1909 



Gi^EANlNGS IN BEE CULTURE 



645 



dispensable. I( acts as a ladder so the bees can climb 

 up the sides of the pan, and at the same time prevents 

 drownintf.— Ed.J 



QUEENS FLYING WHEN THE HIVES AHE OPENED, 



On paee 546, Sept. 1, I note the reference to the 

 queens leuvinc the hive when the cover is removed. 

 I have found this to be very frequently the case when 

 the comb is removed from the hive. I do not think il 

 a Bood plan, however, to leave the hive open the 

 lenjith of time mentioned in order to allow the queen 

 to return. Instead of this I shake in the air the bees 

 from this comb or from some other comb in the hive; 

 and as they alight at the entrance of the hive they caU 

 the <ueen back. I think no queen will be lost if this 

 is done. W. J. Littlefield. 



Little Rock, Ark. 



[The suggestion, to shake a lot of the bees out of the 

 hive into the open air so they will go back to the hive 

 in droves, thus attracting the queen, is a good one; 

 but no harm can come from leaving the hive open for 

 a considerable length of time unless robbers are 

 prowling ahout. In case the queen does not shortly 

 return to her own hive, it would be well to look over 

 the combs of all the others of the near-by colonies; 

 for if she goes into a strange hive she will be balled; 

 and in separating the frames her presence can be very 

 easily detected, because the missing queen will be 

 found in the ball. After being taken from the angry 

 mess of bees she should be caged in her own colony 

 for 24 or 36 hours, f'^r otherwise she would be in dan- 

 erer of being balled by her own subjects. — ED.l 



VENTILATION OF HIVES IN A CELLAR. 



Last year I had 100 colonies in the cellar. I piled 

 the hives one above the other, live high. I leave the 

 entrancH open the full width of the hive, and then 

 break ibe seal of the cover and put pieces of broken 

 sections under each corner, at one end. The ther- 

 mometer registers from 42 to 48 degrees, although it 

 sometimes goes above 50 The cellar is in clay ground, 

 and has rather damp walls, with stone on two sides 

 and tile for the other two. It also ha-s a tile floor. 



Larue, Ohio. G. C. Alunger. 



[In most bee-cellars it would be better to omit up- 

 ward ventilation. Unless actual tests prove to the 

 contrary, we would advise you to leave the cover 

 sealed down tight We are sure this is better for most 

 localities and cellars, although there may be some 

 conditions where upward ventilation is desirable. 

 But letting the heat of the cluster escape through the 

 top of the hive makes the interior temperature too 

 cold. This would reader it necessary for the bees to 

 consume too heavily of their stores, with the result 

 that their intestines would become clogged. Purging 

 or dysentery would then take place before spring.— 

 En.] 



VENTILATION THROUGH THE BOTTOM-BOARD IN WINTER. 



Has any one ever tried boring an inch hole in the 

 bottom-board of a hive which is to stay outdoors all 

 winter to prevent suffocation, or to reduce the danger 

 of it to a minimum? I am experimenting with a few 

 hives, but I fear not enough to give positive informa- 

 tion. A. F. BONNEV. 



Buck Grove, Iowa. 



[An auger-hole would be objectionable if as large as 

 one inch in diameter, because it would admit field- 

 mice. For outdoor wintering no entrance should be 

 deeper than ?>, and it would be better if only ^ inch. 

 In other words, our winter entrances should be in the 

 form of a narrow slot. 



There would be no danger of bees suffocating with 

 an ordinary entrance GxYi deep, providing, along in 

 February or March, any dead bees that might clog the 

 passageway were raked out with a hooked wire. — Ed.] 



COMBS CUT DOWN TO FOL'NDATION BY THE BEES. 



With regard lo Mr. A. W. Acker's query concerning 

 the bees cutting down the combs to the midrib, p. 477, 

 Aug. 1, I can speak somewhat from experience. Last 

 year I noticed in several hives that they were cutting 

 down their combs. I made an investigaiion and found 

 that it was always the old combs being cut down to 

 the midrib. In some cases they cut large holes in 

 them. In oie case in particular I gave the dry black 

 combs of a hive 'that had died out) to one that was 

 booming strong. They cut all the oldest combs in the 

 super down to the midrib: but in no case did they cut 



down any cells that had not been used for bmod- 

 rearing. I have not noticed them at it this year. Since 

 it is always old black combs that are thus treated I 

 have come to the conclusion that, after rearing brood 

 many times in the same cells, the cells become so mis- 

 shapen that the bees cut them down in order to cor- 

 rect that trouble, else the young bees would be small 

 and defective. I have never known any other than 

 Italians to trim their combs thus. 

 Brownsville. Texas, SepL 8. W. C. C. Foster. 



THE INDIANA STATE FAIR. 



At our State fair the bee and honey industry is well 

 represented, there being four exhibits, and all of them 

 very creditable. The exhibitors are Geo. M. Rumler, 

 Mohawk. Ind.; E. L. Barnes, Bedford, Ky.; C. M. Scott 

 Co.. Indianapolis, and myself. Awards were made to- 

 day as follows: 



Bee-supplies— first, Walter S. Pouder; second, C. M. 

 Scott Co.; third, E. L. Barnes. 



General display— first, Walter S. Pouder; second, C. 

 M. Scott Co.; third, E. L. Barnes. 



Beeswax— first, Walter S. Pouder; second, C. M. 

 Scott Co.; ihird, E. L. Barnes. 



Italian bees— first, Walter S. Pouder; second, C. M. 

 Scott Co.; third, E. L. Barnes. 



Comb honey— first, E. L. Barnes; second. Walter S. 

 Pouder; third, C. M. Scott Co. 



Extracted honey— first, G. M. Rumler; second. Wal- 

 ter S. Pouder; third, C. M. Scott Co. 



Foreign be«9— first, E. L. Barnes; second, Walter S. 

 Pouder. 



Honey vinegai^first, C. N. Scott Co.; second, E. L. 

 Barnes; third, Walter S. Pouder. 



Mr. Jay Smith, Vincennes, Ind., acted as judge. Mr. 

 George S. Demuth, Peru, Ind., gave lectures, exhibit- 

 ed modern bee-app4iances, and showed specimens of 

 foul brood in glass cases as an educational affair in 

 connection with our new State foul-brood measure, 

 Mr. Demuth being chief inspector of apiaries. 



Indianapolis. Ind., Sept. 8. WALTER S. POUDER. 



HOW TO KEEP THIEVES FROM STEALING HONE\'. 



Thieves bothered me last spring, so I nailed the 

 hive-covers fast and raised up the back of the hive 

 three inches, so that it would fall easily. When the 

 thieves came the next time they failed to get any 

 honey, for the hives dropped and the bees poured out 

 at once. One of my colonies is pure Cyprian, and I 

 found the bees from this colony still mad the next 

 morning, for they met me at the gate and kept contin- 

 ually fljing around the chimney of the bee-house. 



Boonville. Ind. S. ECKSTEIN. 



DO BEANS YIELD HONEY? 



I should like to ask some of the bee-keepers of Mich- 

 igan whether there is much honey gathered from tb* 

 bean-blossoms. There are thousands of acres of 

 beans raised here in this part of the State. 



Luce, Mich., Aug. 7. WM. Craig. 



[Considerable honey is taken from the bean-fields of 

 California. We know of no reason why the same fam- 

 ily would not yield nectar in other States when condi- 

 tions are right.— ED.] 



DOES HONEY -DEW EVER GRANULATE IN THE CO.MBS? 



It assuredly does here, this year, seemingly within 

 48 hours. When dug out of the cells it looks like a 

 miniature pillar of basalt. I rather worried about its 

 presence; but I now find it is being consumed very 

 fast, so that little will be left to winter on. The sugar- 

 barrel will have to be the main source of winter stores. 



Victoria, B. C. Sept. 15. F. DUNDAS TODD. 



[Honey-dew in this locality apparently granulates 

 as readily as ordinary honey. It is very unusual ior 

 anv honey to candy inside of 48 hours.— ED.] 



A CORRUGATED UNCAPPING- KNIFE. 



Have any of the readers of GLEANINGS tried a bev- 

 eled corrugated knife, known as a Christy bread and 

 cake knife, on new thick extracting-combs? I find it 

 superior to the Bingham with the offset hand e. as it 

 does not crush the comb; and though it might not do 

 so well on uneven ones, yet for cutting down to the 

 wood on a thick comb it is all r!ght. Let some od« 

 try it and report. They are listed al 25 cts. 



Green Ridge. Man.. Can. B. BREWSTER. 



