662 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 



her, with six combs in each hiveV We account for it 

 only by supposing- tlie gathering- ot honey -was slow 

 work for them at this season, and they were dis- 

 couraged. Do you think it a good plan to work 

 over the bees much? VVm. E. Payson. 



Boston, Mass., Aug-. 11, 1887. 



Friend P., this is a very iiiuisual thing in- 

 deed, to happen in tlie month of Angust. I 

 shonld think it must be caused by the dearth 

 of honey, and I shonld also suppose there 

 must 'have been only a very small quantity 

 of honey remaining in the hives. 



DO ITALIAN BEES GATHER HONEY FROM DIFFERENT 

 PLANTS THAN BLACK BEES? 



On page 36 of the ABC book you say you found 

 Italians apparently just as thick on wild plants aft- 

 er taking- away four bee-trees as before, indicating 

 that there were more trees in the same vicinity. 

 Now, I don't understand that. I thought Italians 

 worked on the same flowers, whether they were in a 

 tree or in one of your best Simplicity hives. I don't 

 see why finding them on wild plants should indicate 

 that they came from the woods. L. W. Nash. 



Kennebunk, Me., July 27, 1S87. 



You misapprehend, friend M. Italians do, 

 as a rule, work on precisely the same flow- 

 ers that black bees do. Tlie point made in 

 the A B G book is this : After I had captur- 

 ed and taken home four colonies of Italians, 

 about as many were found working on the 

 blossoms in that vicinity as before— indicat- 

 ing there were still more stocks of Italians 

 that I hadn't captured. You see, this was 

 when Italians were tirst brought to Medina 

 County, and only this one swarm had es- 

 caped and gone into the woods. Italians 

 will many times be found working on red 

 clover when common bees are almost exclu- 

 sively on buckwheat, indicating that the 

 Italians more readily get the honey from 

 red clover. This is the only case I know of 

 where the different races choose different 

 honey-producing plants. 



BROOD-FRAME MEASUREMENTS. 



Will you please answer the following questions? 



1. What should be the exact width of end-bars of 

 closed-end fi-ames? 



3. What is the e.rrtct thickness of worker-brood 

 comb? 



;i. What is the exact space that should be left be- 

 tween the worker-brood combs as they hang in the 

 hive? M. A. Kelley. 



Milton, W. Va., .July 20, 1887. 



The width of end -bars of closed -end 

 frames should be about 11 inches. In the 

 new Ileddon hives which Mr. II. sent us, we 

 notice the width of his end-bars is a scant 

 IHnch. — The thickness of brood-combs is 

 usually rated at i inches.— The space that 

 should be left between the worker brood- 

 combs should be i inch. In other words, 

 the combs should be spaced so that they are 

 distant from center to center If inches. 

 Some, however, claim that the distance 

 should be H inches. The former measure- 

 ment is the one adopted in the ten-frame 

 Langstroth hive. We can not give you the 

 exact measurements in all cases which you 

 call for, as the authorities differ somewhat. 

 The measurements which Mr. L. gives us, I 

 think we consider about right. 



THE DISPOSAL OF SEWAGE. 



In regard to the disposal of impure water from 

 closets, kitchens, sinks, etc., only two ways can 

 actually be considered safe. The first is to under- 

 drain a sufficient plot of ground and turn into the 

 cesspool waters a large quantity of pure water. 

 The whole will be absorbed by the earth and vege- 

 tation (meadow or muck patches). The plan as 

 stated in engineering books has been successfully 

 carried out. I am inclined to think, that eventually 

 the roots (especially of neighborhood trees) will 

 choke the drains, atid require frequent repairs. 

 The other and far the better way is to kill all germs 

 at once with some substance cheap enough. The 

 sulphate of iron (copperas) is said to be the best in 

 all respects, though lime might perhaps do as well. 

 It must be remembered, that, though the dead 

 matter in water is easily decomposed and Absorbed 

 b.y the earth, it is not so, or probably not so, with 

 the living germs. Adrian Getaz. 



Knoxville, Tenn., June 23, 1887. 



BEES WORKING ON FRUIT. 



Can you tell me what makes the bees eat the 

 peaches so this year? They are eating all there are 

 around here. They eat at them till they commence 

 to rot, then stop. Some say it is the Italians, be- 

 cause this is the first time thej; have eaten them. 

 They trimmed a tree clean for us, and now they are 

 starting on another. The peaches don't seem to 

 ripen as they ought to this year. 



How would it do to put an alighting-board on 

 the chafl' hives, like the one you put on the Simp, 

 bottoms, only make them about 4 inches wide in- 

 stead of that V-shaped piece? F. S. Berry. 



Montoursville, Pa., Aug. 6, 1887. 



If the bees seem more disposed to attack 

 the fruit this year than in former seasons, I 

 think the trouble is not so much due to the 

 race of bees as to the extended drought 

 which we have had almost everywhere. In 

 conseciuence of the very dry weather there 

 has been little or no nectar in the blossoms. 

 If you had nice ripe fruit, particularly if it 

 were damaged in any way, I think it was 

 not strange if the bees did attack it, because 

 there was nothing they could get besides the 

 stolen sweets from fruit. — Y"ou could make 

 the same kind of entrance on the chaff hive 

 as we have on the Simplicity, but we can not 

 see that there would be any advantage in it. 

 On the other hand, tliere would be several 

 reasons why it would not be as good. The 

 alighting-board to the Simplicity hive might 

 afford a good place for the bees to alight, but 

 it would not answer at all for contracting 

 the entrances as can be done with the Sim- 

 plicity. Again, it would project out too 

 much ; and, furthermore, it would be much 

 more expensive than the little V-shaped 

 strips we put on. 



FLAT-BOTTOMED FOUNDATION — SOMETHING IN ITS 

 FAVOR. 



During the honey-seasous of 1886 and 1887 I ex- 

 perimented in a smitll way with flat-bottomed 

 foundation in supers. I have tested it in every way 

 which my imagination could suggest, to see if I 

 could discover whether the bees have any choice be- 

 tween that and that with natural base. When bees 

 were storing- honey moderately well, I have put on 

 supers with sections filled alternately with flat-bot- 

 tom and natural-base foundation; and on examina- 



