1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



575 



distressed to find my sections so greasy-look- 

 ing tliat I extracted the honey from them, al- 

 though I had orders for more comb honey 

 than I could supply. I filled these wide 

 frames with a fresh supply of sections, plac- 

 ed them in the hive, and at the same time 

 raised the hive two inches from the bottom- 

 board with four two-inch blocks. In due 

 time I had as nicely capped honey as I could 

 wish for. 

 Blanco, Texas, June 28. 



WINTERING BEES IN A WARM ROOM. 



A Single-frame Nucleus Wintered in a 

 Warm Room in an Observation Hive 

 with an Indoor Flying-cage Instead of 

 an Exit out of Doors; an Interesting Ex- 

 periment. 



On June 14, 1908, ten days after swarming, 

 a single comb well filled with brood, and 

 containing two queen-cells, was taken from 

 a full-sized colony and placed in an observa- 

 tion hive. The queen hatched June 19, and 

 began laying June 30. The young bees com- 

 menced hatching July 20. The old bees had 

 then become reduced to a mere handful; but 

 ever since the hatching of the new brood 

 the colony was full and strong. Feeding 

 with sugar syrup was resorted to on Aug. 22, 

 and continued until Sept. 1. The bees had 

 then filled three-fourths of the frame with 

 the syrup, and capped it over, and this form- 

 ed the winter store. 



On the evening of Oct. 29 the hive was 

 brought into the house and placed on a table 

 with its entrance opening into a box or cage 

 which served as a flying-space. This cage 

 was two feet each way, and consisted ofa 

 framework of -4 -inch pine strips covered 

 with wire netting. A hinged door divided 

 one of the sides vertically in halves, and pro- 

 vided an opening large enough to admit pot- 

 ted plants of good size. The entrance to the 

 hive was in the center of one side, facing a 

 window. 



For the first four days there was some 

 beating of wings against the wires in the at- 

 tempt to get out, a few bees wearing them- 

 selves out in the struggle; but after that the 

 lesson seemed to have been learned; and ev- 

 ery day throughout the winter bees came 

 out into the cage, oftentimes flying about 

 without alighting, and returning to the hive. 

 The temperature of the room ranged from 

 50 to 70. 



On Jan. 2G, 1909, the queen began laying, 

 and continued until a space five inches m 

 diameter on each side of the frame was oc- 

 cupied with brood. Kye flour was placed in 

 the cage Feb. 8. The bees did not readily 

 take this, although they had eagerly stripped 

 the pollen from the flowers, such as mignon- 

 ette and cineraria, which had been placed 

 in the cage; but when the rye flour was sprin- 

 kled upon the blossoms the bees worked up- 

 on it very willingly. At this time, the win- 

 ter stores were getting very low and the 

 quf en stopped laymg. 



On March 27, feeding was resorted to, hon- 

 ey being used this time instead of sugar syr- 

 up. This feeding bees continued until the 

 outside supply was available. The queen 

 began laying again soon after the feeding 

 commenced. P resh water was kept in the 

 cage near the hive entrance all winter. 



One of the very interesting features which 

 the enclosed flying-cage made possible was 

 the opportunity of accurately noting the 

 number of bees that died from day to day. 

 During November the mortality was 93; in 

 December it was 60; in January, 154; in Feb- 

 ruary, 201; in March, 361; and up to the pres- 

 ent writing, April 9, the death rate averaged 

 about the same as in February, while the 

 hatching of the new brood appeared to have 

 been kept the total number in the colony 

 nearly uniform. 



The School of Horticulture. 



Hartford, Ct. 



[This is, indeed, a very interesting experi- 

 ment, and we hope others of our subscribers 

 will try it this winter. 



If we can once get bees to fly in a small 

 wire-cloth enclosure without bumping their 

 heads against the wire we have before us 

 possibilities of mating in confinement. Who 

 will work it out? — Ed.] 



CARPENTRY FOR BEE-KEEPERS. 



Making Frames. 



BY F. DUNDAS TODD. 



In the end of 1906 Mr. Hutchinson told in 

 his excellent Review how he secured good 

 frames all cut and ready to put togther at 

 less than one cent each, this low price being 

 possible by getting the planing-mill people 

 to make the parts out of waste at their lei- 

 sure. I thought I went him one better when 

 I ordered the material in strips and cut them 

 out myself, but I find my frames cost nearly 

 two cents each. I was charged nearly half 

 a cent a foot for ;5svjs lumber; and since 

 each frame contains 41 inches, not to speak 

 of the necessary waste, one can readily see 

 what the material costs for one frame. As I 

 have already told, regular factory frames for 

 this size of hive cost me here under three 

 cents. 



Here are the specifications for frames suit- 

 able for the divisible hive I have been de- 

 scribing: 



Top-bar, 18^4^ in., 1 piece. 



Bottom-bar, 17fs in., 1 piece. 



End bar, 5?^ in., 2 pieces. 



These are made from >sX,"s stock. 



First, the lumber must be cut into proper 

 lengths; and since I had to make 200 frames, 

 a jig was a necessity to save time, and, above 

 all, to ensure accuracy. This particular jig 

 took the form of a rather long miter-box. To 

 make, get two pieces of '/s lumber about 3 

 feet long, and one a foot shorter. I really 

 used fence-rails. The long pieces should be 

 about four inches wide, the third about two 

 inches. The wide pieces are to form the 

 sides of the miter-box; the narrow piece, the 



