1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



907 



I g-ot direct from Italy. All my colonies are 

 strong-, and have plenty of brood and stores; 

 and from 25 of these I have taken 1362 lbs. 

 of honey this season, ranging from 15 to 131 

 lbs. of honey per stand; 16 colonies had not 

 less than 40 lbs. to the stand; 3 went over 

 100 lbs. each. 



This picture was taken the first of June, 

 and shows only 27 colonies, to which I have 

 added 9 more. The platforms which the 

 bees are on are made of pine, with a 2-inch 

 fall, and %-inch iron legs resting on cement 

 blocks. My bees are in a chicken-yard at 

 the rear end of the lot. The hives are shad- 

 ed by a pear-tree, a peach-tree, and a big 

 walnut, which does not show in the picture. 

 H. W. Castle. 



Brookville, Ind., Sept. 11. 



CLOSED-END FRAMES VS. OPEN-END; THE 



ADVANTAGE OF THE FORMER FOR 



GENERAL HANDLING. 



On page 803 Mr. Doolittle says, "The 

 reason why only three combs [he means 

 frames] are to be left under any circum- 

 stances is, that a person can not grasp 

 more than these with the hands at one 

 time." Bro. D. is giving instructions for 

 doubling up weak colonies, and from the 

 description of his methods one would be led 

 to believe that he uses the loose hanging 

 frames. I know that four frames can be 

 handled at one time in all such operations 

 as he is here describing. Four frames can 

 be handled at one time, provided one has 

 the right kind of frames. Not long ago I 

 sent you a photograph showing the position 

 of the hands in handling four closed-end 

 frames at one time. It is about as easy to 

 handle four at a time as one. Mr. Danzen- 

 baker was at my place in the summer of 

 1898, and saw me handling the closed-end 

 frames, four at a time. 



The advantages that closed-end frames 

 possess over the loose hanging frames are 

 so great that one will use them but a short 

 time before he would use no others. The 

 loose or open end frames would no longer 

 be "in it." With the closed ends there is 

 no time lost in spacing the frames. If a 

 hive is to be moved for miles, no time is lost 

 in preparing the frames. They need not 

 be touched. They make the hive, when 

 properly made, completely double-walled. 

 They can be reversed at will, and no combs 

 are ever built between the ends of frames 

 and inside of the hive ends. They save 

 time in handling, etc. 



In doubling up, if Mr. Doolittle and all 

 others will spread a single thickness of 

 newspaper over the hive-body containing 

 the queen, and then set the queenless hive 

 on the paper, the work of doubling up is 

 accomplished with very little time and la- 

 bor. Try the plan and s6e for yourself. 



Tophet, W. Va. T. K. Massie. 



[All that you say in favor of closed-end 

 frames is equally true of the half-closed 

 end or Hoffman. We very frequently take 

 up four such frames at a time in forming 



nuclei. In fact, it is as easy to pick up 

 four as three. If the propolis connection be 

 not broken between them they can be han- 

 dled as one block, or, as I have often said, 

 the brood-nest can be handled in halves or 

 en masse. No one could ever induce me to 

 go back to unspaced or old-style loose hang- 

 ing L. frames; and I believe if our friend 

 Doolittle were to be compelled to u^e closed- 

 end or half-closed-end frames for two years, 

 and use them side by side with loose hang- 

 ing frames, he would soon feel that he could 

 not afford the style of frame originally giv- 

 en us by father Langstroth. — Ed.] 



SEALED COVERS CONDEMNED; DO BEES RE- 

 QUIRE MORE FOOD IN A SEVERE WIN- 

 TER THAN IN A MILD ONE? 



On p. 198, after advising absorbents over 

 a colony of bees in winter you say, " Better 

 still, a sealed cover." Now, do not think 

 me too radical when I say that here in Colo- 

 rado (and we have 20 below zero) that, if I 

 could have protection from the storms ( when 

 there are any) and robber bees, I should 

 prefer nothing over my bees but the canopy 

 of heaven to an absolutely sealed cover dur- 

 ing December, January, and Februar3^ I 

 removed a colony of bees last April from 

 the top of an unused chimney, the opening 

 of which was 8 X 16 inches. We had 25 de- 

 grees below zero, and during'the winter, all 

 told, perhaps 25 inches of snow fell on the 

 bees; and yet when I transferred them I 

 believe they had more bees and brood than 

 any two colonies in Boulder Co. which had 

 been wintered under sealed covers and 

 without absorbents. 



Again, do not most of our teachers say 

 that it takes more honey to winter bees in a 

 mild climate than in a cold one? and I often 

 hear it remarked here in Colorado, during 

 a mild winter, that the bees will be short 

 of stores on account of it. But my bees 

 (perhaps to be contrary) don't use up as 

 much of their stores in an open mild winter 

 as they do in a long severe cold one; nei- 

 ther does my cow nor do my horses con- 

 sume as much food during the mild winter 

 as they do in a cold one. I myself eat 

 more during the cold January than the hot 

 Jul3'. The argument is brought forward 

 that the activity makes them consume more. 

 While this is true in a measure, the de- 

 mand for food is not nearly so great as the 

 demand for more heat during long-contin- 

 ued cold, and heat is produced only by 

 more food. M. A. Gill. 



Longmont, Col. 



[The advice that I gave on p. 198 had ref- 

 erence more particularly to the climate of 

 the Northern and East-Central States, for 

 you will note that it is in answer to a resi- ' 

 dent of Ohio. There is so much moisture 

 in the atmosphere with us that absorbents 

 do not dry out as they would in Colorado, 

 where there is very little moisture; hence 

 the advice to use sealed covers. Condi- 

 tions are so different in Colorado that a 

 plan of wintering that is applicable to the 



