116 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



more seasons like the past two, and all survivors 

 will have all the pasturage they need. 



STORES FOR WINTER; LARGE CONSUMPTION — SEE 

 QUESTION 102. 



" Which is the more profitable— colonies that re- 

 quire from 3D to 25 lbs. to carry them through, or 

 those that will get along on from 5 to 10 pounds?" 

 Most decidedly, the former; and could I get them 

 to use up another 10 lbs. between April 15 and June 

 1, 1 should consider it a good investment in this 

 latitude. An extra 10 pounds of old fall honey 

 means 25 lbs. of white clover, if it is in the fields. 

 My bees go into winter quarters with nearer 40 lbs. 

 than any thing else, and I have not only been suc- 

 cessful in wintering, but in a good surplus also. 



NOTES OF TRAVEL. 



They are very interesting indeed. I am glad to 

 hear friend Perrine has risen above his losses in the 

 interest of apiculture, and of that wonderful ranch 

 of our good friend David C. Cook. May God spare 

 him yet many years of usefulness, as well as your- 

 self, is my prayer. Geo. E. Hilton. 



Fremont, Mich. 



I am glad to see so favorable a report for 

 chaff hives and outdoor wintering, away up 

 in the northern part of Michigan. In re- 

 gard to bees and neighbors, I should like to 

 have some of the friends try it and report. 

 Go out and canvass your neighborhoods, 

 and see what it will cost you to get a prom- 

 ise from each land-owner to agree not to 

 keep bees, say for the next five years. 



GIVING BEES WATER WHILE IN THE 

 CELLAR. 



ANSWERS TO PRACTICAL QUESTIONS. 



T|p SUBSCRIBER to Gleaninos propounds the 

 2MH f°'l° w i n & question: "Do bees in the cellar 

 ^jP during winter need water? and if so, how is 

 ^*- it given?" Bees that are wintering proper- 

 ly need no water, for, inasmuch as no brood 

 is reared in the cellar, of any amount, they would 

 have no use for it, even should they take it. As far 

 as my experience goes, water is used by bees only 

 during the time there is brood in the hive. Out of 

 the colonies which I winter in the cellar, not one in 

 ten have any brood, except a few eggs, when the 

 bees are set from the cellar, whether the time of 

 setting from the cellar be March 15th or May 1st. 

 The year I kept the cellar warm with the oil-stove, 

 brood-rearing was carried on to quite a large ex- 

 tent, so that the bees were very uneasy; and to see 

 what effect water had on them I gave some to a few 

 in a sponge at the entrance. This seemed to make 

 those colonies more quiet; but as all eventually 

 died, 1 do not know whether it was any benefit to 

 them or not. One or two that brooded quite largely 

 had enameled cloth over them; and although con- 

 siderably weakened when set out in the spring they 

 came out so as to finally make quite good colonies. 

 These were more quiet than any of the rest, and I 

 laid it to their getting water from the condensed 

 moisture on the under side of the cloth. All know 

 that moisture will so condense on these sheets as 

 to form large drops, which is a great injury to weak 

 and feeble colonies, by its dropping on the bees and 

 making them so wet that they finally perish. How- 

 ever, I do not think it is best for bees to breed in 

 the cellar, hence say that water is not necessary. 



FRAMES FILLED WITH BROOD. 



The same subscriber wishes to know how I com- 

 pel bees to fill the brood-combs with brood in ad- 

 vance of the honey harvest. This is usually done 

 by what is known as " the spreading of the brood." 

 This, in short, is as follows: As early in the season 

 as I think it will answer, or when there is little dan- 

 ger of very frosty nights, the brood which is found 

 in the hive is reversed, by which is meant that the 

 combs which now occupy the center of the brood- 

 nest are placed on the outside, and those which are 

 on the outside are put in the center. This puts the 

 combs having the most as well as the oldest brood 

 on the outside, while the young brood, which usual- 

 ly occupies only a small space in each comb, is 

 placed in the center. This causes the queen to fill 

 these partly filled combs very quickly with eggs- 

 much more so than she otherwise would, so that we 

 make quite an advance over what would have been 

 had they not been disturbed. In a few days more, 

 a comb from the outside of this brood is placed in 

 the center of the brood-nest, which causes the 

 queen to fill this comb quickly; and so on till all of 

 the combs are filled with brood. If all are not quite 

 as full of brood as you would like them, when the 

 noney harvest arrives, reverse the brood-nest 

 again, the same as you did at first, when you will 

 nave all of the combs full of brood, where the bees 

 would be likely to store their first honey, thus 

 causing the honey to go into the boxes, as the queen 

 is never crowded with honey from the center of the 

 brood-nest out toward the outside of the hive. The 

 crowding of the queen is done from the bees put- 

 ting their honey in the tops of the combs and at the 

 sides, and then narrowing down on the brood space. 

 If there >re empty combs in the brood-chamber 

 when the harvest arrives, these should be taken 

 away, and the space which is left should be filled 

 with dummies. 



THE LATERAL PLAN. 



Another correspondent wishes me to tell in 

 Gleanings whether he can use wide frames on the 

 lateral plan, " in the Heddon (old style) case, or the 

 Lewis section-holder." Single-tier wide frames, as 

 I use them, are not adapted to cases of any kind. 

 They can be used right on top of any hive, by plac- 

 ing a wide board over them to shed the rain, but I 

 much ^prefer what is termed a " cap," or " half- 

 story cover," over them. In this way they can be 

 used nicely, but they are especially adapted to 

 chaff hives while using on the lateral plan, or 

 to using on such hives as are placed in large 

 packing-boxes, as is recommended in Hutchinson's 

 book on comb honey. In these there is no limit to 

 the spreading-out of wide frames on the lateral 

 plan; while any one using common reason can see 

 that such wide frames can not be used with any 

 satisfaction in any of the case or super systems 

 now before the public. 



TEMPERATURE OF BEE-CAVES. 



It would seem by the editor's comments at the 

 foot of my article, that I have not fully made my- 

 self understood on all points regarding my bee cel- 

 lar, or cave. As soon as the bees are out of the cel- 

 lar in the spring, the doors are all opened wide, 

 as well as all ventilators, in which shape it is left 

 all summer, so as to thoroughly dry out what mois- 

 ture the walls and earth overhead have absorbed 

 during the winter. This, of course, causes the air 

 inside the cellar to become nearly the same as it is 

 outside- Occasionally I put in some boxes of bees, 



