582 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1 



ible. While we were looking at and admir- 

 ing her my attention was attracted to anoth- 

 er part of the frame, when, lol there was the 

 old original queen on the same frame and 

 same side of the comb, buL the newly discov- 

 ered queen was the larger by all odds. I 

 then looked through the hive for queen-cells, 

 and found one hatched out. Do you think 

 the bees are trying to supersede the other 

 queen, or what? 



Granby, Conn. E. H. Shattuck. 



[In these cases it is evident the bees had 

 in view the supersedure of the old queen. 

 The dent in her body probably incapacitated 

 her to an appreciable extent, and hence the 

 presence of a new and vigorous queen. — Ed.] 



A SUCCESSFUL PLAN KOR WINTERING TWO 

 QUEENS IN A HIVE. 



In reference to the two-queen system of 

 managing bees, I will say that I divide the 

 hives with a thin division-board, bee-tight, 

 from top to bottom. Two nuclei will then 

 winter just as well as a full colony in either 

 an eight or ten frame hive. In this way we 

 have the two queens in the spring; and if a 

 queen is needed for another colony, one 

 queen can be removed and the division- 

 board taken out. I am enthusiastic in rec- 

 ommending a divided hive for wintering 

 bees. I take two colonies and put them in 

 two divided bodies, one on top of the other, 

 so that each colony occupies half of both 

 bodies. In this way the heat of both colonies 

 is in one hive. 



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It always has been next to impossible for 

 me to get my colonies built up in time for 

 the white-clover honey-flow. Now when the 

 flow begins I put the two colonies, each with 

 its queen, in two undivided bodies, both of 

 which are on the same bottom-board. Two 

 section-supers and an excluder are between 



the two colonies. Besides the regular en- 

 trance there is an entrance above the supers, 

 as shown in the diagram. The bees keep 

 right on rearing brood; and when they get 

 too numerous for two hives and three or 

 four supers I remove the top colony to anoth- 

 er stand. 



I recommend this system only for winter- 

 ing and for building up in time for the hon- 

 ey-flow. Last winter was the first time I 

 tried it. B. D. Hall. 



Royal, 111. 



NAILS KEPT IN CIGAR-BOXES. 



I think I have quite an improvement over 

 Dr. Miller's nail-box as illustrated and de- 

 scribed in the Dec. 15th issue. I use ordi- 

 nary cigar-boxes, nailing the lids sei-urely 

 at one end and half way up the sides, using 

 regular cigar-box nails. Then with a sharp 

 thin-bladed saw I make a cross-cut through 

 the middle of the lid. I then have practical- 

 ly the same box as Dr. Miller's, with added 

 advantages of a lid, keeping out dust, etc. ; 

 less trouble to make, and no cost whatever, 

 as the boxes can be secured for nothing at 

 almost any cigar-store, grocery, or drug- 

 store. If it is desirable to hang it up, as Dr. 

 Miller suggests, it is only necessary to lack 

 a small strip along the bottom, leaving a 

 projection with a nail-hole at the top. How- 

 ever, I find them more convenient to lay the 

 box flat on a shelf with a nail, like contents, 

 fastened on the end of the box for a label. 



Piqua, Ohio. M. E. McManes, M. D. 



TOP AND BOTTOM STARTERS FOUND SATIS- 

 FACTORY IN CALIFORNIA. 



1 have just read the article by W. A. Pryal, 

 p. 1582, in which it is stated that top and bot- 

 tom starters in sections did not work satis- 

 factorily in his locality. Now, I live in Ala- 

 meda Co., not over twenty miles from Oak- 

 land as the crow flies. I use top and bottom 

 starters according to Dr. Miller's directions, 

 and the results are all right. I do not think 

 locality has any thing to do with his trouble. 

 I think the trouble is with his bees; but I 

 am only an amateur in the business, and 

 write this to let you know that all Alameda 

 Co. bees do not fill their sections in a freak- 

 ish manner. S C. Gibson. 



Niles, Cal. 



SCREENED ENTRANCES TO HIVES IN A CEL- 

 LAR NOT SATISFACTORY; WHY ONE COL- 

 ONY HAD DYSENTERY. 



I screened the entrances of the hives the 

 first four weeks after I placed them in the 

 cellar; and if I had left them closed I should 

 not have had a live bee to-day. With me a 

 closed entrance is a failure. 



I placed my bees in the cellar Nov. 15, all 

 in very good condition, with plenty of natural 

 stores. The first two weeks in the cellar 

 they were very quiet; after that they began 

 to lie uneasy, and finally to roar, and the 

 thermometer began to rise, and went up to 

 60, with a strong smell of dysentery, which 

 I traced to one colony. (The date of my ex- 

 amination was the first week in December.) 



