28 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



n 



c 



seems too 



late to do so, 



Miss Fowls, 

 but I must add 

 my welcome to 

 the others. The 

 delay is one of 

 accomplishment 

 only, not of 

 mood. E V e r 

 since you gave the readers of Gleanings that 

 able and enlightening account of the Fowls 

 adaptation of the Alexander method of in- 

 crease, two or three years ago, I 've been 

 one of your admirers. (Nor do I object to 

 a disputatious disposition!). 



* * * 



How proud we may all be! I say "we," 

 because all beekeepers claim A. I. Root and 

 Dr. C. C. Miller as their very own. After 

 reading about first one and then the other 

 in the American Magazine, I felt just as 

 personally strutty as tho they'd been — say 

 my uncles, my two favorite uncles. But it 

 was news to me about the music, Dr. Miller, 

 and the connection with the wonderful 

 Thomas Orchestra, and the roses and the 

 gladioli. I believe I half knew it, tho, for 

 the love of music and flowers would be na- 

 tive qualities of one who really loves bees, 

 and dreams them and wants them a part of 

 his life. Do you mind my admitting that 

 you are one reason I am glad to be a bee- 

 keeper? 



Then, recently, the general methods and 

 the inspiring success of E. S. Miller of Val- 

 paraiso, Ind., were written up in the Coun- 

 try Gentleman. So altogether beekeeping 

 and beekeepers have come quite prominently 

 and favorably into the national limelight. 



* » » 



When E. R. Root says, page 715, December 

 Gleanings, that "the big hive is certainly 

 the proper thing for the fruit-grower or any 

 other man who is operating some other line 

 of business, and who wishes to work on the 

 let-alone plan at certain seasons of the 

 year, ' ' he is speaking pretty directly to a 

 great many side liners. The hive, or meth- 

 od, or manipulation, that reduces the work 

 necessary to the successful harvesting of a 

 crop of honey is an advantage to all bee- 

 keepers, but quite especially to those 

 who, for the chief part of their time, 

 are busy on other matters, yet who wish 

 to run their bees after such a fashion 

 as to justify' calling themselves progressive 

 beekeepers. In this connection I recall Mr. 

 Byer's remarks, page 737 of the same issue, 

 to the effect that when he can eliminate any 

 of the heavy work, he is glad to do so. Even 

 tho the work be not particularly heavy, it 

 takes time, and if we can find a way to 

 achieve the desired result without doing the 

 work, who will rise up to argue for the do- 

 ing of it? 



Returning to the question of the size of 

 the hives, no longer do the majority of the 

 beekeepers around here who have standard 

 equipment already in use limit their brood- 



Beekeeping as a Side Line 



Grace Allen 



1 



January, 1919 



chambers to one 

 body. One and 

 a half or two 

 stories are be- 

 coming common 

 for the year 

 round. While 

 others, wintering 

 in two stories, 

 place the queen 

 in the lower, under an excluder, at about 

 locust bloom, leaving the bulk of the brood 

 above, and seeing to it that there is plenty 

 of room below. 



* * * 



I have recently been reading a little trea- 

 tise by Ed. H. Clark, dealing chiefly with 

 the problems of moisture, humidity, tem- 

 perature, ventilation, and the evaporation 

 and condensation of water vapor within the 

 hive. To the lay mind that knows little of 

 physics or natural philosophy, the array of 

 terms and statements and tables is impres- 

 sive. Yet, in its direct plea for ample con- 

 densation of moisture on the inside walls 

 and cover of the hive, it is most unorthodox. 

 Not that that in itself is against it, how- 

 ever. Only by somebody 's coming out 

 against established theories have new ones 

 ever come in. But this particular idea 

 seems somehow staggering. To set out with 

 the deliberate intention of making a hive 

 that is a good condenser, and ' ' that would 

 leave the condensed water where the bees 

 could use it" is a new idea to me. Mr. 

 Clark 's practical conclusions, not particular- 

 ly staggering of themselves, are that we 

 must give the bees ' ' a well-varnished inner 

 surface to the hive, and a cover that, at no 

 time, permits of upward ventilation." 



My own experience with sealed-down su- 

 per covers has not been encouraging, owing 

 to the moldy combs in the hive in the 

 spring. No such trouble having appeared 

 in any hives where I used the so-called up- 

 ward ventilation afforded by absorbent 

 cushions, I am at present most favorably 

 inclined toward absorbents. I think Mr. 

 Clark makes no mention of the moldy-comb 

 condition. Sometimes I have slipped a 

 slender twig into entrances in winter, wig- 

 gled it around on the hive floor and had it 

 come out wet and drippy. That certainly is 

 a bad condition. But what brings it about? 

 Many things might be contributing factors 

 — the quality of honey, too much unsealed 

 stores, syrup fed too late, propolized sealing 

 of cover broken too late, besides weather 

 conditions — the relation between tempera- 

 ture and humidity, and perhaps other things 

 quite unsuspected. Condensed moisture in 

 the hive is generally admitted to be un- 

 desirable, yet the majority of beekeepers 

 prefer the sealed covers. It 's an interest- 

 ing subject, and I 'm going to know more 



about it. 



* * » 



On page 733, December, I admitted feel- 

 ing ' ' no mood for side-line verses — nor, in- 

 deed, for side lines themselves. ' ' But I did 



