1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



21 



surplus to supply the deficiency of" a larger apiary 

 of 60 or 70 colonies. Now, friend Weckesser, the 

 small apiary may have given the surplus just be- 

 cause of the few colonies; but the facts you state 

 by no means prove it. The past summer my Wil- 

 son apiary had about three times as many colonies 

 as the Belden apiary; but the larger apiary "gave 

 almost enough surplus to supply the deficiency of" 

 the smaller. But that doesn't prove that the larger 

 number made the yield per colony greater. The 

 Wilson apiary probably had a better field to work 

 on, and probably your 12 colonies had a better field 

 than the home apiary. I do think, however, 

 that in general a small apiary will do better than a 

 large one, just because there will be times during 

 the season when the harvest is so light that even a 

 few colonies overstock the locality. But the differ- 

 ence may be so little that 1 think in general I would 

 not start an out-apiary till my number exceeded 

 100. So I agree with the comments. 

 Marengo, 111. C. C. Miller. 



Friend Miller, your explanation seems to 

 be the more reasonable one. It is a fact, is 

 it not, that bees do at times secrete more 

 wax than they can profitably use, and that 

 these scales are sometimes found on the 

 bottom-board? Friend Hutchinson avers 

 that, in consequence, too much foundation 

 is used, and that this surplus of wax scales 

 goes to waste. According to your request, 

 we tried two or three samples of honey. As 

 the flow of nectar in California is considered 

 to be very rapid, it is reasonable to suppose 

 that California combs would be lighter than 

 combs to hold an equal capacity made 

 here in the East. We accordingly selected 

 a section of California honey well filled out, 

 and of snowy whiteness. From this we 

 took two cubes of honey. From each the 

 resultant wax made a sphere only a quarter of 

 an inch in diameter. ( )f course, this wax was 

 pressed together into a solid ball. We next 

 selected a section of honey which had been 

 filled out during the last season in our own 

 locality, when the yield of nectar daily was 

 very smal 1 . This section was travel-stained, 

 and there was a number of cells not capped 

 over. From this we took a cube of honey, 

 chewed it, and obtained a wax ball half an 

 inch in diameter. As will be seen, the diame- 

 ter of the latter was twice that of one of those 

 from the California honey. Therefore the 

 volume of wax would be just about eight times 

 as much. From this it might be argued 

 that bees will use eight times as much wax 

 in comb building during a slow yield as 

 they will in a rapid yield. These proportions 

 may not and probably will not hold true in 

 all cases ; but as the experiment can be so 

 easily tested, we hope our readers who are 

 interested in the matter will do so and report 

 the result, noting carefully whether the nec- 

 tar was coming in rapidly or slowly. Now, 

 friend M., you start out by saying that you 

 do not know that there is any practical im- 

 portance in this matter ; but you intimate 

 that a practical bearing may attach to it. 

 Well, it may be this : When honey is com- 

 ing in very rapidly, the bees need full sheets 

 of foundation ; when it is coming in slowly, 

 narrow starters will answer just as well 

 and perhaps better. If this be true, may it 

 pot be possible to save foundation, and, con- 



sequently, money ? Again, if bees do at 

 times build heavier combs than at others, 

 may it not explain why there is sometimes 

 present the objectionable " fishbone," and 

 that at other times it can not be detected? 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELD 



CARRYING BEES INTO THE CELLAR; DOOLITTLE'S 

 AND ROOT'S INSTRUCTIONS OBEYED. 



T WISH to thank you and G. M. Doolittle for that 

 ||P article in Nov. 1st Gleanings, in reply to my 

 W questions on placing bees in the cellar. 

 ■*■ Gleanings arrived here about four o'clock, 

 Nov. 7; and after reading the article referred 

 to I decided to set the bees in at once, as it was 

 looking like rain, the weather previous having been 

 remarkably fine. There were 82 in all, and we car- 

 ried them in, some before dark and some after, and 

 found no difference. In your remarks you seem to 

 think the bees would be more apt to get out of the 

 hives when the bottoms are removed. Now, if you 

 mean while carrying them, you are wroug; as the 

 bees seem to get confused when they run down and 

 can't find their floor, and very few will fly out of 

 their hives. If you mean that more bees will get 

 out of the hives in the cellar, you are right; but I 

 think we want them to, as, when a bee becomes so 

 weak as to fall from the cluster, it is better out of 

 the hive, as they will sometimes pile up in the bot- 

 tom and make a very bad smell. I did not place 

 my bees as Doolittle does, as I had not room. 1 sim- 

 ply placed two scantling about a foot from the 

 ground, and set a row of hives on them, then two 

 more, and so on. I think it would be a good idea to 

 have the scantling supported independently of the 

 hives, so any hive could be removed if necessary. 

 Alvinston, Ont., Can. W. E. Morrison. 



SOD HOUSES FOR WINTERING BEES. AND FOR 

 RAISING PLANTS AND CARP. 



Please send me some Grand Rapids lettuce. I 

 have a greenhouse, and am raising plants. 1 have 

 built a water-tank 5 feet deep, 8 feet wide, :>:i feet 

 long, in which I have about 400 carp. I have three- 

 fourths of the tank covered with floor, with a good 

 sod house built over it I have a pipe running in- 

 to it, with a pipe for the water to escape into a 

 hatching-pond about four rods square. My carp 

 are doing well, and so are my bees. You remem- 

 ber I wrote to you last winter about keeping my 

 bees in a sod house. Well, last spring I thought 

 I would experiment a little, so I built a sod wall, 

 and made spaces in the wall, facing the south, to 

 set the hives in; then I took two boards, a little 

 longer than the spaces, and took old barrel-staves 

 and nailed to the boards for cages. I am well sat- 

 isfied with i lie arrangement so far. When I wish 

 to work with a hive I can just remove the cover, as 

 each has a separate one. I have 30 colonies in 

 hives, and one I took from the woods, from a hol- 

 low tree. R. F. Loom is. 



Indianola. Neb., Nov. :.'!, L888. 



•rill'. COTTON-TREE OF THE SOUTH A PRODUCEH Hi' 

 HONEY. 



Iii <i i,K. \nin<;s, June 15, a man in Texas asked you 

 some questions. Among others was this one: " Is 

 tbecottoii I n-c •mhh! for honey? Yoii did not know, 



