediately hastens to throw 

 some doubt upon the red-clover gain by add- 

 ing, "if they are of any special advantage 

 anywhere," which seems to throw doubt upon 

 their special value in any case. 



Mr. Doolittle calls attention to the fact that 

 in New Mexico and elsewhere, where no red 

 clover grows, there come reports that the bees 

 that do the best are those with long tongues. 



