1894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTQRE. 



509 



is filled with comb more clieaply under such 

 circumstances, and more honey secured in the 

 sections, than wliere the brood-chamber is tilled 

 with frames full of foundation. Now, if, in 

 addition to the above, the brood-nest or brood- 

 chamber is contracted to two-thirds its usual 

 size when the swarm is hived, we are almost 

 certain not to have any drone comb built, for 

 this gives an additional security against the 

 bees getting the start of the queen. But sup- 

 pose a frame or two of drone comb should be 

 built, this can be removed from the hive the next 

 spring, and frames of worker comb substituted 

 for it, when this drone comb can be melted into 

 wax, or l<ept for the production of extracted 

 honey, using it in an upper story over a queen- 

 excluding honey-board. I have practiced this 

 method for years, and think it pays me better 

 than to buy foundation. I am well aware that 

 there are many of our very best bee-keepers who 

 do not agree with me here, but would say, " Fill 

 the frames full of foundation every time;" but 

 when I answer any question, I, of necessity, 

 must answer it from my own standpoint; and 

 if any reader thinks other than I do, he has 

 perfect liberty to follow the plan given; test it 

 to know that his different way is better, or let 

 it alone altogether. I have never seen where 

 there was any occasion to feel hard toward a 

 brother or sister bee-keeper who honestly dif- 

 fered with me in opinion, for there is room 

 enough for all. 



BEES EXPELLING WATER FROM SWEETS. 



Question. — Some have asserted that bees have 

 the power of expelling water from diluted 

 sweets, when on tlie wing, etc. Is there any 

 truth in this assertion ? and has there been any 

 gland discovered whose function, resembling 

 that of the kidneys, seems to be that of sepa- 

 rating water from honey? 



Answer. — I think the assertion is a mistake, 

 for there is no conmction that lean find be- 

 tween the honey-stomach of the bee and the in- 

 testines of the same, except by way of the mouth. 

 That bees have the power to separate and expel 

 the watery portion of diluted sweets while in the 

 honey-sac, is a proposition not supported by 

 any conclusive evidence, so far as I have* seen. 

 The discharge in the form of spray, which my- 

 self and others have seen in the morning sun- 

 shine, when bees were carrying sweetened water 

 from feeders in the open air. and when at work 

 during an excellent honey-fiow, was most prob- 

 ably caused by a well-tilled honey-sac pressing 

 on the lower intestines, thus discharging thdr 

 watery contents. After carefully watching this 

 matter for years, I can believe this spray to be 

 only thin excrement : yet I am aware, as was 

 said by one in the past, •' There are more things 

 in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dream- 

 ed of in your philosophy." Is there any reader 

 of Gleaxixgs who can tell us more about 

 this subject? 



SHADE FOR HIVES. 



Qitcs'fio?),.— What is the best method of shad- 

 ing hives from the sun ? 



Ajiswer. — Various methods have been ad- 

 vanced, such as grapevines, sunflowers, trees, 

 shade-boards, etc., each having its own good 

 points. Trees have one advantage over every 

 thing else, in that they shade the apiarist as 

 well as the hives; and what bee-keeper is there 

 who has not wished for a shield from the sun 

 for himself when working for hours on a July 

 or August day when the mercury was up in the 

 nineties in the shade? While this is so, yet 

 trees, as a rule, are apt to give too dense a 

 shade; and I am satisfied, from years of close 

 observation, that, so far as the bees are con- 

 cerned, they do much the best right out in the 

 rays of the sun the whole year round, when the 

 question is dense shade or no shade. For this 

 reason I prefer to have a shade where I can go 

 once in a while when becoming greatly heated, 

 and either paint the hives white or use a shade- 

 board for each hive, letting them stand in the 

 sun. Lately, in making some new hives I have 

 taken no pains to make the cover water-tight^ 

 but have made a shade-board to project from 

 two to six inches around the top of the hive, 

 the six inches being to the south, while the 

 north side has a four-inch cleat nailed to it, 

 thus giving a pitch to the south, this causing 

 the rain to run off easily, while at the same 

 time it gives a good circulation of air over the 

 top of the hive, so that the heat never drives 

 the bees out of the sections or causes the combs 

 to melt down, with the hives standing in the 

 full blaze of the sun in the hottest of weather. 

 Where I formerly covered the tops of my hives 

 with tin, or made tin-roofed hives, I now cover 

 this shade-board with tin, and in this way no 

 water ever touches the top of the hive. After 

 a use of them for two years I am much pleased 

 with them. The wood material used for the 

 shade-board is 34 -inch stuff, thus makfng it 

 very light to handh; ; and as an insurance 

 against the wind blowing it off, I put a common 

 brick on each: and for two years we have had 

 no winds strong enougli to stir a single one. 



J. W. M.. nf Ark., wishes to know whether 

 the combs in box hives, from which the bees 

 have died, will be suitable to transfer into 

 brood-frames, ^l/t.s.— Some of them; but the 

 majority of them will be crooked, and had bet- 

 ter be made into wax. 



W. F. A., of P(i., desires to know how white 

 wax is made. ^Ijis'.— Generally by the use of 

 chemicals. See " Wax " in our A B C book. It 



