1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



745 



hives sweat more or less, and I have often found 

 moldy combs as a result. What do you think of this 

 arransrement? 



Wheelint,', W. Va., Sept. 2. W. 0. COOPER. 



[The plan that you describe is the one employed by 

 most users of the Danzenbaker hive. As you say, in 

 effect, it makes a double-walled hive.— Ed.] 



A SUDDEN FAILURE IN UNITING AFTER HAVING HAD 

 GOOD SUCCESS. 



Last fall I wrote you what fine luck I had in combin- 

 ing weak colonies. Out of 30 such trials there was not 

 a failure, and nearly all of them just "as easy." This 

 year I have no honey, not many swarms, and so tried 

 it only once. Now, with the same man, same plan, 

 same yard, and same stock of bees, the result was a 

 horrible massacre— not one little bee of the weaker 

 colony escaped. " The ways of a woman are past find- 

 inp out," and bees are mostly women, are they not? 



Jerseyville. 111. U. S. DONIS. 



[The temperament of bees varies according to the 

 day and season. There are times when they are very 

 docile, while at other times they are very cross and 

 nervous. Colonies of gentle Italians can be united 

 under most conditions without quarreling. Bees that 

 can be united under one set of conditions without 

 trouble, might, under another set, slaughter each oth- 

 er indiscriminately. Your experience, therefore, is 

 not unusual.— Ed.] 



THE SUPER THE PLACE FOR COMB-BUILDING IN THE 

 BROOD-NEST. 



On page 594 Mr. Gibson voices a truth when he says 

 that full sheets of foundation are a necessity to a bee- 

 keeper. He also advises their use in the super. I go 

 a little further, and say that full sheets should never 

 be drawn out in the brood-chamber under any circum- 

 stances. Further, they should not be drawn out in 

 the super until the honey-flow is on in earnest. 



Every time I extract I place two frames with full 

 sheets in the super, one on each side, tilling the cen- 

 ter with drawn-out combs. This gives me two new 

 combs to each at each extracting. When a swarm re- 

 quires a hive I place six good worker combs in it, and 

 two starters, one on each side— never full sheets. Lat- 

 er I remove these to the super. 



If you hive a swarm on full sheets it will break some 

 of them down on account of the weight. I repeat, I 

 have found that the only time to build comb is during 

 the honey-flow and in the super. 



Los Angeles, Cal. T. ARCHIB.U.D. 



CAN BEES FLV BACKW.^RD ON THE SAME PLANE? 



On page 380, June 15, in reply to W. H. Sterne's in- 

 quiry, the editor expressed the opinion that bees could 

 not fly backward on a horizontal line. I opened a hive 

 to-day, and a number of bees flew out; and one, partic- 

 ularly inquisitive, with wings vibrating rapidly, seem- 

 ed much interested in an empty comb I held. I notic- 

 ed that it moved backward when I moved this toward 

 it, and, remembering the above article, I moved the 

 comb back and forth several times, keeping it on the 

 level plane, and the bee kept about two inches distant, 

 opposite a certain spot, the whole time, till it at last 

 alighted. S. C. RHODES. 



Auckland, New Zealand. 



[We now have in hand enough testimony to prove 

 conclusively that bees can fly backward in the same 

 as well as on a descending plane. We can now consid- 

 er the question settled. — Ed.J 



OIL-CLOTH OR SEALED COVERS PREFERRED. 



I have never kept a great number of colonies of bees, 

 but I have always wintered them out of doors. I use 

 ten-frame Langstroth hives. I do not use sealed cov- 

 ers, but I use oil-cloth, which is about the same thing. 

 .\s I have had better success than my neighbors I will 

 give my method. 



As my hives are all single-walled I take out four 

 frames that are the lightest in honey. If there is not 

 23 or 30 pounds of honey I see that there is by feeding. 



To -begin with I start a common eight-penny nail 

 about three inches from the outside wall that is to 

 keep the division-board from crowding against the 

 frames. Then I crowd the six frames over against the 

 division-board, and do the same thing on the other 

 side. I use buckwheat chaff or hay chaff. It is better 

 than leaves for packing. After I pack on each side of 

 the two division-boards I take three little sticks about 



M inch thick and 10 long, and lay these on top of the 

 frames, all spaced the same; then lay oil-cloth on top 

 of that. I then take an empty super and put on and 

 fill it with chaff. I can do this quicker than it takes to 

 tell it. 



In 1907 I packed 15 colonies the same as before, ex- 

 cept the oil-cloth. I used bran-sacking instead. I had 

 very poor success. I lost 6 out of the 15. I had 20 

 packed the other way, and lost one. I will take the oil- 

 cloth or sealed covers. MiNOTT C. YOUNG. 



Rutland, Yt. 



JIGGERS CAUSE SORES ON WHITE-NOSED HORSES, AND 

 NOT ALSIKE CLOVER. 



For some time I have noticed accounts in GLEANINGS 

 of animals being poisoned or breaking out into sores 

 about the head and hocks through eating alsike clover, 

 and more particularly horses and mules with white 

 faces. I think these sores may be occasioned by a 

 small insect, the same as or similar to what appears 

 here at the commencement of and continuing through 

 the rainy season called 'pronounced in Spanish "by- 

 voieen " i or " jigger " of the West Indies. While it is 

 scattered through the herbage, it particularly inhabits 

 certain flowers. It is extremely small, invisible to the 

 naked eye except when gorged with blood, when it be- 

 comes bright red. It bores into the skin, and there 

 breeds, forming sores and causing the hair to fall off, 

 especially with white animals, for the reason, I sup- 

 pose, that white skins are thinner than dark ones; 

 hence the Indians here suffer but little from them; but 

 if they get a footing on our legs they bore into the skin 

 and produce an itching, simply unbearable without 

 scratching, when a sore quickly follows, and still 

 worse itching. The remedy is to rub in alcohol or di- 

 luted ammonia or carbolic acid 



Chinipas, Mex., Oct. 13. FRANK M. BREACH. 



WINTERING BEES OUTDOORS PACKED IN CHAFF WITH 

 A TIN TUBE TO ALLOW THE MOISTURE TO ESCAPE. 



Mr. Root: — You asked for experiences in regard to 

 absorbents and non-absorbents in wintering bees. We 

 have used for the last five years, with great success, 

 the following arrangements: 



First, have the bees sirong before going into winter 

 quarters. If in single-walled hives, use about four 

 inches of chaff picked on four sides and bottom part. 

 Then cover with a Hill device; next an oil-cloth or 

 some material not porous. Then put on a chaff cush- 

 ion. Through the oil-cloth and cushion we insert a 

 small tin tube about the size of a leadpsncil, and about 

 9 inches long, to carry out the dampness and foul air. 



Some would think the tube would carry out too much 

 heat in cold and frosty weather; but we find that in 

 cold weather the tube regulates its size by the moisture 

 condensing and freezing at the upper end of the tube. 

 Sometimes the hole is no larger than a pinhead; then 

 when we have a mild spell the frost in the tube melts 

 and passes away, and gives the bees more ventilation 

 when required. We find this gives us better results 

 than sealed covers, with healthier and stronger colo- 

 nies, and with very little dysentery. 



St. George, Ont. GEORGE C. Hu.MPHREY. 



A NEW WAV OF USING THE FLOUR METHOD FOR IN- 

 TRODUCING QUEENS. 



At one time last summer I had quite a surplus of 

 virgin queens that were about six days old; and, wish- 

 ing to introduce them as quickly as possible, I decided 

 to try the flour method. I took the virgins, one at a 

 time, and threw them into a tin baking-powder can 

 half full of flour, and shut them in. As six-day old 

 virgins are very active they tried to fly around in the 

 box, and in less than one minute they were so com- 

 pletely covered with flour that they could not fly at all. 

 While in this condition I picked them up on the end of 

 a small twig and ran them in at the entrance of the 

 nucleus-boxes. Forty virgins were thus treated, and 

 about 75 per cent of them were successfully introduc- 

 ed. At the same time, three laying queens were suc- 

 cessfully introduced to full colonies by the s^me plan. 



Medina, 0. Mell Pritchard. 



[Our readers will remember that Mr. Pritchard is the 

 one who had charge of our north yard, and reared 

 nearly three thousand queens. — Ed.] 



SHORT SPLINTS SATISFACTORY. 



I used half-length wood splints this year. They 

 worked all right, and were not gnawed out. 

 Hudson, Mich. E. E. SMITH. 



