OCTOBKR. 1919 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



■n 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



tain mostly hoiiov, and fill the so produced 

 vacancies with division-boards, leaving the 

 brood-nest intact as much as possible (see 

 cut.) Put the same number of division- 

 boards and the removed combs of honey 

 into an empty super and place this upon the 

 brood-chamber, and the transformation is 

 completed. All of the conditions are 

 then in harmony with nature 's design. The 

 brood-nest has not been disturbed, the win- 

 ter and spring supply of honey and pollen 

 has been -placed where it can be reached al- 

 most any time during winter, and no spring 

 feeding is necessary. The capacity of the 

 hive is the same as before, but has been re- 

 duced by one-half in width and doubled in 

 depth, conforming to the desired shaftlike 

 shape and allowing plenty of space for win- 

 ter stores. If these should be deficient, if 

 the removed combs should not contain the 

 desired amount of honey, heavier combs can 

 be substituted when the change is made. 



The covering can be done in the usual 

 way, either with a sealed cover, a chaff mat 

 or loose chaff over a burlap blanket. 



The regular winter cases can also be 

 used the same as with the flat hive; but it 

 may be necessary to provide an additional 

 rim to make them deep enough. This ar- 

 rangement works equally well with cases of 

 one, two, or more colonies. 



LaSalle, N. Y. G. C. Greiner. 



CAMPBELL WEIGHING MACHINE 



An Easy Way of Determining the Necessary Win- 

 ter Stores 



In the autumn of the year one of the 

 necessary operations of the apiary is to get 

 the weight of each hive, and to know it, not 

 to guess it. A young man said to me recent- 

 ly that when a hive is weighed one has to 

 guess at the weight anyway. He meant 

 that the weight of the combs as well as the 

 weight of bees varied, the amount of pollen 

 in the combs differed substantially, and even 

 the hives themselves were not uniform. 

 ' ' True, all true, ' ' I said, ' ' but there is 

 neither wisdom nor common sense in guess- 

 ing when that is unnecessary." 



Eight here the question might be asked as 

 to how much an 8-, 10- or 12-frame Lang- 

 stroth hive should weigh. I do not care to 

 go on record in this matter, but the question 

 is a fair one and without being arbitrary I 

 will say about 65, 80, and 90 to 9.5 pounds 

 respectively. 



It is an undesirable operation to set each 

 hive on a scale. J. W. Campbell of Lam- 

 beth drew my attention to a device for 

 weighing a hive of bees without placing it 

 on a scale or removing it from a platform. 

 As seen in the illustration, it consists of a 

 tripod which is placed immediately over 



the hive. There are three claws connected 

 by means of a ring at one end. These tliree 

 claws hook under the bottom-board at the 

 back and two forward sides of the hive. A 

 spring scale connects the tripod and hive, 



Campbell's device for determining r&qui.site stores. 



and there is a lever attachment by means 

 of which the hive is raised from the ground 

 and the weight obtained. Mr. Campbell is 

 a successful and expert beekeeper, and he 

 deserves every credit for his idea. 



Brantford, Ont. E. F. Holtermann. 



TO PACK OR NOT TO PACK 



Data from Which One May Draw His Own Con- 

 clusions 



When I came to British Columbia in 1908 

 there was in all the region west of the 

 Eocky Mountains only one beekeeper who 

 packed his bees for the winter, so far as I 

 have been able to learn, and he was and is 

 the most successful honey-producer in the 

 region. Everybody assured me that packing 

 was absolutely unnecessary in British Co- 



