60 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 15 



home we placed them over the hive in which we 

 wished them to winter, as we had always done 

 before, expecting, of course, that they would 

 unite with the colony below on the combs of 

 sealed stores. All our experience indicated that 

 they would go down, and all we have read of 

 uniting by this method has been to the point that 

 the two colonies will unite in the lower hive. In 

 this case there seemed to be nothing else to do, as 

 the lower hive contained the honey while this 

 contained empty combs. I looked at them fre- 

 quently, expecting to find the upper hive desert- 

 ed and remove it; but, not finding it so, I decid- 

 ed to look below, and, to my surprise, I found 

 that the bees had carried all the honey above, and 

 the two colonies had united in the upper hive, 

 leaving the lower one empty. As it was too late 

 to transfer the frame we must now winter in the 

 single-walled hive. 



Perhaps such experiences are not uncommon, 

 although I had not noticed such an occurrence 

 before. I should like to know whether or not it 

 does frequently happen that the colonies unite 

 above, especially when the honey is below, as in 

 this case. It seems to me that the stronger queen 

 must have been present in the upper hive, and 

 this must have been the determining factor in the 

 case. 



Atlantic, Iowa, Dec. 15. 



[As a general rule, when two colonies of equal 

 strength are put one on top of the other, the two 

 forces will unite in the upper hive on account of 

 the greater warmth ; but if the lower hive has a 

 lot of brood, and the upper one none, the bees 

 will probably all occupy the bottom section. 



We may lay it down as another rule, that, 

 where two colonies, one a weak one and the other 

 a strong one, are put together, one on top of the 

 other, the weak one will go with the strong, 

 whether it be above or below. In the case you 

 have cited, the colony in the lower hive was 

 weaker than the other; and the fact that, other 

 things being equal, a lower lot of bees will unite 

 with the upper one, would easily explain why 

 both forces occupied the upper hive. 



The tin pan and the piece of wet cheese-cloth 

 make a most excellent feeder; but the cloth should 

 be large enough to spread clear down over the 

 edges of the pan, reaching to the brood-frames to 

 afford a sort of ladderway to and from the feeder. 

 If the cloth is just large enough to cover the sur- 

 face of the syrup, the bees will have some diffi- 

 culty in climbing up a sloping surface of the pan, 

 although they will do it after a fashion. — Ed.] 



FANCY HONEY FROM BOX HIVES. 



Four Swarms Clustered Together. 



BY J. W. SPICKLER. 



About the 20th of May an extra-large swarm 

 issued from one of my hives and clustered in a 

 cherry-tree in the yard. Before the bees were 

 fairly settled a swarm came out of another hive 

 and clustered with the first one. Then a third 

 and fourth came out and all went together, mak- 

 ing one mammoth cluster. I did not care to sep- 

 arate them, and so I dumped them into a dry- 

 goods box. Later I took them out of the box 

 and put them in a smaller one, 24 inches long, 23 



inches wide and 5 inches deep. I used 15 pieces 

 of lath instead of frames, with a quarter-inch 

 starter of foundation on each one. Right after 

 this I put on a super containing 55 sections, and 

 these were filled, as shown in the engraving, in 

 about thirty days. I put on another super con- 

 taining 40 sections, but only 21 of these were 

 filled when the honey-flow ceased. 



This big colony in a box is in good shape for 

 winter at the present time. I did not kill any of 

 the queens when I hived the bees. There is 

 from eighty to one hundred pounds of honey in 

 the hive now for winter stores. 



Columbiana, Ohio. 





COMB HONEY PRODUCED BY A COLONY IN A BOX 

 HIVE. 



