1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



197 





QUESTION ON WINTERING. 



1. Can I unite two weak colonies at this 

 time of year? Is it too cold? 



2. Do 3'ou make an air-spaced hive (no 

 packiuf,^)? There are several bee-keepers 

 here who use them, and prefer them to 

 chaff. What do you think of them? 



3. Is there a hive cover that will not leak? 

 I boug-ht several Danz. covers (made bj^ 

 you) last summer, and every one leaked so 

 that I found a puddle of water on the can- 

 vas after everj^ rain. 



Shall I contract the entrance to your 

 Dovetailed hive for outdoor wintering-? I 

 am a beg-inner. F. P. Bkiggs. 



Ayer, Mass., Feb. 1902. 



[1. You can very easily unite colonies at 

 this time of the year, in the cellar. All 

 that is necessary is to put one hive on top 

 of the other, and the bees will g-radually 

 work together. 



2. All our double-walled hives can be 

 made air-spaced, or packed with chaff, 

 sawdust, planer shavings, or any kind of 

 material. In a mild cHmate like _yours, 

 our double-walled hives would not require 

 packing. Perhaps it would be better with- 

 out; but in a colder climate the packing- is 

 certainly an advantage. -We would refer 

 you to " Chaff Hives," on page 11 of our 

 catalog. In putting these hives together, 

 leave out the packing and you will have the 

 best double-walled or air-spaced hive there 

 is made. 



3. In our 1902 catalog we offer two covers 

 which we guarantee will not leak. The 

 new gable cover, or flat cover covered with 

 Neponset paper, will be perfectly tight. 



4. For outdoor wintering we recommend 

 an entrance >'sx8 inches. For ver3' cold 

 weather an entrance :'sx4 inches would do 

 verj' well; but in that case the apiarist 

 himself should see that the entrances are 

 clear, and not clogged by dead bees. 



5. A compartment shut ott' from the fur- 

 nace-room in your cellar would make an 

 excellent place for wintering bees; but usu- 

 ally in such a room not more than 50 colo- 

 nies can be accommodated to advantage. 

 Too man3'^ bees in a room make the air too 

 bad.— Ed.I 



HONEY FROM RED CLOVER; RED-CLOVER 

 BEES. 



I notice you advertise red-clover queens. 

 So far as my experience goes, all Italian 

 bees work more or less on red clover, es- 

 pecially the second crop; but I find quite a 

 contrast in the quantity of surplus stored 

 by different colonies. I have had a few 

 colonies that gave me a fair surplus from 

 that source, while others, apparently as 

 strong-, gave me nothing. This led me. 



years ago, to believe it quite possible to 

 produce a strain superior to any thing we 

 already ha\e in that regard, and reared 

 the most t)f mv' queens from those best colo- 

 nies. While mj- bees at present are more 

 finely marked, 1 do not believe they are in 

 any way superior, except the marking, to 

 those I produced from 1868 to 1882. And 

 this leads me to conclude that it is not as 

 necessary to infuse fresh blood as some 

 breeders claim. I purchased my first colo- 

 ny of Italians in April, 1868, and Italian- 

 ized my apiary of about 25 colonies during- 

 that and the next season, and did not in- 

 fuse any fresh blood until the summer of 

 1882. I am positive I secured as much sur- 

 plus from red clover during the period 

 named as I have since; and I am positive, 

 also, that, during that period, there was 

 no fresh blood infused, as I was the only 

 person anj'where in this vicinity that bred 

 the Italian bee, except a few of my 

 neighbors whom I induced to trj' them. 

 Since 1882 I have procured one or more 

 queens annually, but can not see any im- 

 provement except in color. During- the last 

 two seasons I have reared queens from best 

 colonies irrespective of color, being satis- 

 fied it is the correct course. I am pleased 

 to see the chang-e in breeding for color to 

 that of honej'-producing qualit}'. I shall 

 not feel surprised if the genuine red-clover 

 queen were already here. 



E. B. SLAUGHrKR. 



ANOTHER OFFER FOR BOGUS (?) COMB 

 HONEY. 



J/r. I\oof: — I notice on page 36 that you 

 oft'er $1000 for 1 lb. of manufactured comb 

 honey, filled and capped without the bees. 

 This is all right; but you said, "made at 

 a factory," " w/ieic such stuff is made.'''' 

 Now, we have lots of fools who profess they 

 believe comb honey is made and filled by 

 machinery. Among these are man}' ladies, 

 one an " M. D." who ought to know better. 

 One rich, highly educated lady told me in- 

 timate friends of hers had been in the fac- 

 torj', and seen tons of such manufactured 

 comb hone}^ Now, I wish to say most em- 

 phaticallj' there is not such a factory in 

 the broad universe. I challenge, and will 

 pay $100 to any one who can name the 

 State, county, city, street, or number, of 

 any place where comb hone}^ is or has been 

 made; and I will give $100 to any one that 

 will give me one square inch of comb honey, 

 made, filled, and capped in any wa}" other 

 than bj' bees in the past. I will give them 

 ten years to do it in future. Any one, who 

 knows enough about bees and honey to say 

 white is white or black is black knows it is 

 physically impossible to manufacture and 

 cap comb honey. F. Danzenbakek. 



Washington, D. C. 



THE AMOUNT OF WAX IN OLD COMBS. 



How much wax would the Root steam 

 wax-press, described in Gleanings for 

 August 1, take out t f a full set cf combs, 



