232 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 15 



fowl nor a human being, but simply a bee, sub- 

 jt-ct to the laws of insect life, it is the colony 

 that forms the unit, and we must treat them and 

 provide for their wants as a colony, and this 

 closed-up air-chamber serves as an outside ^.vorld 

 to this individual colony. They are not con- 

 fined, but are free to pass out of their hives and 

 in, but in total darkness, and right here lies the 

 secret. This dark air-chamber outside of the 

 hive-entrance cuts a big figure. Without it 

 failure would be the result; with it, the bees are 

 comfortable, satisfied, and contented. This gives 

 them all the walking-room they ask for, and all 

 the change of air they need. It is automatic in 

 its operation. 



One satisfactory feature of this plan is that a 

 colony of bees kept in this warm secluded con- 

 dition does not consume as much honey as when 

 packed in the ordinarv way — an item of dollars 

 and cents which is well worth considering. 



This enclosed air-chamber is 4x4X4 inches 

 with the entrance to the hive closed except this 4 

 inches which opens info this encl"sure. The 

 outside entrance is not closed until about the 

 middle of December. I only wish to say that 

 this is no fieak or wild theory but a practical 

 method of wintering our bees with a large sav- 

 ing of winter stores. 



If this plan, as I have outlined it, has been 

 tried before and proved disastrous, 1 should like 

 to know when, where, and by whom. 



Hillsdale, Mich., March 24. 



[In our footnote in reply to Mr. Woodward's 

 former article, wherein he described his method 

 of shutting bees in during winter, we spoke 

 somewhat disparagingly of any method that did 

 not permit the bees to pass from the hives during 

 winter whenever the weather permitted. We 

 drew attention to the fact that we had had some 

 disastrous experience when we tried shutting bees 

 in with straw piled loosely over the entrance to 

 shut off flight and daylight, and yet permit air 

 to pass back and forth to the hive, and of how 

 others had failed. 



In some private correspondence that has been 

 passing between Mr. Wood«ard and ourselves 

 our correspondent claims that his method of con- 

 fining the bees is very different from that which 

 we had tried — that he has a large closed ante- 

 room in front of his entrances. See his descrip- 

 tion in his last paragraph. Jf Mr. W. has solved 

 the problem o* shutting bees in during mid-win- 

 ter we shall be onlv too glad to recognize it. 

 We hope he will continue his experiments and 

 keep us posted. In the mean time the average 

 bee-keeper should try it on a small scale only. — 



Ed.] 



««»» 



CARPENTRY FOR BEE-KEEPERS. 



A New Land with New^ Conditions. 



BY F. DUNDAS TODD. 



When I started out in May, 1908, to go in for 

 bee-keeping on a larger scale than formerly I had 

 all the advantages and disadvantages that accom- 

 pany a clean start. I wa? in a strange land ot 

 the very outposts of civilization, having planted 

 myself and family at the southern end of Van- 

 couver Island, within a very few miles of the 



vast primeval fore?t that practically holds com- 

 plete possession of this not insignificant part of 

 the last Great Wes', but which, to the great mass 

 of humanity, is little more than a name. 



Round about various small arms of the sea that 

 now fill up the hollows that ages ago were scrap- 

 ed out of solid rock by huge glaciers there has 

 grown up in a slow sleepy fashion the city of 

 Vcctoria; but little more has b en reclaimed from 

 the forest than was absolutely necessary to pro 

 vide standing room for the city, and a few small 

 farms that do not begin to provide the food sup- 

 ply of the inhabitants. 



It is a beautiful spot, not excelled in natural 

 picturesqueness by any site on earth with whch 

 I am familiar; but the architecture and general 

 layout of the improvements often make me won- 

 der if the residents begin to appreciate how great- 

 ly they are favored by nature 



My old friend and rival, Mr. Russell, had pre- 

 ceded me by a few months, and so on my advent 

 i found him in possession of almost a score ot 

 bee hives which he had scraped together by 

 dint of much perseverance. A more heterogene- 

 ous conglomeration, it seemed to me, could 

 scarcely be gathered together, for i' looked as if 

 every kind of hive that is referred to in the 

 ABC and X Y Z was to be found represented 

 there I wanted to know if he was starting a 

 museum of bee-keeping appliances, but he grin 

 ned complacently as he assured me he had had 

 the pick of the region, and all that was left lor 

 me were the ones he had iei<^cted. When after 

 much searching I did get started I found myself 

 the owner of nine colonies which were housed in 

 six different styles and sizes of chambers, and 1 

 feel certain that not another hive was for sale in 

 the locality. I need not give further details, but 

 I felt I had struck trouble "all of a heap." 



My plan of campaign was to increase as rapid- 

 ly as possible and to ignore surplus Bees and 

 honey are practically interchangeable terms, for 

 the one can be converted into the other, and 1 

 knew, of course, that, if I worked for bees, sur- 

 plus honey was not to be expected. 



My first step was to decide upon the style of 

 hive to adopt. On questioning the local market 

 I found that section honey wholesaled 30 per cent 

 higher than extracted, and I therefore decided the 

 latter would be more profitable and the easier to 

 handle, as a one-man proposition, with the occa- 

 sional help of my son. Then since I had turned 

 the half-century mark, and had for almost all my 

 life been an indoor worker, whose heaviest tool 

 had been a pen or pencil, I felt it would be fool- 

 ish to handle hives of much weight, and so my 

 choice fell upon the divisible with shallow ex- 

 tracting-frames. Simplicity always appeals very 

 strongly to me, and I therefore favored a sys em 

 that is apparently interchangeable to the utmost 

 extent. Again, this is a region of moderate tem- 

 peratures. Even through June, the month of our 

 honey-flow, the thermometer rarely reaches the 

 70-degree mark, while in July and August it is 

 uncommon for it to go above 80°. The snow- 

 clad mountains all around rapidly cool the atmos- 

 phere at night, and the thermometer will drop, 

 even in the summer time, to 52° before morning. 

 It therefore seemed to me that a shallow super 

 would be preferable to one of standard type, as it 

 would be more easily kept warm at night. 



