GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 15 



with honey and young bees, and the bees 

 took the honey from the super and carried 

 it down and tilled the bottom full; then I 

 took the two outside combs that were full of 

 honey, and put them inside near the center 

 of the hive, and moved the combs with brood 

 outside (do not do it in cool weather), and 

 the bees took the honey out of those combs 

 and carried it up into the super and went 

 to building new comb in the super. 



C. K. Carter. 

 Eagle Grove, la., Aug. 24. 



has been robbing in that hive at some pre- 

 vious time, or it maj' show that the broDd 

 has been chilled or overheated at some pre- 

 vious time. — Ed.] 



TROUBLE FROM LETTING BEES CLEAN OUT 

 EXTR ACTING-FRAMES. 



Is it best to let the bees clean out the ex- 

 tracting-frames after extracting, before put- 

 ting them back on the hive? When I put 

 them back on the hive the ground will be 

 thickly strewn with dead bees in a short 

 time, and they keep up the fight for two or 

 three days thereafter. Would it be best to 

 let the bees clean out the frames after ex- 

 tracting, before putting them away for the 

 winter? Also would it be best to let the 

 bees take out the honey from the sections or 

 Comb honey that was not capped or sealed 

 before putting it away for winter? 



Some time in June I noticed the bees 

 bringing out young bees. They were 

 white, but had wings, and I suppose they 

 were almost ready to hatch. What was 

 the matter? Miss M. J. Edwards. 



Hopeside, Va., Aug. 12. 



[Letting the bees clean out or lick dry the 

 combs that have just been extracted some- 

 times leads to wholesale robbing. While 

 expert bee-keepers can manage to let the 

 bees do the cleaning without much trouble, 

 a beginner will sometimes start a fearful 

 row among the bees. As a general thing 

 Ihe combs just extracted should be put back 

 into the hive from which they came, or some 

 other hive needing extracting-combs. No 

 robbing will result from such procedure, 

 unless it be after the honey season or unless, 

 too, the entrance was too large and the col- 

 ony weak. With an ordinary entrance a 

 strong colony ought to take care of two or 

 three sets of extracting-combs without an}' 

 robbing at any season of the year. 



Another plan that has been used with 

 very good results is to pile the extracted 

 combs up on a bottom-board, five or six su- 

 pers one upon another, with a tighter-fitting 

 cover over all. At the bottom of this pile of 

 combs there should be a very small en- 

 trance, large enough to let in only one 

 bee at a time. This permits of a spe- 

 cies of "slow robbing" by which the bees 

 are allowed to clean out the combs without 

 creating much disturbance. 



Sections partly filled can be cleaned out 

 from supers stacked one above the other 

 from a small entrance. Sometimes the bees 

 will carry the honey below when it is put 

 on an upper story. 



Where the bees carry out young brood 

 that is white it may indicate the presence 

 of moth-worms. It may indicate that there 



WINTERING IN DANZENBAKER HIVES. 



Please inform me how to winter bees in a 

 Danzenbaker hive, the brood-chamber being 

 so shallow it seems as though the bees 

 would not stand the cold weather we are 

 liable to have in winter. Also please state 

 how to get the worms out of a colony of 

 bees, and if there is a way of keeping them 

 out. Chas. H. Wolfe. 



Pike's Creek, Pa., Aug. 25. 



[We have special winter cases that can 

 be used over Danzenbaker hives if it is de- 

 sired to winter on summer stands. 



If you have a good dry cellar that can be 

 darkened, we would advise you to winter 

 indoors in the cellar; but be sure to leave a 

 good wide entrance. 



Shallow brood -chambers will winter all 

 right providing they are properly protected, 

 either in or out doors. 



You can get rid of worms easily by intro- 

 ducing an Italian queen into the hive. 

 Where there is an admixture of Italian 

 blood, worms will not make much headway. 

 —Ed.] 



a correction for the a b c of bee cul- 

 TURE. 



In your ABC book, page 97, under the 

 subject of feeding back to fill out unfinish- 

 ed sections, you advise diluting honey by 

 adding te7i parts of water to one of honey. 

 Is this correct? It is very thin, and would 

 take a long time to get any in. 



N. O. Walker. 



Franklin, Tenn., Aug. 26. 



[The item to which you refer is a typo- 

 graphical error. It should read "two parts 

 of water to one of honey," and I am sur- 

 prised that no one has noticed the mistake 

 before this. I had not noticed it before, 

 and regret that the item has gone out in the 

 new edition of the ABC now on the press. 

 It is a silly and senseless blunder. — Ed.] 



BETTING ON A LOSING GAME. 



Please give me a little information. Sun- 

 day I made a bet that a quart of honey 

 weighs 3 lbs.; but the doctor said it did 

 not; so we took a standard quart measure, 

 and it weighed 2 lbs. and 15 oz. In the 

 ABC book it said 3 lbs. R. Pflueger. 



St. Louis, Mo., Aug. 10. 



[I do not believe in the policy of betting. 

 It is a losing game sooner or later, and es- 

 pecially do we discountenance Sunday bet- 

 ting. In answer to your implied ques- 

 tion, I can only say that the specific grav- 

 ity of honey varies considerably. It may 

 run as low as 10 lbs. to the gallon, or as 

 high as 12 or 13; but the general average is 

 about 11 lbs., and this would make a quart 

 run 2 lbs. 12 oz. I would no more think of 

 betting on the weight of honey than on 



