758 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Dec. 15 



SIFTINGS. 



By J. E. Crane, Middlebury, Vt. 



That method of hiving a swarm automatic- 

 ally,by Chas. E. Adams, p. 336, June 1, seems 

 to me the simplest by far, and most satisfac- 

 tory that I have seen; but in large yards it 

 might not^iwork so well. 

 ^- 



On p. 622, Oct. 15, an abundance of clover 

 bloom is predicted for 1910. Clover is now 

 in much better condition here than it was a 

 year ago. I believe there is no way in which 

 we can increase the yield of honey more 

 surely than by stimulating the farmers to 

 sow alsike"clover seed. 

 4?- 



Yesterday I went to look over a small api- 

 ary for a neighbor, a mile and a half away. 

 I found his colonies averaged twice the 

 amount of winter stores that my own colo- 

 nies did, so that, being outside of the range 

 of my bees, the small number of colonies 

 had a larger proportion of pasturage than 

 my colonies had. 



I believe that the conclusions of W. F. Cox 

 and F. Greiner, pages 631, 632, Oct. 15, in re- 



f:ard to the value of excluders, are correct, 

 n one yard of 100 colonies where extracting- 

 supers and excluders were used this year, I 

 found practically all of the honey above the 

 excluders, although there was an abundance 

 of room below. [See letter by Elias Fox on 

 page 762 in this issue. — Ed.] 



On page 369 Mr. Byer tells of the injury to 

 stock by feeding on alsike clover. Although 

 this clover grows very extensively in this 

 section I have never before heard of its in- 

 juring stock. Is not the fault that of the 

 white-nosed horses rather than of the clover? 

 May be their noses would crack if they fed 

 on other clovers alone. Hereabout, alsike 

 clover is thought to be far better than red 

 clover for all kinds of stock. 

 4^ 



On page 622, Oct. lo, I see no objection to 

 putting baits in corners. I have sometimes 

 used the outside of the super from corner to 

 corner for baits. I think they are better on 

 the outside than in the center; for, if placed 

 in the center, bees are often induced to fill 

 the baits before they are strong enough to 

 do much more; but if the baits are on the 

 sides of the super, the colony is usually 

 strong enough to do good work all through 

 the super after they once begin on the out- 

 side. 



4- 



Friend Foster, page 455, Aug. 1, says that 

 shipping-cases that have >i-inch space be- 

 tween the tops of the sections and the covers 

 are a better protection for honey than those 

 in which the sections are flush with the top. 

 He is right so far as the better protection is 

 concerned, but I wonder whether he thinks 

 this is enough for these thin factory-made 

 basswood cases. I have just stepped on an 



empty case and found that the cover bent 

 down I'/i inches in the center. It would be 

 better to have more space above the sections 

 than yi inch, or else have the covers made 

 thicker, or avoid stepping on them altogether. 



That is a pretty good record, p. 621. Oct. 

 15 — 2873 queens reared in one season by one 

 man and a small boy. There are some 

 things some of us would like to know. How 

 many colonies of bees did it take, and how 

 many nuclei? [There were about 75 colonies 

 in the spring. When queen-rearing opera- 

 tions were under full sway we had 170 twin 

 nuclei, or 340 in all. Bees for some of these 

 were drawn from the other yards; but most 

 of them were supplied from the 75 colonies 

 referred to. As to how these nuclei were 

 made up, see Nov. 1st issue, page 667. — Ed.] 



4!- 



UNITING IN THE FALL. 



On page 593, Oct. 1, Mr. Doolittle tells us 

 how to unite bees in the autumn days. His 

 plan means too much work when the yards 

 are five or ten miles from home. I have had 

 little difficulty after the cool weather comes 

 and the bees are clustered closely, by just 

 shaking them together in one hive. The 

 cool air seems to take away all disposition to 

 fight, and the new comers are always wel- 

 come, as they help to keep up the warmth; 

 but I rarely try to unite queenless colonies, 

 as I do not consider them of much value if 

 they have been without a queen for some 

 time. 



4> 



THE PROPER DENSITY OF SYRUP. 



You are quite right, Mr. Editor, page 589, 

 Oct. 1, in advising syrup made of two parts 

 of sugar to one of water. There is a waste 

 in reducing if much thinner syrup is given, 

 and the bees take it too slowly if it is much 

 thicker. 



On p. 590, Dr. Miller says he has fed over 

 one thousand pounds of sugar this year. 

 We have beat you, doctor. We have had to 

 feed some eight thousand pounds and one 

 thousand pounds of honey. This meant 

 some work, since most of our bees were 

 from three to ten miles from home. 

 4?- 

 BROOD-CHAMBERS CROWDED WITH HONEY. 

 On p. 592, Oct. 1, friend Holtermann objects 

 to the way Wesley Foster and Dr. Miller 

 manipulate their supers, as his experience is 

 that such methods crowd the brood-chamber 

 with honey. Oh, my! but wouldn't we like 

 a little of such experience? When I began 

 bee-keeping I used to worry about the 

 brood-chambers getting crowded with hon- 

 ey; but after more than forty years of expe- 

 rience with hundreds of colonies I have nev- 

 er known of a colony seriously injured by 

 having too much honey, but have known of 

 hundreds that were injured by having too 

 little. I have removed many queens the 

 last of June and July so that my bees would 

 fill their combs with honey rather than with 

 brood. 



