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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



why it becomes rapidly enfeebled upon being fed 

 sugar if there is no substitute for the lacking albu- 

 men. 



With absolute reliability the proof is consequently 

 brought that bees are weakened — first, through too 

 rapid feeding of large quantities of sugar; second, 

 through feeding during continuously bad weather, or 

 so late that pollen is no longer to be obtained. 



It also becomes clear why the finest circle of pol- 

 len disappears after sugar is fed, without any brood 

 being started; and why continued feeding of sugar 

 in spring, with a lack of pollen at the same time, so 

 rapidly decimates the colonies, and causes gaps in 

 the surface of the brood. — Dr. U. Kramer, in 

 Schweizerische Bienenzeitung . 



A Simple Plan of Sifting to Find a Queen 



Mr. B. Keep, page 703, November 1, wishes to 

 know if anybody has a simpler plan than his for 

 sifting bees. I think my plan is ahead of his in at 

 least two particulars. In the first place, I do not 

 have to drive nails in my good excluders ; and, sec- 

 ond, bees run up through an excluder easier than 

 they will run down. 



I move, my hive off the old stand, put down a new 

 bottom-board, lay a wood-bound excluder on it, then 

 set an empty hive body on the excluder. I take out 

 my frames one at a time, look them over carefully, 

 then shake them in front of the entrance ; and, after 

 shaking, put the frames in this empty body. Finally 

 I shake the bees from the bottom-board and old hive 

 body in the same way. 



After treating one hive I go to the next; and in 

 thirty or forty minutes after I am through, the bees 

 are all in their hive. Then I lift the hives off the 

 excluders and find the queen on the bottom-board or 

 on the excluder. C. A. McCarty. 



Freewater, Ore. 



[This plan is similar to that mentioned by Robert 

 Forsyth, page 83, Feb. 1, 1912, except that Mr. F. 

 has a special sieve designed to slip in the entrance. 



As Mr. McCarty says, bees will go upward through 

 perforated zinc when placed between the entrance 

 and hive proper much more rapidly than they ^¥ill 

 go down. The reason for this is plain. When they 

 are shaken in front of a hive there will be a regular 

 stampede to get in. W^hen they are shaken into an 

 upper story with a perforated zinc bottom there is 

 no particular desire to go below, and they will often 

 hover together in a large mass, especially if the 

 queen is with them, and it may be some time before 

 they will all go down. For this reason perforated 

 zinc in front of the entrance, or just above the bot- 

 tom-board, is to be preferred to one placed above 

 the brood-nest. — Ed.] 



Shipping Cases; Carrier Needed 



Mr. Editor, you've been doing a good work by 

 hammering away about carriers and safety cases 

 to keep comb honey from being smashed when ship- 

 ped. Now suppose you slip in a few words about 

 another thing just as important. You can have 

 carriers and safeties to your heart's content, and 

 your sections will be smashed in them if the comb 

 is not properly fastened in the wood ; and to make 

 sure of that fastening, you must have full sheets of 

 ioundaiion and bottom starters. A section thus well 

 fastened on four sides will ship more safely in a 

 regular shipping case without carrier than a section 

 fastened only at top in safety and carrier. 



Marengo, 111. C. C. Miller. 



[W^e agree to all you say except the last sentence, 

 and there we take issue with you strongly. We do 

 not care how a comb is fastened in a section. If it 

 is placed in any kind of shipping case, and is drop- 

 ped or handled roughly, especially in cool or cold 

 weather, it will be almost sure to break out, or 

 break enough so as to allow the honey to leak, thus 



practically ruining its sale at even a fair price. 

 On the other hand, a comb fastened on three sides 

 of a section only, will usually go through in ordi- 

 narily good order providing the case holding it is 

 put -with a lot of other cases into a carrier with a 

 cvshio7i of straw beneath. A carrier is so big, heavy, 

 and awkward that freight-handlers simply can not 

 throw it. During the last few months we have seen 

 a good many ears of honey unloaded. Not six weeks 

 ago, as fine a lot of comb honey as we ever saw was 

 shipped to Medina in ordinary cases without carri- 

 ers. The most of this had combs secured to all four 

 sides of the section. It was badly broken down on 

 arrival. If this honey had been put up carefully, 

 and had been loaded, by a beekeeper, on a car 

 bottom, properly braced and cushioned with straw, 

 there would not have been such a breakage and 

 leakage. Or, better still, if it had been put into 

 carriers, not a pound of that honey would have been 

 broken. We hope, however, you will go on preach- 

 ing the importance of full sheets and bottom starters. 

 We join with anybody or any proposition that, di- 

 rectly or indirectly, will serve to deliver our comb 

 honey to market in better condition. — Ed.] 



A Start with a Whole Apiary 



I am a new recruit in the ranks of the bee pro- 

 fession. In March, 1910, because my health called 

 for more outdoor employment, I violated all the 

 established rules for beginners in bee culture by 

 purchasing a small apiary (34 colonies that came 

 through the spring), together with hives and all 

 other tools and equipment. My experience in mod- 

 ern beekeeping was practically nothing. I purchas- 

 ed the ABC book, subscribed for Gleanings, and 

 began to educate myself by reading the writings 

 and experiences of others, and studying and experi- 

 menting with the bees themselves. My first season 

 was so pleasant and profitable that I discontinued 

 all my practice, except insurance work, and planned 

 to extend my bee business to "full size." Last sum- 

 mer, with a spring count of 56 colonies, I of course 

 had more honey, though the season here was affected 

 unfavorably by the summer drouth as elsewhere. 

 I now have 93 colonies, good, bad, and indifferent, 

 in winter quarters. I have worked for honey rather 

 than increase. 



Pellston, Mich. J. D. ROBINSON. 



Hiving Bees on Leafy Twigs in a Box 



J. E. Crane's comments, Sept. 15, p. 597, on 

 hiving a swarm by smoking, is noted. Did you 

 ever try them this way ? Take a basket or box 

 to the spot where they are clustered ; drop a bunch 

 ot leafy twigs in the bottom of the basket or box, 

 then shake the bees on these twigs. It seems to 

 work well. I use a little smoke too. 



Spargursville, C, Sept. 25. J. R. Coopia. 



[We have never tried the plan recommended by 

 Mr. Crane ; but we feel very sure that leafy twigs 

 are more inviting to bees or to a swarm than most 

 other objects. — Ed.] 



" Denatured " Sugar 



Our weather here in this country was so bad that 

 the government allowed beekeepers sugar free from 

 taxes. The sugar, however, at the factory, was mix- 

 ed with 5 per cent of ground quartz (fine sand) so 

 that it could not be used in the home. 



Jos. A. Hebebly. 



Markt Oberdorf, Bavaria, Germany. 



Fondant Bee Feed Used Successfully 



I wish to state that I tried E. C. Newell's fondant 

 bee feed (page 635, Oct. 1), and fed it in a Doo- 

 little division-board feeder with great success. I 

 fed four colonies 10 lbs. All are in fine condition at 

 present. John R. Douglass. 



San Francisco, Cal., Nov. 6. 



