592 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Little Dower is necessary to di'ive the wheel. 



After tlie nuclei and original colony had 

 been suj^plied with cells, two fine ones were 

 left. 



In caring for Uiese a dirt'erent plan was 

 tried. Wire screening was laid on two more 

 colonies. On that were placed upper en- 

 (I'ances (shown in the diagram), and on 

 each of these one regular hive-body. Then 

 it was the Avork of only a few moments to 

 fix two good nuclei with plenty of honey. 

 Preparing these last two hives did not re- 

 quire nearly as much work as the others, 

 and no holes had to be bored for entrances. 



An upper entrance t)iat is convenient .nnd easily 

 arrunicpd. 



The nuclei were watched carefully, and 

 all appeared to have equal chances for rear- 

 ing good queens. None of them were both- 



ered by robbers. After a reasonable time 

 they were examined. Both the two nuclei 

 which were last Tnade had good queens. One 

 of the others had a kind of queen, but she 

 hadn't laid when she was six weeks old, and 

 so I snipped off her head. The other nu- 

 clei had no queen. 



I honestly think this is an unusually bad 

 showing for the nuclei in the hives which 

 were divided into two and three compart- 

 ments. But I'm not going to bother with 

 them again when better results with far less 

 work can be obtained by using one nucleus 

 to a hive with an upjaer entrance. Two or 

 three of these nucleus hives can be piled on 

 one colony, because their entrances need not 

 be in a straight line. 



Tlie upper entrance mentioned above is 

 certainly convenient. It is always ready for 

 use, and the only thing the operator has to 

 do is to stuff the enti'ance proper with a 

 clean white rag until it is the size desired. 

 Robbers have no chance to get in the cracks 

 at the sides oE the hive. The strip of tin 

 fastened to the sloping sticks holds them 

 in place. "Without it they shoot apart or 

 get crooked when a hive is set on them. The 

 wood used in the alighting-board is three- 

 sixteenths of an inch thick. The two side 

 pieces are both from a 1 x % x 16-inch strip 

 ri]>])ed diagonally. Perhaps every one is 

 using those entran.ces and lias just neglected 

 to mention them because they are so simple. 



North East, Md. 



