702 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1 



We kept on through these two rows and found 

 each colony had a very small lot of brood. Most 

 of them had no sealed brood. 



"Well," I said, "it looks as though the first 

 lot of bees were a good lot ahead of the April 

 16th lot. Those last set out may go ahead of 

 those taken out March 16th." 



"Not so," said Mr. Kinyon. "The early lot 

 has brood hatching, and in the course of two or 

 three weeks will be very strong. Those taken 

 out April 16th will, on the contrary, get weaker 

 for the next two or three weeks. " 



"You are correct in this," said I, "and it will 

 be best to conclude that bees taken out by April 

 1st will do the best." 



Mr. Kinyon then said, "Make it the last week 

 in March." 



I said, "Yes, we will say the last week in 

 March if the weather is right." 



He then told me that he had worked for Mr. 

 P. H. Elwood, and he made a practice of taking 

 out some early and some late, and found after a 

 course of a few years that those taken out early 

 did the best. Mr. Elwood now takes out his 

 bees as early as possible. In this I think he is 

 correct after being with Mr. Kinyon and seeing 

 the difference in the amount of brood in the dif- 

 ferent lots. F. A. Salisbury. 



Syracuse, N. Y., April 27, 1908. 



BEES THAT CAP THE COMBS " WATERY " ARE HUS- 

 TLERS; SHALL WE PINCH THE HEADS OF 

 QUEENS PRODUCING SUCH BEES? 



I read with no little interest the article from the 

 pen of Mr. J. A. Crane, page 429, on breeding 

 of queens; and, as you request expression of opin- 

 ion of your readers regarding a particular point 

 raised by him, I wish to say that I do not think 

 I could have expressed my own ideas on the en- 

 tire subject better than he has done — especially 

 that regarding "greasy" sections, to which you 

 refer. I have written up the matter of greasy or 

 watery sections, as they are sometimes called, 

 several times since my bee-keeping experience be- 

 gan; and but few of the " old heads " in the busi- 

 ness seemed to take kindly to my theory. It is 

 gratifying to me to read an article from one who 

 has had long experience in the business coincid- 

 ing with me in this matter. I have had several 

 queens whose bees capped their honey "greasy," 

 and they were all hustlers. The hive during the 

 busy season was kept full of workers, and hot. 

 Such a queen is always a prolific one. When 

 the question of disposing of such a queen has 

 been considered, and advice has been given to 

 "pinch her head," I have said, "No, do not do 

 that, but send her to me. She is probably the 

 best queen in the yard." 



Evanston, 111. Wm. W. Whitney. 



PROPER weight OF FOUNDATION FOR THE SPLIT- 

 SECTION PLAN. 



I have received several inquiries from bee- 

 keepers who wish to try my method of putting 

 foundation in sections, asking what weight to 

 use. Perhaps I can best answer the question by 

 telling them what 7iot to use, since I have as yet 

 used only the extra thin in sections; however, ow- 

 ing to the trouble I have had with it for the past 

 two or three seasons, I shall not use it again. I 



don't yet know whether I shall prefer the thin or 

 the medium brood. 



The trouble with the extra thin seems to be 

 that there is not enough side wall, and the bees 

 will often remove what little there is, leaving a 

 smooth sheet of wax; and I find an occasional 

 section with one side full of honey and only a 

 plain sheet of wax on the other. 



Since I do not find this in frames where heavi- 

 er foundation is used in the same super, I lay it 

 to the foundation; therefore I would advise be- 

 ginners to use nothing lighter than thin in full 

 sheets. J. E. Hand. 



Birmingham, Ohio. 



[Medium oreven light-brood foundation would, 

 in our judgment, be altogether too heavy for use 

 in sections. Nothing heavier than thin super 

 should be used. We would urge the use of ex- 

 tra thin as being not only cheaper, but causing 

 less of midrib in the comb. Mr. Hand's experi- 

 ence, to the effect that the bees will remove the 

 side wall of this light weight, would seem to be 

 very unusual, or at least we do not remember to 

 have read of any reports of it before. We should 

 be glad to hear briefly from a large number of 

 our subscribers on this point. 



Objection on the part of consumers has been 

 raised, that comb honey of to-day has too much 

 of midrib or "gob," and we believe that bee- 

 keepers should, so far as possible, use the extra 

 thin. This is an important subject that will bear 

 discussion. — Ed.] 



THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY OF BEE-KEEPERS; 

 WHY ONE SHOULD REAR HIS QUEENS. 



The fifth regular meeting of the Massachusetts 

 Society of Bee-keepers was held in the Ford Build- 

 ing, March 7, with 43 members present. Our 

 speaker was Mr. Chas. S. Blake, of Ashby, Mass. 

 He gave a very instructive paper on queen-raising 

 among small bee-keepers. He laid particular 

 stress upon the fact that, by great care in select- 

 ing, the stock can be better controlled than by 

 introducing queens from abroad. He considered 

 that a person with only ten colonies could raise 

 his own queens with profit. Various devices were 

 shown us, by means of which at slight expense 

 the queen-cells could be arranged, and nursery- 

 cages used; also by which an ordinary eight-frame 

 hive could be divided into four compartments for 

 nuclei. 



Mr. Blake announced .to us that foul brood had 

 made its appearance in Brookfield, Marlboro, and 

 Leominster, and warned us to be on the lookout. 



The death of Mr. Henry Alley, of Wenham, 

 Mass., a veteran bee-keeper, and breeder of the 

 Adel queens, and an authority on the subject of 

 bees, was announced. The meeting closed at 

 4 :15 P.M. 



Belmont, Mass. • X. A. Reed. 



SPLIT SECTIONS USED AND NOT LIKED; CARTONS FOR 

 COMB HONEY; BEES ROBBING OR HELP- 

 ING EACH OTHER. 



I have used split sections, and the editor, in 

 his comments some time ago on such sections, 

 spoke for me. The split section is all right until 

 taken from the hive. I have but one life to live, 

 and I do not want to take part of that in explain- 

 ing to people why I took that nice white polish- 



