948 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug 1 



be no trouble about the bees entering the sections. 

 In a short time I taice off the half-body. When 

 possible, by interchanging the sectional brood- 

 chambers, I place the super of sections over the 

 center of the brood-nest. In any event I want 

 no honey between the brood and the top-bars 

 next to the sections unless it be in the outside 

 frames. 



I find that seven to the foot is the limit in 

 width for sections to use without separators, and 

 am quite sure a narrower one would be better. 

 I do not think this section should be used with 

 separators, for it would be too light in weight for 

 the trade. I like it because it comes so near 

 averaging 1 lb., because I think I can secure 

 more honey and with less work by this system 

 in my locality; but I am ready at any time to 

 change when I think it will pay. 



I am glad to know we have such an able ex- 

 ponent of up-to-date bee-keeping as Mr. J. E. 

 Hand. With his method of handling hives he is 

 bound to make a success of these trial sections. 

 Let us have all the results we can of his valuable 

 experiments. 



Lorie Tree, Iowa, Dec. 12. 



Heads of Grain 



From Different Fields 



WHY WAS THE QUEEN NOT KILLED 't 



I have only one colony. About April 1 I 

 found this to be queenless — hopelessly so, but 

 with plenty of bees and stores. As to requeen- 

 ing I was advised to give a frame or two of brood 

 and to introduce a queen later on, for to give a 

 queen to a hopelessly queenless colony at this 

 season was considered an uncertain procedure. 

 This seemed like good advice, so I procured 

 from a near-by friend two frames of brood with 

 a quantity of bees on each frame, also the queen 

 with them, intending to hold her caged and in- 

 troduce later. In placing these two frames in 

 my hive they were examined --fery closely; but I 

 failed to find the queen, and concluded she was 

 left, with many bees, in the box in which I 

 brought them. Such was not the case, and the 

 matter remained unsolved, on the supposition 

 she 'had taken wing in the transfer. When I 

 closed up my hive there commenced a battle 

 royal in which I judge every strange bee was 

 killed. This was April 17. On April 23 I ex- 

 amined my hive and found brood hatching out, 

 but no queen-cells — plenty of eggs, the queen I 

 had brought, and all going well. A full week's 

 work had been put in. To make the story short, 

 is it not likely that the turmoil caused by the 

 battle had diverted the bees from the tendency 

 to kill that queen until she had acquired the hive 

 odor sufficiently to make her acceptable to them ? 

 This is the only construction I put upon it. A 

 witness of this operation said at the time, "A 

 hundred to one the queen is not in that hive; or 

 if she is, she is killed." 



Pottstown, Pa., May 22. Edward Lester. 



[A very good way, and one of the best, to in- 

 troduce a queen is to give her with a couple of 

 frames of brood and bees to the queenless colony. 



Such colony, if it is hopelessly queenless, and 

 the queen is placed between the given frames, 

 will usually accept if it be a gentle strain of bees. 

 If it be a cross one, it is a doubtful method. 



In the case above recited we should judge the 

 bees were hybrid, black, or a cross strain. It is 

 then necessary to use smoke in uniting a strange 

 lot of bees with them. In this case it might or 

 might not have prejudiced the safety of the queen. 

 It is a wonder, in the general free-for-all fight, 

 that the queen was not killed. The bees were so 

 intent on killing each other that they possibly 

 did not notice her until she had acquired the 

 same colony odor or the odor of the surviving 

 belligerents. There are queer things that happen 

 in bee culture, and this seems to be one of 

 them. — Ed.] 



LIQUEFYING HONEY' ON A SMALL SCALE WITH- 

 OUT DANGER OF OVERHEATING. 



On page 145, Feb. 1, occurs the sentence: 

 "With ordinary methods there is danger of 

 scorching the honey on the outside of the mass 

 while the center is still granulated." I have a 

 plan which I thought of before reading the arti- 

 cle and sentence quoted, and which is expressed 

 in words found in the second paragraph, viz. : 

 "There is a method that almost anv one can fol- 



A HONEY- LIQUEFIER; A HOUSEHOLD UTENSIL 



THAT CAN BE BOUGHT AT ANY LARGE 



HARDWARE STORE. 



low, whereby a great difference between the tem- 

 perature of the center of the granulated blocks 

 and that on the outside can be avoided.'' Per- 

 haps you have seen the tins (a tube running up 

 the middle) used in making "angel cake.'' Well, 

 we have a taller tin here in Boston, used for mak- 

 ing brown bread, plum puddings, etc., with a 

 cover on it that can be fastened. The tube is 

 closed at the top (probably to keep water from 

 running over into the interior and contents of the 

 tin. We have just tried the thing, and succeed- 



