644 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1 



more taken out of the feeder than what was 

 finally stored in the completed sections? " 



" In all of my feeding operations I have as- 

 certained this fact : Bees, fed in excess of 

 what they consume in feeding the brood, be- 

 come idle, simply living out of the feeder, not 

 getting an ounce from the fields, while those 

 not fed will nearly or quite secure a living 

 from the fields. If fed when honey is plenti- 

 ful in the fields, they will store no faster out 

 of the feeder than others not fed will from the 

 fields ; while those storing from the fields will 

 work in the sections with double the energy 

 which those do that are being fed." 



' ' Then you think that what I read was more 

 from theory than from practice ? " 



" From all my past experience I must so 

 conclude. But at the same time I am hoping 

 that some way may yet be devised so that it 

 may be a profitable thing to feed the bees ex- 

 tracted honey in such a way that it may be 

 profitably turned into nice section honey." 



IS^MgSSSMil 



SOME USEFUIv HINTS. 



The Daisy foundation-fastener may be kept 

 from slipping on the floor, when working 

 with it, by driving two wire nails into the 

 part that rests on the floor. Let the nails 

 protrude about }i inch, and file sharp. Have 

 one at or near each corner. 



Sections fresh from the factory generally 

 make up without breaking. Old and well- 

 dried sections may be made to absorb enough 

 moisture to make up without breakage by 

 keeping them in a cellar for a number of days. 

 Do not forget and leave them in the cellar 

 long, or they will become moldy. 



The weather has been very unfavorable for 

 bees. It is reported to us that, during the 

 first (rainy) week in June, queens ceased to 

 lay, and that at the end of that week almost 

 no unsealed brood could be found in many 

 hives, although well supplied with old honey. 



Try to have, all old honey used up or work- 

 ed over. It is not safe to depend on it for next 

 winter's supply. I use a spiked roller to make 

 holes through the cappings of old honey, then 

 place combs so treated into empty hives lo- 

 cated somewhat by themselves in the apiary. 

 The honey is then removed by the bees in a 

 short time, and the combs are ready to be 

 used some way or other. 



The honey-dearth in June and July caused 

 many bees to suffer last season — so much so 

 that much brood actually died of starvation. 

 In some parts of New York the rumor was 

 spread that the bees were affected with black 

 brood. When the foul-brood inspector came he 

 pronounced it a case of starvation. The dis- 

 ease (?) disappeared as soon as buckwheat 

 yielded honey. The inspector visited the 

 same yard this spring and found the bees all 

 right. 



Prof. A. J. Cook speaks at length in June 

 G'.h Amer. Bee Journal of the Dzierzon and 

 the Dickel theories. Perhaps not many are 

 better fitted to handle this subject and always 

 apply the correct terms. I urge all who are 

 interested to read the article carefully. 



Naples, N. Y. F. Greiner. 



THE EX-I,IGHTNING OPERATOR. 



I see by Gleanings that you mention my 

 sickness, so I will report. There were two 

 months when I did not work to speak of, but 

 am now able to nail frames and do other light 

 work part of each day. The doctor says I 

 will never be able to do any more hard work, 

 but that, with care, I may be able to do light 

 work. So please put an "ex" before the 

 " lightning operator " in the future. 



Harry S. Howe. 



Artemisa, Cuba, May 25. 



[The moral seems to be that it doesn't pay 

 to work so hard ; i. e., it is better never to be 

 a " lightning operator " than to be afterwards 

 an ex-lightning operator. — Ed.] 



KEEPING OVER EXTRA QUEENS. 

 Is there any plan by which I can keep over 

 extra queens from one season until the next 

 spring — that is, keep two or more queens in 

 the same hive by caging or otherwise ? 



Dr. M. Fields. 

 King Creek, Ky., June 7. 



[There is no plan that I know of which I 

 would consider reliable. The only way is to 

 keep queens over in nuclei, and winter the 

 nuclei in a good cellar. That is what we did 

 last season. — Ed.] 



HIVE-COVERS, BOTTOMS, ETC. 



After reading the July 15th issue I indorse 

 Somerford's idea as to the flat top being best 

 hive-cover, and believe the tile bottom a good 

 thing for permanent apiaries. Here I shall 

 hereafter make bottoms of red cedar, as it is 

 cheap, $1 00 a hundred for No. 3, and never 

 rots out like pine. 



A good honey-flow has come to an end by 

 dry weather. Chip HenderSON. 



Murfreesboro, Tenn., July 5. 



FEEDING BEET SUGAR. 



Out of twelve good swarms I now have only 

 four left. I think one thing that killed them 

 was feeding them beet sugar last fall. The 

 queen you sent me last year as a premium 

 with Gleanings was one of your red-clover 

 stock. Her bees were more than a third long- 

 er than the rest that I had, and she built up a 

 good colony ; but I gave them some beet su- 

 gar, and that used them up. A. J. Truax. 



Leonidas, Mich., May 20. 



[I don't think beet sugar killed them. See 

 article by W. K. Morrison, next issue. — Ed.] 



A handy hive-tool. 

 I inclose an exact pattern of one of the 

 most handy tools a man or woman ever han- 

 dled when opening hives and manipulating 

 brood-frames. With the beveled side toward 



