1180 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1 



lessening of the disease this year can not be whol- 

 ly explained by the application of these remedial 

 measures, but it would seem that either the 

 plague had run its course or else some enemy had 

 seized hold of the blight-germs and was destroy- 

 ing them. Let us hope that this last is the case, 

 and wish all success to the blight-killer. Loquats 

 a few years ago were killed about here by some- 

 thing very much like pear-blight, but now are 

 sound, vigorous, and healthy. It will not be the 

 first time that blights have seemed to die out 

 without any action on the part of man to destroy 

 them. 



NOTES FROM CANADA 



By R. F. HOLTERMANN. 



SECTIONAL CASES FOR WINTER AND SPRING. 



At the fruit, flower, and honey show inToronto, 

 last winter, Mr. H. G. Sibbald, of Claude, On- 

 tario, one of the six appointed as foul-brood in- 

 spectors, exhibited a sectional cold-weather case 

 which, in my estimation, has a very decided 

 advantage over any hitherto used. 

 Especially is this sectional feature a 

 gain in spring management. 



A number of successful bee-keepers 

 of Ontario are using with marked suc- 

 cess a case holding four colonies, two 

 placed side by side, and the pairs with 

 backs together. The packing is un- 

 derneath, at the sides of the group and 

 over the top. This case, I believe, 

 was first designed by Mr. Jacob Al- 

 paugh, Eden, Ont. , one of Canada's 

 closest bee investigators. Mr. Sibbald 

 states, " The advantage over single 

 cases for packing is the economy of 

 heat and expense. One case holds 

 four hives, and costs less than half as 

 much as four single cases; and four 

 colonies packed together create and 

 retain the heat and comfort not enjoy- 

 ed in an individual case." The illus- 

 tration shows one of the cases, the 

 sectional feature of which is the in- 

 vention of Mr. Sibbald. The lower 

 section. A, holds the four hives a, a, 

 a, a, having the usual packing under- 

 neath and above them. The wall and 

 packing of this section is high enough 

 to be on a level with the top of the 

 brood-chamber of the four hives. The 

 top section, B, consists of not only 

 the cover, C, but the remainder of the 

 side of the case, D, and the packing, e, which 

 is held in the cover by means of a piece of cot- 

 ton or burlap, f, stretched across the bottom. 

 Between this cloth and the roof the packing lies. 



To examine colonies in early spring as to stores, 

 etc., it is necessary only to remove the cover, or 

 upper section, to expose the group of four hives. 

 The cover, the packing above the level of the 

 hive, and the side wall of the outer case, are all 

 taken away at one operation. This convenience 

 will appeal to those who have had to deal with 

 the examination of colonies packed in outer cases. 

 It saves an immense amount of time, and it pre- 



vents the packing from dropping into the hive 

 and getting into the way of the operator. Mr. 

 Sibbald says that the use of this case reduces the 

 time for the fall and spring work to a minimum. 



THE ASPINWALL ENTRANCE. 



At one of the Brant district conventions Mr. 

 L. A. Aspinwall, who has wintered his bees and 

 brought them through the spring with such uni- 

 form success, described a device he has for an 

 entrance which is unique, and its features should 

 appeal to the practical bee-keeper during winter 

 and spring. It will be seen in the drawing that 

 the outer entrance is not on a level with the en- 

 trance of the inner hive. The object of this is to 

 break the wind and to prevent the rays of light 

 from inciting the bees to fly at a time when they 

 should not. During the last two winters Mr. 

 Aspinwall has had the inside entrance two inches 

 wide. Like Mr. Alpaugh he waants no alighting- 

 board as a part of the bottom-board during the 

 time when the entrance may become clogged 

 with dead bees. The bottom-board, therefore, 

 does not project beyond the front of the hive. 

 The object of this is to reduce the entrance to a 



SIBBALD S WINTER CASE HOLDING FOUR COVERS. 



minimum, diminishing the amount of heat the 

 bees have to generate during cold and windy 

 weather, thus saving honey and the vitality of 

 the bee, and yet preventing the entrance from 

 becoming clogged. 



By means of this device, the bees dying and 

 making for the entrance by their own efforts, or 

 bees dead and dragged forward by their living 

 sisters, drop down into the "filth-box," as indi- 

 cated by the arrow, as soon as outside of the hive. 

 In Mr. Aspinwall's device the runway from the 

 inner to the outer entrance is half the width of 

 the 2>2-inch entrance to the hive. Up this the 



