1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



693 



SIFTINGS. 



By J. E. Crane, Middlebury, Vt. 



Mr. Doolittle's advice, page 493, August 15, 

 on the subject of tiering up supers to get the 

 least number of unfinished sections, is sound, 

 and valuable from start to finish, and well 

 worth following. 



The fact that there was a difference of two 

 days in the time of the hatching of queens 

 from cells scaled the same day, as reported 

 by John Silver, in the Irish Bee Journal, and 

 referred to by Dr. Miller, page 454, August 

 1, accounts for the delayed hatching of queens 

 that has often puzzled me. Why should 

 some hatch sooner than others? 



On page 495, August 15, Mr. Wm. M. Whit- 

 ney says he has yet to see a strong colony, 

 however strong it may be, having excessive 

 storage room and proper ventilation during 

 the nectar flow, sulking. Well, I have; and 

 after shaking the bees and taking away their 

 brood they went to woi'k after a day or two 

 with a will. Yes, sir, shaking is a good thing. 

 I believe in shaking. A gentleman who had 

 been a school superintendent was telling me 

 some time ago of visiting a school taught by 

 a vigorous young woman who had one very 

 dull pupil. After spending some time ex- 

 ])laining some simple mathematical problem 

 to the Doy she asked him if he could see 

 through it; and when he said he could not, 

 she took him by his coat-collar and gave him 

 a good shaking. She inquired whether he 

 could see through the problem any better 

 then, and he said he thought he could, a lit- 

 tle. Then she gave him a more vigorous 

 shaking than before, and he said he thought 

 he could see through it some better. She 

 shook him the third time with a vengeance, 

 and then he was sure that he saw through it 

 all right. Surely there is virtue in shaking. 



On page 496, August 15, an account is given 

 of Mr. Rood's success in keeping honey in a 

 liquid condition in a solar wax-extractor, and 

 I notice that tlie editor seems to think that 

 the direct rays of the sunlight prevent gran- 

 ulation to some extent. My experience has 

 bt on just the opposite. I have used a bleach- 

 ing-room for several years, and have become 

 convinced that combs exposed to the sun for 

 two weeks or so are much more apt to gran- 

 ul ite than those not so exposed. A glass jar 

 filled with honey was left on a shelf in my 

 bieaching-room, and after a time the side 

 next to the glass, which was the side most 

 exposed to the sun's rays, was granulated 

 nearly solid, while that on the other side of 

 the jar had not yet begun to granulate I 

 had another jar of honey, which, so far as I 

 know, was left out of a lot which was pack- 

 ed in a case and nailed up. The honey in 

 the case remained with but very little change 



for nearly two years, while that out in the 

 light became solid in a comparatively short 

 time, or in less than half the time that was 

 required for the jars in the case to granulate. 



Mr. Editor, I belive you have struck a good 

 "lead," as the miners say, on page .504, on 

 the question of a large amount of ventilation 

 to prevent swarming. The plan certainly 

 looks as though it were worth following by 

 those who have hives that can be given a 

 large amount of air when most needed. On 

 page 626, Oct. 15, I mentioned Mr. Latham's 

 success in preventing swarming. The en- 

 trances of his hives are very large, nearly or 

 quite two inches high, and he leaves them 

 open the whole year, except for a short tinie 

 during the early spring. I believe the main 

 virtue of Mr. Aspinwall's hive was the large 

 amount of air that could be given the bees 

 during the warmest part of the season. 

 Would it not be strange, if, after all these 

 years, in our search for a non-swarming hive, 

 it should be found that all that the bees need 

 to keep them from swarming is plenty of air, 

 shade, room, and good queens? If this re- 

 duces swarming three-fourths or even seven- 

 eighths, it looks as though the problem were 

 nearly solved. 



On page 472, E. D. Townsend gives some 

 instructions to beginners on the subject of 

 getting straight worker combs from starters. 

 Mr. Townsend says, "For instance, a new 

 medium-sized swarm placed in a hive of a 

 size that may be filled with combs of brood 

 in about 23 days or less, ought to build work- 

 er comb mainly, although some of the last 

 combs built may contain a few drone-cells. 

 The secret seems to be in having just the 

 right number of workers and just the right 

 amount of honey coming in, so that the bees 

 will draw out the combs no faster than the 

 queen can occupy them with brood." He al- 

 so says that there should be a honey-flow of 

 three or four pounds a day. Now, I have 

 been wondering how a beginner is to tell a 

 medium-sized swarm from one above or a 

 little below medium size; and how is he to 

 tell just the size of hive that may be filled in 

 23 days or less? I think it would puzzle 

 some of the older ones to tell that. And then 

 how can one without experience tell what is 

 just the right number of workers, and wheth- 

 er the right amount of honey is coming in, or 

 whether there is just three or four pounds 

 of honey or nectar coming in each day. 

 Would it not be better to say that colonies 

 having young queens build much less drone 

 comb than those with older queens, and that 

 such should be used for this purpose so far 

 as possible? It might be well, also, to state 

 that a small colony will build less drone 

 comb, as a rule, than a largo one, and that 

 less drone comb is built when honey comes 

 in slowly than when it comes in with a rush. 

 When the beginner has had experience the 

 directions given by Mr. Townsend are all 

 right. 



