1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



949 



the situation the ventilation was not suffi- 

 cient, thoug-h I had a ventilator 6 inches in 

 diameter connected to the stove-pipe in the 

 bee-room over the cellar. In very cold 

 weather I had to resort to artificial heat in 

 the cellar, and I soon discovered that a 

 coal-oil lamp made the condition of air in 

 cellar worse; as the lamp burned dimmer 

 and dimmer, and the bees became more 

 restless, I kept fire in the room over the cel- 

 lar; and as the conditions became desperate 

 I opened a trapdoor down into the cellar. 

 Althoug-h this was better in every way, 

 thing's are not yet entirely satisfactory. 



The cellar is 17X13X6. I have 93 colo- 

 nies to winter. I am now considering' the 

 advisability of getting' a blower something- 

 like the thrashers use in blowing' straw on 

 the stack, and pipe it into cellar. As often 

 as necessary, I could force warm air from 

 the room above into the cellar, sufficient to 

 force the bad air up and out through the 

 ventilating-pipe. This would accomplish 

 two objects at once: ventilate, and raise 

 temperature to the desired degree. (I aim 

 to keep it about 45 degrees.) This is to 

 some extent new, but I believe it is practi- 

 cal. If you deem it of sufficient importance 

 let me hear from you. 



David A. Pidgeon. 



New Providence, la., Nov. 3. 



[As you may surmise, a 6-inch ventilator 

 was hardly large enough. T. F. Bingham 

 has a cellar a good deal like yours, and he 

 thinks a ventilator 16 to 17 inches square 

 none too large. Indeed, in a recent article 

 in the Bee-keeper^s Revieiv he says he has 

 put in two such ventilators, the two being 

 used in warm weather when it is difficult 

 to keep the bees quiet. This ventilator 

 should extend up through the roof, down 

 through the ceiling in the cellar, but it 

 should not reach clear down to within a 

 foot or two of the bottom, as some advise. 

 Mr. Bingham finds better results are se- 

 cured by having ventilator stop at the ceil- 

 ing. I certainly would recommend you to 

 put in one such ventilator if you desire to 

 keep bees quiet. In very cold weather you 

 can, if you desire, contract this ventilator 

 down so as to let in just sufficient air to give 

 the requisite temperature and ventilation. 

 Ed.] 



SUPPLYING NEW QUEENS IN THE FALL. 



Would you deem it advisable to give new 

 queens now? I have but three colonies, one 

 Italian and two black. My Italians have 

 done well. A two-frame nucleus, Aug. 28, 

 has six good frames now, some hatching 

 the second time. When would you think it 

 safe to feed for spring brood? 



L. W. Angus. 



Live Oak, Fla., Oct. 20. 



[In your locality, now is the best time of 

 the year to supply new queens, for I take it 

 there is no honey-flow now, and you could 

 very readily make the change without any 

 particular interruption to the colony. I 

 would not advise feeding until January or 



February, or until such time as your bees 

 begin to gather pollen.— Ed. J 



swarming in an out-apiary. 



1. When bees are about to swarm in an 

 out-apiary, and there is danger of losing a 

 swarm, would it be advisable and practic- 

 able to put on entrance-guards to keep the 

 queen from going out? 



2. What is the best way to increase? 



Geo. p. Bkadfokd. 

 Oregon City, Oregon, Oct. 22. 



[Yes, unless the queen's wings are clip- 

 ped. Indeed, it is the common practice to 

 use entrance-guards; but perhaps a better 

 plan would be to shake or brush the bees, 

 making a forced swarm, thus breaking up 

 all idea of natural increase, if possible. 



I would recommend forced swarming. 

 Put the parent colony on a new location, 

 and let it develop into a strong working 

 colony as soon as it will, under ordinary 

 conditions. — Ed.] 



sawed-off top-bars; thin top-bars. 



We don't want the cut-ofl" top-bar frame. 

 There is nothing to handle them by. Can 

 you handle heavy extracting-frames (shak- 

 ing them hard enough to get off the bees) 

 by the "intersection of top-bar and end- 

 bar"? I can't do it; but with the long 

 top-bar it is easy to handle them by the 

 top-bar projections. 



In Gleanings for Jan. 15, W. C. Gath- 

 right speaks in favor of the thin top {}% in.) 

 Hoffman frame, saying that they don't sag; 

 but I used them two years, and found them 

 worthless for extracting-combs, as they 

 would sag worse than any other frame that 

 I have used. E. F. Atwater. 



Meridian, Idaho. 



[We recognize the fact that there are those 

 who do not like shortened top-bars, but we 

 have thousands of customers who would 

 never think of going back to the long ones, 

 especially used in connection with Hofl^man 

 ends. A good deal depends on what one 

 has become accustomed to. It is not neces- 

 sary to handle frames by the projection. 

 Hoffman frames — in fact, all frames with 

 shortened top-bars — should be handled by 

 that portion of the top-bar just inside the 

 end bar, at which point one can get a secure 

 hold, and for every purpose we consider it 

 more feasible and practicable to handle 

 frames in that way. We know there are 

 those whodifl'er with us in this respect; but 

 after one becomes accustomed to handling 

 frames by the corners rather than projec- 

 tions, he will see no necessity of handling 

 them in the old way; and the shortened top- 

 bars have decided advantages over the long 

 ones in freedom and rapidity of handling 

 while in the hives. 



I quite agree with you in regard to the 

 use of thin top-bars, and I can not see why 

 any one should favor their use any more 

 than I can understand why you should pre- 

 fer to use the long-eared top-bars. — Ed.] 



