188? 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



705 



do crowd hie pretty hiiid. A man witli siif- 

 ttcient energy and enterprise would })roba- 

 bly, in the course of time, stai"t a honey- 

 farm, and raise phmts enough to furnish the 

 lioney. If a dry season came, so nobody 

 else got any, he would put u\> a windmill 

 and irrigate his grounds so as to get a big 

 crop when the price was away up. There, 

 don't you think I have made out a pretty 

 good case, after all? I want to refer the 

 above answer to Dr. C. V. Miller as well. 



long, at the surlacc of the earth, is large enough. 

 As ineiitionod above, the sides may slant to a 

 " ppilij." No hole will be needed in the tops of the 

 hives; but it would be well to have as much "open- 

 ness" as possible at the bottoms Of the hi\'es. 



W. Z. Hutchinson. 

 Uogersville, Mich., Sept. I, 1887. 



BEES REFUSING TO TAKE FEED. 



We have been feeding- our bees at the entrance 

 I in Simplicity feeders) at dusk. It rains so often at 

 night that we decided to feed in the upper story. 

 We did so, and the bees at first took the feed (ex- 

 tracted honey) readily. We then thought we would 

 give them more at one time, and so gave each col- 

 ony 4 feeders full instead of one. The result is, 

 that the feeders have been in the upper story of 

 each hive about four days; and the bees, though 

 they have free access to it, the same as when they 

 had only one feeder, refuse to take any of the feed. 

 It can not be that there is nectar in the flowers, 

 for bees are gathering absolutely none. 



E. & W. MONEV. 



Cobham, Virginia, Aug. :J7, 1887. 



As you state it, friend M., I can not think 

 of any reason why the bees should refuse 

 to take the feed, uidess it was something 

 they disliked. It is, however, true that any 

 colony of bees will in time get tired of being 

 fed. I have made a single colony take a 

 whole bai'i'el of sugar ; but toward the last 

 they got so they would haidly taste it. Had 

 the same kind of stores been secreted by 

 the flowers in the open air, they would have 

 labored with unabated energy until all was 

 gathered, and more too. I have sometimes 

 thouglit that bees reasoned something like 

 this : "■ This fond is already inside of our 

 hive, and is our property. Why should we 

 be in such haste to get it down into the 

 combs V It can just as well stay here in the 

 feeder until we need it." Tlie above, bear 

 in mind, is only conjecture ; l)ut I have oft- 

 entimes seen colonies act in that way, when 

 in some of my experiments I have under- 

 taken to feed them excessive quantities. 



HOW TO .MAKE A CLAMP TO WINTEK FIVE COL- 

 ONIES. 



1 want to make a clamp to put five colonies of 

 bees in. Shall I need a drain to keep it dry? How 

 deep should 1 make the pit? Will it need to have 

 an inlet, and what size should it be, and what the 

 size for the outlet? Will there need to be a hole in 

 the top of each hive? Subscribek. 



We sent the above to friend Hutchinson, 

 and he replies as follow\s :— 



I have made clamps upon a sandy knoll, and no 

 drain was made or needed. Ordinarily I would have 

 a drain. A 2-inch tile will answer for a drain. I 

 would have the pit deep enough so that the tops of 

 the hives would be but little, if any, above the sur- 

 face level of the ground, and at the same time al- 

 low a space of about 18 inches below the hives. The 

 sides of the pit may be made slanting, and termi- 

 nate in an angle or point, at the bottom. For five 

 colonieF an excavation 4 feet wide and 7 or 8 feet 



I'l'TTINT. THE BEE-SPACE BELOW IN THE T SUPER. 



I have found it a decided improvement on T su- 

 pers, which are to be used over zinc honey-boards, 

 to turn up the metal supports ?4 inch, thus making 

 a bee-space below. This prevents gluing sections 

 to the honey-board, gives free access to supers, and 

 brings the sections flush with the tops of supers, so 

 that the enamel cloth lies down smoothly on the 

 sections. C. B. Thwino. 



Hamilton, Mo., Aug. 33, 1887. 



Yes, you can so arrange the L tins in the 

 T super as to leave a bee- space under the 

 sections. This we at first suggested, as you 

 will see by referring to page 1-56, current vol- 

 itme. lUit if you will turn to page 217 you 

 will see good reasons for putting the bee- 

 space on top of the sections. If you have 

 only the plain sheets of zinc, I should still 

 prefer'to' have the bee-space above. You 

 then liave to set the supers on two quarter- 

 inch stiii)s, to provide for the bee-space un- 

 der tlie sections. I should never cover the 

 sections with an enamel cloth, for the bees 

 will projiolize it to the edges of the sections. 

 Better use a T-super cover, bee spaced above 

 the sections. 



With Replies from our best Authorities on Bees. 



All queries sent in lor this department should be'brietty 

 stated, and free from .iny possible ambiguity. The question 

 or questions should be written upon a separate slip of paper, 

 and marl?ed, " For Our Question-Box." 



Question Nit. 4 — Ts it wise to abandon the beveled 

 edge on the Simplicity hive for the plain unhevel- 

 ed or square ,ioint when there are many thousands 

 of beveled-edge hives in use ? Are there any ad- 

 vantages to be gained in dispensing with the bevel- 

 ed edge ? If so, what are they ? S. J. M. 



I have had no e.vperience with the Simplicity 

 hive. Mrs. L. Harrlson. 



I have ne\er used the beveled edge, so I could not 

 say. G. M. Doolittle. 



Being a manufacturer, I will avoid answering 

 this question. Paul L. Viallon. 



I do not really like the beveletl edge, but would 



not change if I had many in use. 



O. (). Foppi.eton. 



1 believe it would be in my locality. One advan- 

 tage would be, more convenient to make; less 

 trouble to adjust. In my locality every crook ami 

 turn is crowded full of propolis. 



Dr. a. H. Masu.n. 



We do not like the beveled edge, because it is al- 

 most impossible to make the oil cloth, mat, or oth- 

 er covering, fit well on it. We would not use the 

 beveled edge, even if every one else were using it. 



Dadant & Son. 



