644 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 15. 



If I WEKK to be asked what is the best single 

 point in a good queen-bee, the answer would be, 

 •'A large, well-developed thorax." The muscles 

 moving the wings are all located in the chest; 

 and the larger the chest, the larger these mus- 

 cles and the stronger the wing-power of every 

 worker-bee reared from such queens. — Dr. 

 Tinker, In.A. B. J. 



At thk snow of the Royal Agricultural Soci- 

 ety in England, the cost of hives that took 

 prizes for •' Best and most complete frame-hive 

 for general use" was $.5.2.5, $6.00, and f4.C3. 

 Those taking prizes for "Most complete and 

 inexpensive frame-hive for cottagers' use " were 

 priced $3.13 and $3.63. The Cowan Rapid ex- 

 tractor took first prize. 



DooLiTTi.E GIVES in Review his reasons for 

 concluding that 1000 square inches of comb is 

 about right for the brood-nest. I'd like to get 

 him and Dadant shut up together for a day. 

 [Doolitile's estimate of loOO inches accords 

 almost exactly with the number in the eight- 

 frame Liangstroth hive, and yet he has a differ- 

 ent frame.— Ed.] 



Some German societies have a central depot 

 where the honey of members is sold at a fixed 

 price agreed upon in July. Each member can 

 sell his honey privately at any price he pleases. 

 The label of the producer is a guarantee of 

 purity, and adulteration subjects a member to 

 expulsion in some societies, to prosecution in 

 others. 



Those .50 new hivpjs that I said I was going 

 to try, V-edged Hoffman frame and all, were 

 ready and waiting in good time. They're wait- 

 ing yet. Only one is filled with bees, and that 

 not satisfactorily. I thought I could have 

 them filled, no matter what the season was. 

 Not as smart as I thought I was. Not naif. 

 [Too bad you had an entire failureof the honey 

 crop. We wanted to show you that the V edge 

 is still '■ in it."' — Ei>.l 



What A QUESTION that is on page 608! No, 

 sir-ree. If there's any one thing I can't stand, 

 it's having my neck choked, so I never tuck 

 veil between neck and shirt-band. I wear my 

 veil same as Emma, only she pins hers down 

 when she puis it on, and I generally ift mine 

 hang loose till a bee gets in and stings ine. 

 But I sweat the black off the veil on to my 

 shin in a little while without the white border. 

 fWe were not sure from that Straw whether 

 you practiced the neck-choking way or not; 

 hence that question.— Ed.] 



The Standard dictionary, just published, 

 is preeminently the bee-kevper's dictionary — 

 the only one, I think, that has made any elfort 

 at completeness and correctness in bee-keepers' 

 terms. I suspect much credit for this is due 

 (iLkanings' editor. Aside from its special 

 value to bee-kee[)ers, it is a grand work, con- 

 taining a third more words and terms than even 



the expensive six- volume Century dictionary. 

 [All the credit we can claim is, that we put 

 the dictionary people on track of Dr. Miller, 

 requesting them to put apicultnral terms in his 

 hands. They did so; and although we have 

 not seen the new dictionary, we expect that the 

 results will be highly satisfactory.— Ed.] 



"WHY SWARMS BUILD IMPERFECT OR DRONE 

 COMB IN THE BROOD-NEST. 



THE IMPORTANCE OF YOUNG QUEENS. AND 



PROPER SIZE OF BROOD-NEST FOR THE 



SECURING OF ALL WORKER COMB. 



Bji W. Z. Hutclmi»(>n. 



Ten years ago I was led to believe that 

 bees would store more surplus comb honey if, 

 under certain conditions, swarms were allowed 

 to build their own combs in the brood-nest. 

 Subsequent experiments proved the correctness 

 of the theory. It might be well to remark, 

 parenthetically, that Mr. R. L. Taylor conduct- 

 ed a series of experiments in this line during 

 a period of three weeks in the summer of 1893, 

 in which the swarms furnished with combs or 

 foundation came out ahead of those biiilding 

 their own combs; but there is another point in 

 connection with the matter to which there has 

 not been attached sufficient importance; viz.. 

 that, while the swarms building their own 

 combs were outstripped in the beginning of the 

 race, they soon began to gain upon their oppo- 

 nents, and continued to do so at an increasing 

 speed to the end of the allotted time. I have 

 always regretted that the test was not for a 

 longer time— say twice three weeks, covering 

 the whole of white clover and basswood bloom. 

 I know that it is more profitable for me to hive 

 swarms on starters only, when working for 

 comb honey. Briefly stated, I look at the mat- 

 ter something as follows: 



If given combs in the brood-nest, the first 

 step of the bees is to fill them with honey. 

 Having done this, there is a halt, a hesitancy 

 in coTnmencing and continuing work in the 

 supers. The disposition of bees to do thus and 

 so, to begin work or not in a new compartment, 

 is a factor to which not enough attention has 

 been paid. It is not always the most populous 

 colony that stores the most surplus. I have 

 seen a colony of less thiin average strength pile 

 up super after super of iiom-y, while another 

 much strongi'r would do but little in the supers 

 because the conditions were such that the bees 

 " didn't feel like it;" perhaps they had in some 

 way be(!n '"snubbed." and were '"sulky" in 

 consequence. I have heard it said that there 

 is nothing in this; that, with honey in the 



