18»9 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



11 



CARRYING HIVES INTO A WINTER 

 REPOSITORY. 



DOOLITTDE'S METHOD CRITICISED. 



he describes. Perhaps friend Miller's meth- 

 od, described on page 962, Dec. 15, 1888, 

 would be more to your liking. 



fRIEND ROOT:— I have read with considerable 

 surprise friend Doolittle's article in Glean- 

 ings, Nov. 1, on placing bees in the cellar. 

 My surprise is, that one person should at- 

 tempt to handle hives at all without assis- 

 tance. Friend Doolittle must be a modern Sam- 

 son. The most of us frail mortals certainly prefer 

 help on such occasions. Where I formerly lived, 

 the apiary was 75 or 100 yards from the cellar, and 

 down hill. We used to employ the two strongest 

 men the town afforded, to carry the bees into the 

 cellar, beginning after supper, and finishing about 

 10 o'clock. We have paid as much as $3.00 for the 

 job. We used a stretcher, carrying two hives at a 

 time, but it was so laborious that 1 finally insisted 

 on one hive at a time. It is surprising how much 

 lighter one hive is than two. I suppose figures will 

 not lie, but it certainly seems much more than as 

 light again. My apiary is now near the cellar, and 

 level walking, except the decline of two feet into 

 the cellar, which extencs a space of sixteen feet. I 

 have 68 hives. With the aid of a student I took one- 

 half into the cellar the evening of Nov. 21st, and 

 the next evening took in the rest. This comes un- 

 der the head of light work when managed in this 

 way. The cost was 50 cts. 



I wish to say right here, that I can now manage 

 my bees alone, with one-third the expense, bother, 

 and work, that it took the entire family of seven, 

 eight or ten years ago. So much for experience. 



Now to return to the subject. By carrying with a 

 stretcher there is no occasion whatever for any jar- 

 ring, unless it be when the upper hives are tiered in 

 the cellar. How, under the sun, Doolittle can pile 

 up his fourth hive, and no bottom at that, is more 

 than I know. 1 should very much discourage both 

 methods of carrying in bees, of which he speaks. I 

 like the plan of generous ventilation from below, ex- 

 cept that I fear my bees would all come out on me, 

 especially when taken down to carry out in the 

 .spring. They are always very uneasy at that time. 



I have tried an experiment in the way of winter- 

 ing this time. I have often thought that the bees 

 were too warm in the cellar, with the heavy air- 

 tight mats over them, so this time I took off every 

 thing except the piece of burlap, folded it, and cov- 

 ered only the front half of the frames above. This 

 leaves half the hive exposed to the air, and free ac- 

 cess into the cover. It may prove a great mistake, 

 but I do not see why. The cluster can doubtless re- 

 tain sufficient heat to keep the brood if they have 

 any. I suppose, friend Root, you are well aware 

 that the bee does not believe in ventilation at all 

 (ought to be a railroad conductor), as it will seal 

 every crack in the hive except the one small en- 

 trance. I have often thought that, if Nature ever 

 made a mistake, it was in this case with the bee. 

 However, perhaps in the natural wild state of the 

 bee this sealing is quite right. 



John F. Whitmore. 



Grinnell, Iowa, Nov. 29, 1888. 



Friend Doolittle is a big man in two 

 senses of the word. We have not a particle 

 of doubt but that he can lift easily the hives, 

 and carry them into the cellar in the manner 



ANOTHER METHOD OF PERFORAT- 

 ING ZINC. 



SOME OF ITS ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES. 



fRIEND ROOT:— Inclosed you will find a sam- 

 ple of zinc, such as I have been using in the 

 queen excluding wood-zinc honey-boards. I 

 believe this plan of perforating is preferable 

 to the two parallel rows of holes as usually 

 made. 



\\\\\ 



shepherd's perforated zinc. 



It certainly gives more openings than any other 

 plan, and at the same time leaves it sufficiently rig- 

 id for all purposes. I will also say, that the work 

 was done on a home-made machine that does the 

 work as per sample, as regards quality; and the 

 cost was hut small. M. W. Shepherd. 



Rochester, Ohio. 



At first sight, friend Shepherd, we thought 

 your plan of perforation had some very de- 

 cided advantages ; but the more we consid- 

 er it, the more we are convinced that noth- 

 ing is gained; but, on the contrary, there is 

 an attendant loss. You have longer perfor- 

 ations, it is true. Those in our zinc are 

 very nearly -ft. of an inch long. Yours are 

 }■&, making them about an eighth of an inch 

 longer. There may be some advantage in 

 lengthening the openings ; but when ordi- 

 nary perforations are long enough to admit 

 worker bees, why make them any longer V 

 The short perforations might go a great 

 way toward keeping a good long queen from 

 going above, whereas the longer ones might 

 admit her, if she were a slender one. You 

 say your zinc certainly gives more openings 

 to the same amount of space. By laying a 

 strip of your zinc upon a strip of ours, we 

 find that there are more perforations in 

 the same space in ours. If your perfora- 

 tions were the same length, it would make 

 about an equal number of holes.— Another 

 disadvantage, as it seems to us, in your 

 plan, is, that the openings take too much 

 space between the break-joint slats. This 

 would reduce the latter, on If spacing of 

 the frames, down to I ; then if you allow 

 for necessary depth of saw-kerf there will be 

 little solid wood (!) left.— The perforations 

 can be made about as easily on one plan as 

 on the other. Those having hand-made ma- 

 chines, or machines which make a single per- 

 foration at a time, can very easily perforate 

 the zinc in the manner shown, by simply 

 changing the feed. 



We should be glad to know what Dr. Tin- 

 ker would have to say upon this method of 

 perforating. 



