July 19, 1906 



615 



American Ttee Journal 



Emptying T-Supers of Honey—Wiring and 

 Splinting Frames, Etc. 



BV DR. C. C. MILLER. 



JAM glad to reply to your questions on page 465, Mr. 

 Scholl. Your idea thai sections were got out of a 



T-super by being put on a bearing-board and the super 

 then pushed down is the same as the idea I first had, 

 and that's just the way it was done a good many years 

 ago. You seem to have some trouble in deciding whether 

 I now push the sections down or pull the super up. Well, 

 I do both. First the sections are pushed down the dis- 

 tance of '4 inch — the super bring upside down — and then 

 the super is pulled up off the sections, the push-board 

 holding them down so they do not come up with the 

 super. 



You want to know if it isn't a greater strain on the 

 thumb and fingers and why it's done in just such a way. 

 I suppose you mean as compared with the way first 

 mentioned. I don't know that I ever thought of it before, 

 for I've often worked at it all day long without feeling 

 any special strain on the thumb and fingers, but now that 

 you've called attention to it, there must be greater exer- 

 tion of the thumb and fingers by the present than by the 

 old way. but on the whole less labor is required, and less 

 tinn. t<> empty ioo supers by the new than by the old 

 way. 



An important difference is that by the old way the 

 sections were left standing right side up, and by the new 

 way they are upside down. And they must be upside 

 down to be easily taken apart, for it's an easy thing to 

 pick off the T-tins and then pull the sections apart when 

 they're upside down. 



You also want my judgment as to using foundation in 

 brood-frames, 10 sheets to the pound, two wires on each 

 side, assisted by vertical splints. I don't — that is to say, 

 it isn't easy to say how a thing would be that one has 

 never tried; but I'll tell you how it looks to me. More 

 care would have to be used with such thin foundation 

 lest the splints should cut it in two, especially if a little 

 too much pressure should be used. The wire would hin- 

 der the splints just a little from being pushed down in the 

 foundation, but perhaps not seriously. 



But if the splints work all right with such thin 

 foundation, the combination ought to be a good deal bet- 

 ter than the wires alone. Also, 1 think the splints alone 

 would be better than the wires and splints. That is, if 

 the same time and expense that the wires demand is used 

 for extra splints the work will be more satisfactory. I 

 hope you will experiment and tell us about it. 



There are two things for you to find out: One is to 

 find whether you can use splints on thin foundation with- 

 out cutting the foundation in two. If you can manage 

 that part all right, then you must find out how many 

 splints must be used in a frame. The thinner the founda- 

 tion, the closer must the splints be to prevent sagging. 

 With such light foundation it might need splints about 2 

 inches apart. Where much of such work is done, it is 

 possible sonve plan might be devised to do the work 

 faster than to fasten in each splint one at a time. 



Retention of Heat in iiii: Ki:ood-Nest 



On page 530, Mr. Doolittle, referring to my experiments of 

 May 7, as given on page 441, asks whether the sun was shining 

 on the hive at the time of the experiments, evidently 

 thinking that wouid account for the greater heat in the hive 

 as compared with the theremometer in the shade, for of 

 course he is right in thinking that the thermometer out- 

 side was in the shade. As nearly as I now remember, on 

 that day the sun didn't shine at all throughout the whole day, 



a thing one would naturallj guess from the fact stated on 

 page -141 that throughout the whole day it was never warmer 

 than 58 degn 1 



Neither, I think, were t ] 1 . bees working busily at the 

 time of the experiments, as .Mr Doolittle thinks, at least 

 not throughout the whole day. but only in the warmer part 

 of the day; for it will be noted that I said it was a cool day, 

 but "as the day advanced bee- worked busily." 



So I think the increased temperature over the hive can 

 hardly be accounted for by the sun shining on the hive, neither 

 entirely by the breaking of the crust from bees going afield. 

 But even supposing the difference should be accounted for 

 entirely by the fact of increased heat from the bees breaking 

 the crust when going afield does that not conflict severely 

 with the view- of Mr. Doolittle as given on page 364? He 

 there says : "The heat from the cluster is not allowed to pass 

 up into an upper hive, at any time wdien that heat is needed 

 for the brood within the cluster of bees." We have it from 

 so good an authority as G. M. Doolittle that never less than 

 92 degrees is needed for the brood within the cluster, and 

 according to that no heat should be allowed to pass up when 

 the outside temperature is below 92. May 7 it was 34 de- 

 grees lower than that, the warmest time in the day. Surely 

 one would say of such a time that it is a "time when that 

 heat is needed for the brood." 



Very likely he is right to this extent, that at night there 

 will be less difference than in the day, for there is then 

 less activity, and so less heat produced. It will be noticed, 

 too. that May 7, after 5 p. m.. when I think the bees had 

 ceased flying, the difference was only 9 degrees, which was 

 less than at any time when the bees were flying. I'll try 

 it to night, as he says night is the right time. 



And I wish, too, that Mr. Doolittle would experiment, 

 himself, with regard to this wdiole business, and tell us the 

 results. I shall be glad, however, to hear that his bees are 

 doing differently from mine, and keeping him on the jump 

 gathering the crop, so that he has no time for experiments. 



Next Morning: I arranged an upper story with a ther- 

 mometer in the afternoon, so that the bees would have 

 abundant time to settle down quietly, and at 9 p. m. I found 

 it was 64 in the upper story and 56 outside — a difference of 

 8 degrees or very nearly the same as when the bees stopped 

 flying May 7. < ' 



1 should not feel sorry, Mr Doolittle, if you could still 

 prove that no heat is lost from the cluster, for it would 

 be a convenience to know that cracks and loose covers can 

 do no harm; but I'm afraid that the only explanation of your 

 mystery is that the bees stir up the chunks and make a better 

 fire to" make up for the heat that escapes when it gets 

 colder. Marengo, 111. 



Something About Comb-Building 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



AS I am having more letters than usual asking wdiy 

 swarms, hived in an empty hive, excepting frames 

 having starters in them of worker foundation, build 

 so much drone-comb, I thought I could do no better than 

 to write a few words for the American Bee Journal re- 

 garding how the building of so much drone-comb might 

 be avoided. 



Nature has ordained that the queen shall cease her 

 prolific laying just before a swarm from any colony 

 is to issue", and for two reasons, the first of which is, that 

 the queen can fly, for if taken from the colony when 

 no such preparation has been made she cannot fly at all — 

 she is so heavy with eggs. The second reason is, 

 that the queen need not be damaged by an over-accumu- 

 lation of eggs before there is time for the bees to con- 

 struct comb in the new home for her to deposit her 

 eggs in; thus we find that all good queens do not get 

 fully prolific again after the swarm goes forth until about 

 a week has elapsed after the -warm has arrived at its 

 new home. During this week, comb has been built 

 very rapidly, especially if the swarm is a large one aud 

 nectar is coming in rapidly from the fields, while the 

 queen has not been able to keep up with the wor!- 

 the result of which is that the bees commence to build 

 store-comb, which is always of the drone-size of cells. 



This comb is mainly tilled with honey the first sea- 



