1804 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



15 



Well, friend Root. I had this same objection 

 that yon raise myself; but after carefnl obser- 

 vation, wiiicli included the trapping of a lot of 

 the Utile fellows as they left the piles of cases, 

 and dusting them with flour, and then noting 

 the reception they received at the (>ntrances of 

 the various hives. I came to the conclusion that 

 the percentage of loss was small, as most of the 

 bei'ji that could fly seemed to enter hives, and I 

 believe that f he loss is more than balanced by 

 the economy of labor: and in this day of low 

 prices and sharp competition we must ctit all 

 the corners we can. 



As regards your other question. " Why do you 

 prefer a shallow brood-chamber'.'" I will say 

 that my brood-frame proper is a swinging 

 frame. 13 X 12 inches^American: that several 

 years ago I began using a surplus frame 6 x 12, 

 with closed ends: and the more I use them the 

 better I like them. They have been of special 

 value in the poor seasons we have had late 

 years, as bees will often fill a half-depth case 

 when, had they been given a full set of brood- 

 combs, they would store but little or perhaps ?wj 

 surplus. I will say, however, that I have used 

 these cases as brood-chambers on a small scale, 

 and I believe that a colony will winter better 

 in two shallow cases than one deep one, as the 

 horizontal division of the combs in the center 

 gives them free access to all parts of the hive. 



I am also strongly in favor of '" handling hives 

 more ar.d frames le.ss;" and. in the light of pres- 

 ♦*nt experience, were I to dispose of my apiary 

 and its fixtures, I should certainly adopt a shal- 

 low self -spacing frame of some kind. I could 

 then have a large hive for extracted honey, a 

 smaller one for comh honey, thus settling the 

 contraction business — a deep hive for wintering 

 and brood-rearing, and a small hive for the 

 •weak colonies in spring: and for migratory bee- 

 keeping we need a fixed frame: and it is some 

 satisfaction, when you put up a colony for ship- 

 ment, to know that the correct spacing of the 

 ■combs will be preserved, even if you did not se- 

 cuie every frame separately before yon closed 

 the hive. 



Another thing, who has not noticed combs (in 

 The center of the brood - nest perliaps). with 

 brood on one side and part of the other, and the 

 rest gnawed down nearly or quite to 'he septum? 

 cause — incorrect spacing. Tip up a few hives 

 Willi loose frames, and see how the spacing is 

 at the bottom. But, as a small volume could 

 be written on this subject. I will close. 



Monroe, la. ,1 A. Nash. 



[Friend Nash lias given us just thi^ informa- 

 tion we called for. Now. while we make and 

 fiell principally thestandard L. frame, and while 

 it might be to our interest to keep down any 

 •discussion that would bring to light the advan- 

 tages of a shallow-depth frame, we desire to 

 have our brethren speak out. Tell us. just as 

 friend Nash has done, why yon like siiullow- 



depth frames, or why you do not like them, if 

 you have tried them before. 



Friend N. makes a strong point in favor of 

 exact spacing— the facility of moving hives 

 containing the frames with fixed distances. 

 More and more the bee-keeping world is begin- 

 ning to recogni/.e this. — Ed.] 



APICULTURE IN CHILI. 



now TiiKv managp: soittii of the kquatoh. 



Nearly six pages of that excellent French bee- 

 journal, the Revue I)itern<ttio)inlc, are taken 

 up with a letter from Alfred Dufey, giving an 

 account of bee-keeping in Chili. He reports 

 that only pure Italians are found in Chili, no 

 bees having been in the country before their 

 introduction in 18.'54. (Why isn't that a good 

 place for a queen-breeder?) F^orty years later, 

 in 1874, 84,000 colonies were oiKcially reported. 

 Of course, that number has greatly increased 

 in the last 19 years. Many wild colonies are in 

 the forests, and some haciendas (plantations) 

 have as many as 1.500 colonies each. The hives 

 in use are of various forms — a brood-chamber 

 containing from 15 to 30 qtiarts, with one or two 

 similar stories placed over for surplus. Honey- 

 plants abound, especially in latitude 30 to 38. 

 The climate is colder than the corresponding 

 north latitude, but not so variable. In Novem- 

 ber and Di'ceinber, corresponding to May and 

 .June in north latitude, swarms a,re plentiful, 

 and can be bought for half a dollar each or less. 



Honey taken by the natives is not very appe- 

 tizing. Cotubs, brood, and bees are all mashed 

 in one mess that neither looks nor tastes well. 

 Others more civilized drive out the bees, but 

 mash or melt the combs. 



Some years ago a bee-keeper from France un- 

 dertook the business of raising honey, but-was 

 discouraged by the difficulties. Hives were 

 very expensive, and could not be had well made, 

 and two extractors made in Chili cost the fabu- 

 lous price of *.")0 each, and then he could get 

 only about 23.2 cents a pound for his honey. 

 Prices are betier now. 



The harvest runs from the middle of Decem- 

 ber to the first of March, very rarely to the first 

 of April. February being the best. An impor- 

 tant item is. that foul brood and the bee-moth 

 are unknown. The only trouble comes from 

 moldiness of combs in the very damp winters, 

 which is really the rainy season, for snow never 

 falls in the plains, and the thermometer rarely 

 descends as low as 4 or 5 degrees below the 

 freezing-point. 



The best source of honey in ISlr. Dufey's re- 

 eion (southern) is the ti/;/)-o. one of the largest 

 trees of the forest, covered with white fiowers 

 from the last of January itito March. Laures- 

 tine. a shrub, is aho a fine yielder. blooming 

 during winter. Iieiiig (luite hardy. Other parts 



