GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1. 



not succeed, the transition from stage to stage 

 takes place In the hive itself — the worst thing 

 possible for the bees, for the newly hatched 

 pliora does irreparable mischief, so that the 

 colony perishes. 



^ — I ^ 



PACKING VERSUS SINGLE-WALL HIVE. 



DISADVANTAGES OF SECTIONAL BHOOD-CHAM- 

 BERS. 



By F. Oreiner. 



On page 344, 1893, Mr. Dilworth tells of his 

 somewhat singular experience with packed and 

 single-wall hives, which does not corroborate 

 what has generally been conceded as a fact. 

 My experience is in line witli the great majori- 

 ty of bee-keepers, and I would not say one word 

 about it were it not for the fact that I made 

 just the experiment Mr. D. proposes. I will 

 first briefly state how my double-walled hives 

 are made. Outside siding of half-inch match- 

 ed pine; inside siding of 3^ basswood, sliced in 

 the manner of cut shingles. For packing, va- 

 rious materials were used, either chaff or saw- 

 dust, coarse or fine, or dried moss from the 

 swamps, etc., the thickness of packing varying 

 between two and three inches. Directly under 

 the brood-chamber no packing was used, but a 

 lij-inch dead-air space was maintained by two 

 sheets of tarred paper. For winter, old carpet- 

 ing is placed on top of the frames, also a six- 

 inch chaff cushion. 



Now for the experiment Mr. D. proposes. 

 Forty out of my fifty hives of this description 

 were stocked up in the fall after the honey sea- 

 son. The first year, twenty; the next year, ten 

 more; the next year, another ten followed. 

 The last ten were stocked up the following 

 spring. Some of the first-named forty hives 

 were stocked up as late as Nov. 1, and had no 

 chance to propolize and glue up the many 

 cracks and crevices I had left on purpose. 

 When I started into the winter with the first 

 twenty I anticipated some trouble; but, to my 

 surprise and great joy, the twenty colonies 

 came out as bright and strong the next spring 

 as any colonies I ever wintered in the twenty 

 years of my bee-keeping. The little moisture 

 which had gathered on the outside of the cush- 

 ions did no liarm, and disappeared soon. As 

 average loss in these fifty hives, which I "have 

 had now for seven years. I can record less than 

 five per cent; the single-walled hives average 

 not less than thirty per cent loss, excepting 

 those placed in the cellar; but even these have 

 not done nearly as well as the packed hives, 

 the difference not being so much in the loss of 

 whole colonies as in the loss of individual bees 

 in the different colonies. 



The half-story as a brood-chamber has some 

 advantages over the whole story, particularly 

 when used singly and in the production of comb 

 honey, liut when we use two or more sections 

 as one brood-nest, then the small size of the 



frames, and the lower sets not being readily ac- 

 cessible, are objections. It is fully twice as 

 much work to look over 16 small frames as it 

 is to look over 8 large ones, especially when we 

 take into account that, in case of the small 

 frames, the upper section must be lifted off to 

 gain access to the lower one. When colonies 

 are very populous this operation of lifting off 

 and replacing the upoer section does not go off 

 as smoothly as it might appear on paper: the 

 bees boil over in spite of smoke, and the read- 

 justment is generally connected with more or 

 less cru'^hing of bees. 



In moving to and from out-apiaries, the sec- 

 tional brood-chamber does not help to facilitate 

 the work, as two or more sections must be clamp- 

 ed together, which requires extra labor and fix- 

 tures. 



I am not yet ready to discard the whole-story 

 brood-chamber, even should I begin anew, but 

 shall continue to use both, the whole and the 

 half-story. 



TO FASTEN FOUNDATION STARTEKS IN BROOD- 

 FRAMES. 



I wonder if any method can be simpler and 

 quicker than running them on with melted 

 beeswax, or beeswax with a little resin added. 

 Starch paste and glue are recommended by a 

 few. The method of mashing in I have never 

 tried, except in cases of emergency, and I am of 

 the opinion that all these are slow methods. 

 The melted-wax plan has always given me sat- 

 isfaction, whether top-bars were grooved or not. 

 The wax sets quickly, and frames may be used 

 immediately after the operation. 



When molding beeswax, the dish into which 

 it is poured should be covered up to hinder it 

 from cooling on the surface and thus causing 

 the cake to crack. Should the cake, when cold, 

 refuse to come out, turn the dish bottom side 

 up, and turn boiling water from the tea-kettle 

 over it. It will not stick long. 



DZIERZON'S BAR-HIVE. 



Up to the present day Rev. Dr. Dzierzon, the 

 most noted bee-keeper in Germany, clings to- 

 his bar hive, and with it he accomplishes what 

 many do not with the frame hive; but perhaps 

 few have acquired the skill of a Dzierzon, and 

 we are glad to accept the more convenient 

 frame, although such may not be for the best 

 of our bees. 



PARTHENOGENESIS. 



It has long been regarde"! as a law of nature^ 

 that thei-e is no life without fertilization; but it 

 really seems that some insects are an exception 

 to tills rule, and produce young without copula- 

 tion and fertilization. This state of things has 

 been called " parthenogenesis," and was first 

 discovered by Dzierzon as a peculiarity of the 

 queen-bee. Over a year ago, Metzger, of Hun- 

 gary, asserted, and has since been trying to 

 prove, that the queen, although she does pro- 

 duce life without copulation (in case of the 

 drone) does not do so without fertilizing the egg 



