1908 



GEEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



933 



Bee Culture; and when we had occasion to speak 

 recently of feeding back honey to complete sec- 

 tions, he stated that the A B C advised using one 

 part of honey to four or five parts of water, and 

 that the cappings frequently looked water-soaked. 

 I told him he must be mistaken — that the pre- 

 scription should be reversed — one part of water 

 to four or five parts of honey, I thought. He 

 then produced the book. Surely, the editor's 

 pen failed to put down his thought. Such things 

 do happen; but it should not be allowed to ap- 

 pear in another edition. [This statement is a 

 mistake, of course, and we acknowledge with 

 thanks the correction. These figures had been 

 marked for correction, but in some way the 

 change failed to materialize, and the matter was 

 then overlooked. But would simply reversing 

 the figures make the statement entirely correct ? 

 We have found that one part of water to two 

 parts of honey makes a mixture that is of about 

 the consistency of raw nectar, and we should be 

 afraid that one part of water to four or five parts 

 of honey would give too thick a mixture. We 

 should be glad to hear from any who may have 

 had experience in feeding back. Let us be sure 

 that the consistency is right. — Ed.] 



CONVERSATIONS WITH 

 DOOLITTLE 



MANAGEMENT OF SUPERS. 



"When working for section honey, when should 

 I put on the supers.'" 



"There are a number of things to be taken in- 

 to consideration in deciding when to put on su- 

 pers, Mr. Robinson. In working for comb hon- 

 ey, the more we can keep all the bees in one col- 

 ony, the better. In other words, the stronger 

 the colony the better chances we have of success. " 



"But do not strong colonies tend to induce 

 swarming?" 



" Yes. But we can do much toward restrain- 

 ing the swarming tendency." 



"I should like to know about that; for as soon 

 as my colonies became strong in numbers last 

 year then they began to swarm. " 



"How much entrance did you give them.^" 



" The same as they have the year around — 

 probably one-half inch deep by four inches long. 

 Would that be enough.'" 



"That would be all right for winter; but for 

 summer the entrance should be the whole width 

 of the hive, and from one inch to 1)4 inches 

 deep, so as to give abundant ventilation beneath 

 the brood-frames." 



" But how do you get this height of entrance.' 

 My entrances are only half an inch deep." 



"Is your bottom-board nailed fast to the hive.'" 



"No." 



"Then all you have to do is to take a piece of 

 seven-eighths board, the same length as that of the 

 hive from front to rear, and mark off one inch at 

 one end and nothing at the other, sawing through 

 so you will have a wedge-shaped piece as long as 

 your hive. Now, with two such pieces to each 

 hive you are prepared to ventilate easily any hive 



by simply raising the front and slipping the 

 points of the wedges in till the thick ends come 

 even with the front of the hive. You now have 

 an entrance I '4 inches deep by the width of the 

 hive." 



" Will that keep all colonies from swarming.?" 



" No; but it has a tendency that way. In ad- 

 dition to this you will need to shade the hive 

 from the hot sun between the hours of 9 a.m. and 

 4 p. M ; and in this you will add another tendency 

 toward overcoming the swarming of bees." 



" But the man of whom I purchased my bees 

 told me that they did better out in the open than 

 they would do in the shade of trees." 



"Well, I guess he was all right there; but the 

 shade I advise will allow the sun in the morning 

 and later in the afternoon to strike the hive. It 

 is for the seven hours during the hottest part of 

 the daj^ that the shade is needed." 



" How is that to be obtained.' I use tin on the 

 tops of my hives to prevent leaking, and I have 

 noticed that this gets so hot on warm days when 

 the sun is shining that I can not hold my hand 

 on it." 



" No wonder you were troubled with swarm- 

 ing, with that small entrance and the almost 

 melting heat from the top of the hive. A shade- 

 board should be made out of any old light lum- 

 ber. The rear of this board should be about 

 three inches from the top of the hive to allow the 

 cool air to pass under it, and the "pitch" thus 

 given will carry off all the water when it rains." 



" How big should the board be.'" 



" I make mine ten inches wider than the tops 

 of the hives, and six inches longer. This longer 

 space comes entirely on the south side of the hive 

 so as to shade the front and the entrance, while 

 the other is divided equally. In this way the 

 whole of the hive is shaded during the middle of 

 the day." 



"I see. I have gained another pointer. But 

 we have said nothing about luhen to put on the 

 supers." 



"I know we have not, for I thought it better 

 to touch the real trouble with you first." 



"I supposed my trouble lay in not knowing 

 just when to put the supers on. When should 

 this be done.'" 



"When you have your entrances fixed and your 

 hives shaded as we have been talking about, keep 

 an eye on the bees and your field as regards the 

 clover bloom. As soon as you see that the white- 

 clover blossoms are opening, and on pleasant 

 evenings there is quite a show of bees at the en- 

 trance of any hives, they standing there with fan- 

 ning wings, you may know that the colonies 

 where you see such bees are strong enough for a 

 super, and that they will enter it as soon as nec- 

 tar above the wants of the brood begins to come 

 in from the clover. That is about the only way 

 to tell from the outside of the hive. You will 

 know a little better if you open the hive. If you 

 see that any of the cells along the top-bars of the 

 frames are being lengthened out with new white 

 wax, and see honey sparkling in the cells, you 

 should certainly have the supers on at once; for, 

 failing here, you are apt to induce swarming on 

 account of the honey crowding the brood, and 

 the bees becoming crowded in their hives." 



"You would use starters of foundation in ev- 

 ery section in the super, I suppose.'" 



