1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1079 



temperature of 30° all winter it is no wonder 

 that your bees die. It will be very easy to mod- 

 ify this difficulty by putting a small stove in the 

 cellar or in an outside vestibule, as you suggest, 

 the heat to go from the vestibule into the cellar. 

 This would serve to raise the temperature, and 

 at the same time remove the surplus moisture. 

 An excess of dampness, with a temperature be- 

 low 40, is very fatal. There should be a fir* in 

 the stove during the coldest part of the winter, or 

 whenever the temperature goes below 45. Even 

 if the fire be continued only two or three hours, 

 raising the temperature say to 50 or nearly 60, 

 and it then goes out, and the temperature drops 

 to 42 or 43, no harm will be done. The moist- 

 ure will be taken care of, and the bees will be 

 kept clean and sweet. 



The great trouble with many bee-cellars is that 

 they are too warm because not sufficiently under- 

 ground some parts of the winter, and altogether 

 too cold at other times. Bee-keepers need not 

 be afraid of using stoves, providing they do not 

 get the temperature too high, as ordinarily it 

 should not go above 50 nor below 40; 45 is the 

 most desirable point. Some cellars filled with 

 bees will maintain that temperature throughout 

 the winter; and where that can be done, no stove 

 and but very little ventilation will be required, 

 as the bees are in a state of semi-hibernation 

 when respiration is very much subdued. — Ed.] 



Heads of Grain 



From Different Fields 



DISPENSING WITH SEPARATORS. 



In the new ABC book, p. 118, you ask the 

 question, "Why not dispense with separators 

 altogether?" and then you answer, " We can, 

 by using narrow sections." Now, in dispensing 

 with separators what kind of section frames or 

 containers shall we use.? Shall they be plain 

 ones, and placed wide enough apart to leave a 

 bee-space, or shall they have the usual bee-space 

 cut out and use open sections to match ? It 

 seems to me sections as narrow as 1;^ with open- 

 ings for beeways would be impracticable. An- 

 other thing, I should like a section that would 

 hold a full pound, and for that reason would pre- 

 fer a 4X5 section \}i inches wide. But would 

 that be as desirable as the narrower section, in 

 our effort to get rid of the separator.? It does 

 seem to me that, if we can succeed in doing 

 away with the separator, a long stride will have 

 been made in simplifying honey-making. The 

 modern bee-hive is entirely too complicated, and 

 has a great deal too many loose parts or pieces. 



Whitehall, 111. A. W. Foseman. 



[To do away with separators would require the 

 same spacing from center to center as our brood- 

 combs. This would mean beeway sections open 

 on all four sides, 1^ in. thick, or plain sections 

 yk in. thick. Obviously, the former would be 

 more suitable — or, rather, they would not look 

 so thin when filled as the others. 



As to containers, section-holders, or wide 

 frames, could be used. Full sheets of founda- 

 tion — the "thin," not the extra-thin — should be 



used, as there should be no buckling nor stretch- 

 ing. The foundation should be well fastened, 

 and the hive plumb from side to side, providing, 

 of course, sections were parallel with the sides. 

 It would not be practicable to make a 1^-thick 

 beeway section hold a pound, as it would be too 

 large; and a %-inch plain section would look 

 more out of proportion yet. 



A 4X5 plain section 1% in. thick could not 

 be used without separators or fences. — Ed.] 



SHORT-LIVED QUEENS; HONEY CANDIED HARD IN 

 THE HIVES. 



We are located at the foot of the Big Horn 

 Mountain, and have about 300 colonies in eight 

 and ten frame L. hives. They are in fine condi- 

 tion, needing only sunshine. Our pasture in- 

 cludes the numerous wild flowers, together with 

 dandelion, white and crimson clover, alfalfa, and 

 the famous sweet clover. Bees do exceedingly 

 well. 



I should like the advice of your contributors 

 in overcoming a trouble that we have. Our 

 queens seem very short-lived, for they die leaving 

 the hive full of stores. This may occur at any 

 time of the year. Our honey also granulates in 

 the hive. At this date we have several thousand 

 pounds in the hives that is as hard and dry as 

 granulated sugar. Frank Jones. 



Buffalo, Wyo., June 7. 



[We should be glad to have any subscriber in 

 the vicinity, or like environment, who can offer 

 an explanation, let us hear from him. The diffi- 

 culties mentioned must be due to some special 

 local conditions, and we will not attempt to an- 

 swer it at this time. — Ed.] 



hive-lifting DEVICES; SHALLOW HIVES NOT 

 ADAPTED FOR BEGINNERS; WAX-RENDERING. 



In an editorial I notice what is said about hive- 

 lifting devices. This is what I wanted badly 

 the last two months. You see I kept the bees 

 from swarming by adding shallow extracting-su- 

 pers till about June 25, and kept adding them till 

 I had them 30 in. high. Toward the last, just 

 before shaking, it was a task to get an empty 

 shallow super just over the brood-nest. I had to 

 call help the last time. 



After shaking the bees out in shallow hives and 

 arranging for comb honey I took all that was on 

 the stands of seven colonies and piled them all 

 on three stands. This made them quite high. 

 To get at the lower supers would have been too 

 much work, and a hive-lifting device would have 

 come in nicely to handle them. If you get up 

 something in this line I want one. You may say 

 Salisbury wants every thing new to try, like the 

 N super and Aspinwall hive. Really I enjoy 

 these new things. 



On page 878 I notice E. F. Atwater advises 

 against the use of divisible hives. He voices my 

 sentiments exactly when he advocates cautioning 

 beginneis against their use. These hives can be 

 used only by experts in the business. Pollen 

 will be found in the sections unless perforated 

 zinc is used in plain sheets. The plain sheets 

 will help very much to keep out the pollen. The 

 best hive for beginners is, according to my no- 

 tion, the regular Dovetailed hive. 



