GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 15. 



A BEE-SHiKT is a desideratum. Light woolen 

 is fine to work in, but bees sting it. There 

 must be no wool, no starch, no dark color, and 

 no soft or fuzzy surface. Linon would chill. 

 Some hard preparation of cotton might do. 

 Here's a field for you, brother Calvert. 



Chables Dadant, in Revue, advises against 

 giving a queen, or brood from which to raise a 

 queen, to a colony of laying workers, without 

 first giving a fair proportion of sealed worker 

 brood. After this hatches, these young bees 

 will be ready to receive or raise a queen. 



Removing wax or bee-glue from clothes. 

 " Chill the wax that is in the clothes, in ice-cold 

 water; and while the clothes are in the very 

 cold water, the wax or glue will crumble out 

 clean if the wax spots are rubbed or washed 

 while in the water."— 11^. McEvoy, in A. B. J. 



ScHACHiNGEK says his investigations show 

 that, In a good harvest, for every pound stored 

 by a colony of 20,000 bees, a colony of 30,000 will 

 store 3 lbs.; one of 40.000,8 lbs.; and one of 

 50,000, 12 lbs. According to that, one should 

 aim to have strong colonies rather than many. 

 A SAMPLE of the hardened, impregnated 

 paper queen-excluder is received from Robert 

 Nitzsche, Germany. It looks nice, lacks the 

 sharp edge of the zinc, and, although one would 

 suppose the bees would gnaw it. he says it has 

 remained perfect after a test of four years. But 

 it costs twice as much as zinc. 



Water FOR BEES. Take a Hve-galloii crock, 

 or other vessel: lay a piece of burhip over it; 

 take two or three pieces of rotten wood, 6 to 12 

 inches longer than the depth of the vessel, and 

 push the burlap to the bottom with them; fill 

 up with water and throw in a handful of salt; 

 and if started in time your bees will not bother 

 the horse- trough. 



GETTING THE HONEY CROP WITH 8 OR 10 

 FRAMES. 



THK ADVANTAGES OF A LAK(iER HIVE. 



By C. A. Hatch. 



In Gleanings for June 15 the secretary of 

 our State Association, Harry Lathrop, gives 

 his reason for preferring 8 frames instead of 10, 

 because he thinks he can gather the crop of his 

 field in that hive better than otherwise. Singu- 

 la»' as it may appear, I know of no better I'ea- 

 son why he should use the t(>n-frarae. He 

 closes by asking what I would think of that 

 phase of the question. 



If I did not know Mr. Liitlirop: and also know 

 that he is one of the best honey-producers of 



our State, I would haidly spend time to write- 

 anotlier article on the hive question; but when 

 one who makes a success of keeping bees comes- 

 to a different conclusion than another equally 

 successful, it either shows that he is wrong in 

 some of his conclusions or that the skill of both 

 is what brings success, rather than the hive 

 they use. I am inclined to the opinion that a 

 good bee-master would succeed with either S- 

 or 10 frame hives, other things being equal. 

 But the amount of honey secured, and the 

 amount of labor expended to secure it, after all, 

 is the point. 



The product of a given field is such an un- 

 certain quantity that what would require 100 

 colonies to gather this year might let 50 starve 

 so the only true way is for one to get as good a 

 field as he can, and then manage to have as 

 large a working force in the field as he can 

 manage. 



Bro. L. says. " Why is it not as well to work 

 1.50 colonies in 8 frames as to work 125 in IC 

 frames?" Which will swarm the most, Bro 

 L.? Does not every swarm make work ? Is i1 

 not true, that the longer you can keep a colonj 

 from swarming, up to, say, the beginning o: 

 basswood bloom, the larger swarms you get 

 and the more honey, of course? for, more bee; 

 more workers, more workers more honey, 

 think no one will dispute the fact that th< 

 small hive will swarm first, and keep at i 

 longest. 



So far as caring for an eight or ten fram 

 hive, I could never discover any practical dif 

 ference. If a little ingenuity is used, there i 

 but little lilting of full hives to do; so, in add 

 iiig 25 colonies to your apiary you have adde 

 one-sixth to the labor of swarming-time, put 

 ting on sections, etc., while you hav not in 

 creased your working force at all. 



Let us suppose a case. Suppose your fiel 

 will afford pasturage for 100 colonics in K 

 frame hives. In the spring you set ihem on 

 and all are strong enough to occupy the whol 

 hive, without any division-board or tucUing u 

 with the quilt. All there will be to do to thei 

 until about June 10, in our latitude, will be t 

 clip the queens' and see that there is plenty ( 

 honey in the hive. At the date named abov 

 swarming will begin; each hive will have 

 frames full of brood, and plenty of young bee 

 But how would it be with eight-frame hives 

 You start with 100 in the same condition, an 

 at swarming time you will have, instead of 

 frames full of brood to the hive, only six frame 

 or a loss of 25 per cent, or 200 frames on tl 

 whole lot. which will require 33 eiglit-fran 

 hives to make equal. But. you say, when tl 

 eight-frame hive needs more room, put anoth* 

 story on top. and have a two-story broo( 

 nest. Does not that take time and work? an 

 can you get the queen to go upstairs over to] 

 bar. bee-space, and bottom-bar, and yet ket 

 brood in both hives? If you can, you a 



