174 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



Mab. 



finished sections; while, if my memory serves me 

 right, about 1500 lbs. of the 6500 lbs. raised by friend 

 Doane was extracted. 



Yes, it is true that I had to feed my bees sug'ar 

 syrup in the fall, but not so much as I wish I could 

 have done. We had a good flow of honey, late in 

 the fall, from the second crop of red clover, and the 

 bees not only filled the brood-nests so full that but 

 little feeding- was needed, but stored considerable 

 in the sections. Upon an average, about 5 lbs. of 

 sugar per colony was fed. 



I have no desire, however, to lead my readers to 

 suppose that the non-use of full sheets of fdn. in 

 the brood-nest, when hiving swarms, will lead to 

 such brilliant results as the readingof this article to 

 this point would indicate, as the question of increase 

 is yet to be considered. My .')0 colonies increased to 

 96, while friend Doane's went up to 135. 



Let us reduce some of these things to their cash 

 value. We will call empty combs worth 10 cts. each; 

 sugar, ay^ cts. ; extracted honey, 6 cts. ; comb honey, 

 13 cts. My comb-honey crop would sell for $816. 

 From this there should be deducted, for section 

 boxes and fdn., about $68.00, leaving $748 for comb 

 honey. To this add $13.00 for the 300 lbs. of extract- 

 ed honey, making the net result $760. From this 

 amount, however, there must be deducted $39.69 for 

 sugar, which leaves only $736.31. 



Friend Doane's 5000 lbs. of comb honey, at this 

 same price, and with the same deductions for sec- 

 tions and fdn., would be worth $5.50; to this add 

 $90.00 lor the 1.500 lbs. of extracted honey, making 

 $640; but from this must be deducted $75.00 for 

 empty combs used, which leaves, as a net result, 

 $.565. 



The question now resolves Itself into this: Which 

 is preferable at the end of the season— 30 colonies 

 of bees, or $171.31 worth of honey? And let it not 

 be forgotten, that, as already explained, eight-frame 

 colonies are not ten-frame colonies. 



And now, after having given this long explana- 

 tion, I wish to say that I don't think it contains 

 much proof either for or against the non-use of full 

 sheets of fdn. in the brood-nest when hiving 

 swarms. To be of any value, experiments of this 

 class should be performed in the same apiary, with 

 the same kind of hives, fixtures, and management, 

 and the same strain of bees. I also wish to say, 

 that the profitable production of honey does not de- 

 pend upon large yields per colony, but upon secur- 

 ing it with the least expenditure of capital and 

 labor. W. Z. Hutchinson. 



Rogersville, Genesee Co., Mich., Feb. 7, 1887. 



It is true, Mend H., that the report of Mr. 

 Doane gives notliing very definite; but still 

 it indicates, or seems to indicate, the ad- 

 vantage can not be so very great in the dis- 

 posing of our surplus empty combs. Lang- 

 stroth called empty combs the sheet-anchor 

 in bee-keeping, and I believe he said they 

 are better than money in the bank; and I 

 confess I have been quite loth to give up 

 this established axiom, as it were, in bee 

 culture.— In regard to eight and ten frame 

 hives, it seems to me that this matter de- 

 pends much on what montl) the estimate is 

 made. Very few colonies in our locality 

 need more than eight frames before the 

 middle of April or first of May ; and if I 

 were buying bees without regard to the 

 hives that contained them, I would as soon 

 have those in eight-frame hives as ten- 



frame hives, say by the first of April. By 

 the first of May I should expect a good deal 

 of pollen; and some brood, perhaps, would 

 be stored in the ninth and tenth combs. A 

 ten-frame hive would be likely to contain 

 more honey by the first of April than an 

 eight-frame hive, and this honey should be 

 worth something. So far as the amount of 

 bees is concerned, however, I don't see that 

 there will be ordinarily much difference. 

 We rarely give any of our colonies more 

 than seven combs to winter on. The space 

 for the extra ones is occupied by the chaff 

 division-boards until toward Mav^ 



DOOLITTLE'S QUEEN-CELL PROTECT- 

 OB AND INTBODUCING-CAGE. 



A NEW AND CHEAP QUEEN-CAGE. 



§OME time ago friend Doolittle sent us 

 one of his queen-cell protectors. It 

 was simply a square piece of wire cloth 

 folded in tlie form of a cone, the sides 

 overhippiug. Into this Mr. D. had 

 put a queen-cell from which the queen had 

 hatched. The large end of the cone was 

 stopped with a circular piece of wood. A 

 small piece of tinned wire attached to the 

 end served to suspend the wire-cloth cone 

 containing the queen-cell between the combs. 

 After considering the matter we decided 

 that, with our facilities, there was a much 

 nicer and better way to make the cone- 

 shaped cages : that is, to stamp them out, 

 so here they are. 



Fig. 1 



Fig. 



C^UEKN-CELL PROTECTOR. 



Our readers would doubtless like to know 

 liow to make them. A wooden punch of 

 hard wckkI is turned down to an inch and a 

 fourth in size. One end of the punch is 

 made conical, the cone being the same size 

 and shape of Fig. 2. A two-inch hole is 

 bored in a block of wood two inches thick. 

 Next put the wooden pimch, the cone end 

 downward, exactly in the center of the two- 

 inch hole in the block. Around this pour 

 some melted lead or babbitt metal (prefera- 

 bly the latter), until the hole in the block is 

 Iqvel full of metal. Allow this to cool, and 



