702 



A KEVI.SIOX OF " WINTERING BEES. 



We have just received from the Glean- 

 ings press a newly revised edition of a book 

 entitled " Wintering Bees," by E. R. Root. 

 It contains 62 pages, paper covered. It is 

 fully illustrated, and well printed. This 

 new revised edition contains particulars 

 regarding the latest methods of wintering, 

 such as the subject of candy for feeding 

 bees. It also places strong emphasis on the 

 imi^ortance of windbreaks for outside colo- 

 nies. In a general way it covers the whole 

 subject of indoor and outdoor wintering ; 

 ventilation and temperature of bee-cellars: 

 general construction of bee-cellars; then 

 winds up with a few concluding facts well 

 to bear in mind. These facts or statements 

 were indorsed by no less authorities than 

 Dr. C. C. Miller and the late W. Z. Hutch- 

 inson. Price 10 cents, postpaid. 



CORRECTION REGARDING MILLER METHOD OF 

 INTRODUCING. 



The following telegram from Mr. Arthur 

 C. Miller, just as we go to press, will ex- 

 plain : 



E. R. Root: — You have misquoted me, and there- 

 by done me injustice — editorial, page 667. I do not 

 confine ciueens twelve hours. Alley did not introduce 

 to full colonies with tobacco smoke — Handy book, 

 pages 25 and 26, edition 1883. 



Arthur C. Miller. 



Providence, R. I., Oct. 10. 



We do not know how this error crept in ; 

 but the method that Ave find so efficacious is 

 precisely the one that Mr. Miller recom- 

 mends in his article on page 370 in our 

 issue for June 1. Furthermore, it is true 

 that Mr. Alley did not introduce to full 

 colonies. The only point of similarity be- 

 tween the Alley method and the Miller is 

 that Alley used tobacco smoke and intro- 

 duced only, to nuclei. He evidently did not 

 contemplate the plan of introducing to full 

 colonies, under all conditions, laying and 

 virgin queens, the latter of any age. We 

 may say further that we are still using the 

 ])la'n; and if it continues to work as satis- 

 factorily as it has done, we shall recom- 

 mend it to all of our customers in prefer- 

 ence to the caging method. 



ARE SPECIAL NUMBERS ON ONE TOPIC CON- 

 FUSING? 



Our first idea in providing special num- 

 bers such as we have had during the last 

 few years was to draw out the best avail- 

 able thought on the special subject in ques- 

 tion, so that iu a " multitude of counselors " 

 there might be wisdom. In one. or two of 

 these numbers, experts have disagreed some- 

 what, so that we were fearful the effect 

 might be somewhat confusing. This fear 

 is expressed by one of our subscribers, Rev. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



G. H. Chatterton, who writes as follows: 

 " For my part 1 do not care so much to 

 have one whole number on one subject. It 

 seems to confuse one when there are so 

 many different views expressed." 



We are willing to abide by the wishes of 

 our readers in this respect. We shall soon 

 have to be making plans for the special 

 numbers next year if we have them, and at 

 this time, therefore, we should be very glad 

 if those of our readers who are interested 

 in the matter would express their opinion 

 briefly on a postcard, and mail it to us. We 

 should prefer to have nothing else on the 

 card, and to have the opinion on a postcard 

 only. We shall govern our actions accord- 

 ing to the opinions expressed by the major- 

 it v of those who vote. 



GETTING COMBS FASTENED IN SECTIONS AFTER 



THEY HAVE BEEN FILLED WITH HONEY 



AND CAPPED OVER. 



Dr. a. F. Bonney, after seeing the arti- 

 cle by Dr. Humpert in our last issue, page 

 674, on cutting up filled extracting-combs 

 and fitting them into sections for the bees 

 to fasten, wrote us that he had been experi- 

 menting along the same general lines with- 

 out the knowledge of what our correspon- 

 dent had been doing, and that, before he 

 had seen the Humpert article, he had sent a 

 communication to the American Bee Jour- 

 nal that is yet to be published. He hoped, 

 therefore, no one would think he had been 

 copying. 



In the mean time, A. I. Root says that 

 away back in the early '70's the first section 

 honey he ever put up was made in this way 

 — that is to say, he cut up the best combs 

 from his extracting-frames, and fitted them 

 into squares of wood for the bees to 

 fasten afterward. These he called " sec- 

 tions " or " sectional honey-boxes." If we 

 are correct, he originated these names. Well, 

 he made the discovery that the bees would 

 not make the attacliments satisfactorily in 

 most cases — that it was very much better to 

 13ut the sections in the hive, let the bees 

 build, fill, and cap the combs in the first 

 place, than it was to work on the other 

 plan. 



In relation to this matter, we have receiv- 

 ed a letter from Mr. M. H. Hunt, one of 

 the veteran beekeepers of Michigan, and 

 who did a good deal of pioneer work among 

 his bees when A. I. Root was doing his 

 early experimenting. Mr. Hunt writes: 



Dear Mr. Root: — I have just finished reading Dr. 

 G. A. Humpert's article in Oct. 1st Gleanings. 

 Years ago, when I used to go to fairs, I cut honey 

 to fit solidly into glass and wooden sections, and 

 had the bees fasten the same. This summer I had 

 only two days' notice of a banquet, and I cut and 



