830 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1. 



more in the long run than to sell hunny in tuff 

 combs next yeer at a reduced price. 



Nineteen out of twenty-three in the A. B. J. 

 favered home market, and only one found it 

 best to wholesale it. That's ezzactly my no- 

 shun. 



Put it on reckord that a queen will lay her 

 first egg sometimes in a queen-cell; also for the 

 first few days before matin' she often helps 

 'bout other work. I seen one help a worker, 

 that wuz havin' sum diffikulty in hatchin,' 

 with as much koncern as a mother takes keer 

 of her children. 



You kin raze queens by the Doolittle plan 

 without enny perforated zink as foHers: — put a 

 sheet of enameled cloth between the upper and 

 lower stories, leavin' the cloth pulled back a 

 little bit at one of the fur corners, placin' the 

 frames at the opposite side. I have queens 

 hatchin' now razed this way. and no surplus 

 hunny comin' in either. Hy the way, this ar- 

 rangement makes as nigh an independent col- 

 ony " up stairs " as you can git it and still have 

 kommunikashun with the lower story. 



Physical defects, as a rule, is not transmitted 

 to the offspring; this is why your fine breedin' 

 queen might have bin mated to the scrawniest, 

 skimpiest drone in the hull apiary fer all you 

 know. 



Some of us has come to think 

 Burr-combs is a useful link 

 Jinin' super to the hive. 

 And that we should not kontrive 

 Enny patent to prevent 

 Buildin' of 'em, but kontent 

 Our minds while the bizzy bees 

 Boost themselves with better ease 

 Up these ladders made of wax 

 And save time; but it's a fax 

 Bees build burr-combs jost because 

 We have fixtures full of flaws 

 That infringe on natural laws — 

 But thanks ! thick-top bars at last 

 Konsigns burr-combs to the past. 



Alexandria, Ind. 



^ I ■■ 



LAKGE VS. SMALL HIVES. 



SMALL HIVES PREFEKKED FOR CUBANS ; WHY. 



By Fred L. Craycraft. 



Since reading the articles on the hive discus- 

 sion now going on in Gleanings, and. having 

 received inquiries from persons thinking of es- 

 tablishing apiaries in Cuba as to the size of hive 

 and frame best suited to this climate, I will 

 give the result of my observations, although I 

 do not claim it to be the best for the North, 

 where the conditions are so different. 



It would naturally be supposed that a large 

 hive would be best for the production of ex- 

 tracted honey, where we have such a warm cli- 

 mate and the honey season lasts so long ; but it 

 is just the other way, and I have come to the 

 conclusion that a frame 91.; x 14, with 9 frames 

 in the brood -chamber, and seven above for ex- 

 tracting, is about the right size. The brood- 



chamber, being nearer square, is more economi- 

 cal of heat ; and the frames, being slightly 

 deeper, and not so long as the Langstroth. more 

 nearly approach the natural instincts of the 

 bees in building a circular brood-comb. 



In most sections of the United States the flow 

 of honey lasts only a few weeks; and brood 

 reared after the honey-flow commences is of 

 little value for honey-gathering; but here the 

 honey season lasts almost three months contin- 

 uously, making it necessary to keep the queens 

 laying all they will ; and as the honey-flow 

 comes during the coldest weather, with the 

 thermometer often hovering around the fifties, 

 and good strong colonies sometimes carrying in 

 eight or ten pounds of honey per day, it is a dif- 

 ficult matter to keep the queens from being 

 crowded out, thereby greatly decreasing the 

 working force toward the end of the season. 



The above size of brood-chamber is as large 

 as any good queen will keep stocked with brood; 

 and, being small, it will preserve the warmth of 

 the bees and thus stimulate the queens to lay 

 more ; while in a larger brood-chamber the 

 heat would be unnecessarily expended in warm- 

 ing a lot of ends of combs filled with honey. 



By using queen- excluders over the brood- 

 chamber, another advantage is gained, as breed- 

 ing is restricted during the summer, and the 

 bees will fill the upper combs with honey after 

 the extracting season is over, which greatly di- 

 minshes the work of feeding during September 

 and October. 



I am much interested in the "'eight and ten 

 frame hive" discussion, but I should like to 

 hear what some of the "big guns" have to say 

 as to the best size of frame ; and has it been 

 proved that the size and shape of the Lang- 

 stroth frame is the best? I think there is plen- 

 ty of ground for discussion upon that subject. 



The hurricane which swept over this island 

 on the 23d, 24th, and 25th of September, did 

 great damage to the fruit-trees ; and nearly all 

 banana-trees, large enough to bloom, were blown 

 down. And, again, from the 2d of October to 

 the 6ih the island was visited by an unprece- 

 dented rainstorm; and in all we had two weeks 

 of high winds and rainstorms, which made it 

 impossible for the bees to do any thing: and for 

 the first time I have found it necessary to feed, 

 as the bees were running short of stores. 



As I also have charge of an apiary of sting- 

 less bees, consisting of nine hives, I have been 

 making some experiments with the view of civ- 

 ilizing them ; but I have not made much head- 

 way, although I have succeeded in increasing 

 them artificially. I do not think they can ever 

 be " elevated " enough to work in modern hives, 

 as the brood-combs are built horizontally, and 

 supported one above another by little columns 

 of wax or resin, and the honey is stored in large 

 cups or cells around the brood, as described by 

 Mr. Pfau, p. 731, Gleanings for Sept. 15. The 

 honey has a slightly different taste from that 



