NOVEMBER 15, 1913 



I really can not tell how many years it has 

 been, and I have found them so useful that 

 1 ha\e luit them in in nearly all my hives. 

 I use double-walled hives almost exclusively, 

 and I bore an inch hole tlu-ough the outside 

 ease and packing and brood-chamber, and 

 lit in a tin tube three or four inches long- 

 anywliere from four to six inches above the 

 bottom-board. The bees seem to prefer it to 

 the lower entrance, especially during early 

 spring; but its chief value is in preventing 

 tlie entrances from becoming clogged and 

 dead bees from dropping to the bottom 

 during long-continued cold weather in win- 

 ter, for I winter out of doors. 

 * * * ■ 



SMALLER ENTRANCES AND AN ABSORBING 

 CUSHION. 



There has been considerable discussion in 

 past years as to the best size of winter 

 entrance for hives. Doubtless much will 

 depend on circumstances, such as whether 

 the bees are wintered in a warm or cold 

 climate, out of doors, in a cellar, or damp or 

 dry cellar; or if, out of doors, whether 

 packed with an absorbing cushion above the 

 winter cluster. I believe I have held the 

 extreme view, that, where bees are wintered 

 out of doors with a good absorbing cushion 

 above them, a very small entrance is prefer- 

 able. Last fall I closed a number of lower 

 entrances, leaving only an entrance through 

 a tin tube about % iii<?li i" diameter. This 

 tube going through the outside case, pack- 

 ing, and into the brood-chamber, I could 

 not see in the spring that those colonies so 

 treated liad suifered in any way from lack 

 of air or ventilation. 



THINKING BEFORE ACTING. 



Very entertaining reading, that story by 

 J. L. Byer, page 531, about moving 250 

 colonies of bees 210 miles without a mis- 

 hap ! AVhat interested me more than any 

 thing else was the way he went at it, and it 

 will bear repeating. He says, " The first 

 thing to do was to formulate plans to carry 

 out the work successfully. It is needless 

 to say considerable study was spent on the 

 matter for a few weeks prior to the trip." 

 Exactly ! and this accounts for his success. 

 When I see how many people go into bee- 

 keeping and other lines of business with- 

 out first planning their work I am not sur- 

 l)rised at the failures which follow. One 

 meets beekeepers with this or that style of 

 hive or fixture, and inquires why they use 

 it, and is informed it is because some one 

 else does, or because some one lias recom- 

 mended it. They have never even asked 

 themselves whether it is adapted to their 

 wants or circumstances. Some beekeepers 



795 



use large hives where a smaller one would 

 be better, or a small one where a large one 

 would serve a better purpose, or frame 

 hives where an old box hive or a nail-keg 

 would do them c]uite as well. Some use 

 Hoffman frames where propolis is so abun- 

 dant that you need a crowbar to pry them 

 apart, and a plain Langstroth frame, as he 

 made them, would be vastly better. 1 hard- 

 ly need add that the men and women who 

 think and plan are the ones who will suc- 

 ceed in beekeeping. Those who find it too 

 great an effort to think had better do some- 

 thing else. 



RUNAWAY SWARM CARRIES FOUL BROOD. 



Dr. Miller, page 633, Sept. 1, quotes D. 

 W. H., " If a colony slightly affected with 

 foul brood should cast a swarm, would the 

 swarm, if placed on new frames and new 

 hive, be liable to the disease if not exposed 

 aftenvardf" Doctor M. says he doesn't 

 kr.ow, and proceeds to do some fine gTiess- 

 ing. May I throw a ray of light with my 

 dark lantern f When visiting a beekeeper 

 in tlie southern part of this State, who had 

 about twenty colonies, I found among them 

 two colonies with European foul brood and 

 one with American foul brood. The colonies 

 with European foul brood were easily ac- 

 counted for, as some of his bees had had it 

 before, and there was more or less in the 

 neighborhood; but where could the colony 

 with American foul brood have contracted 

 the disease? It was a new colony, put into 

 a new hive about three weeks previous, in 

 the midst of a good flow of honey from 

 buckwheat. At first I was puzzled as to the 

 cause, and the owner also seemed exceeding- 

 ly perplexed over the matter. If a new 

 colony in a new hive should come down with 

 disease in less than a month, what chance 

 liad he for keeping his bees free from dis- 

 ease? I began to ask, " Did you give this 

 colony drawn combs? " 



" No," he replied. 



" Did you give this colony foundation in 

 the frames? " 



He said he put strips of foundation about 

 three inches wide into each fi'ame. 



" Which old colony did this diseased colo- 

 ny come from?" I asked. 



He did not know. He said he saw them 

 first in the air, and had no idea where they 

 came from. It seemed evident to me that 

 the colony placed in this hive was a run- 

 away swarm, and had come a long distance 

 — it may be five miles or even more, and, 

 passing near his yard of bees, and hearing 

 them, had clustered. The foundation was 

 quickly drawn out, and more or less of the 

 honey brought with them had been stored 

 and fed to young brood, causing disease. 



