1886 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



269 



far has beeu very favorable for bees, the thermom- 

 eter having- been below zero only once, and warm 

 enough for them to take a good fly every few clays. 

 There is no sign of dysentery among thera j'et. 

 Fred AV. Cranston. 

 Woodstock, Champaign Co., O., Feb. 2, 1886. 



Friend C, we suppose you mean the Hat- 

 bottomed foundation is as good as any after 

 the bees liave got tlie sliape of the cell to the 

 natural form ; hut the question then arises, 

 How much time does it take the bees, when 

 they are busy with a crop of honey ? 



DRONE-TR.\PS, AND SOME SUGOESTIONS REGARDING 

 THE SAME. 



I experimented last year with Alley's drone and 

 queen trap, and in each case, when I had a trap 

 attached to tlie hive, the queen was caught when 

 the bees swarmed, and tho swarm would i-cturn, 

 and settle on the trap. I think that, by having 

 a cone attached to the Jones' guard, I can use the 

 same as a queen-trap, and have automatic swarm- 

 ing in my apiary by simplj' putting one end of a 

 wire-cloth tube over the cone, and letting the other 

 end of the same enter the bo.v or hive, with entranc- 

 es secured by perforate! tin. The box or hive ma3' 

 be set on or near the hive which is expected to 

 swarra. The queen and some of the bees, when 

 they leave the parent hive, will enter tlirough the 

 tube into the box or hive prepared for them. The 

 returning swarm will follow, and 1 shall have only 

 to move the box in the evening to a new locition, 

 and the swarming is accomplished without any 

 watching or anj' attendance of the bee-keeper dur- 

 ing the day. 



If you have tried this plan, let us have your ex- 

 perience. C. H. Ghote. 



Mauston, Juneau Co., Wis., Dec. l-l, 1885. 



Your idea is tiptop, friend G., in theory; 

 and all tluit remains is for somebody to put 

 it in practice. 1 believe we have already 

 had ai'rangements that were somewhat sim- 

 ilar in plan of Morking. None of them, 

 however, seem to have come into general 

 use. 



DOES BLASTl.NG ROCKS WITHIN THE VICINITY OF 

 HIVES DISTURB THE BEES':* 



I live right in the city. INfy lot is 50 by 13.j, with a 

 large house on it, so I have but little room to keei) 

 my bees. I work in the shop, V^, miles from home. 

 When my bees swarm my Avife telephones to the 

 shop, and I come home and hive them. 1 sold three 

 hives of bees for S^IS 03, and have three more engag- 

 ed for spring, if I have any left. They are building 

 a sewer right past my hives. Thej' have to blast 

 through solid roclf from 5 to 10 feet deep. Thej- 

 have from 'M to :5) blasts a day, and I think it dis- 

 turbs mj' bees, for I find a great many dead bees at 

 the entrance. ]Marsh.\ei, Dareing. 



Waterbury, Ct , Jan. 2, U8o. 



Friend D., if the l)lasting is to continue 

 any length of time, I think I would fasten 

 the bees in the hives and move tliem away 

 for a while. 



how soon shall bees be packed for win- 

 ter? ARE CHAFE HIVES DESIRABLE? 



A bee-man met me a short time ago, and in the 

 course of our conversation he turned to bees. He 

 asked me if 1 had fixed up my bees. " Yes," I said, 

 "early." Ho said he did not believe in fixing them 

 pp eomjilete so early for winter, for he thought it 



was just like a person putting on all his winter 

 clothing in October. When the cold weather 

 would come, he could not feel them on him. What 

 say you, Mr. Roof/ 1 liave i)nt my bees away in 

 sawdust hives, and I spoke to another bee-man 

 about leaving them in the sawdust hives all sum- 

 mer, so that they might not bo too warm. Well, he 

 said he had tried bees in chaff hives, and they nev- 

 er gave nearly as much honey as hives that were 

 out ami exposed to the hot sun. So I thought I 

 would i-efcr the matter to you. 



DoN.\LD Stewart. 

 Nairn, Ontario, Canada, Feb. 1, 1880. 



Friend S., I suppose the locality of Cana- 

 da might make some difference in the mat- 

 ter ; but reports from localities, widely differ- 

 ent in climate and temperature, have invaria- 

 bly showfi that bees make more surplus honey 

 in chaff hives than in single-walled hives. 

 Your friend can easily satisfy himself of this 

 by trying a single-walled hive and a chaff 

 hive side by side. During hot sumtiier days 

 the bees iii the thin hive will crowd out in 

 great numbers, on account of the heat, while 

 those in chalf hives will remain comfortable 

 ifiside. We greatly prefer chaff hives for 

 snuifuer as well as for wiitter. This is 

 true, however, that there are times in the 

 spring when the warmth of the sun is bene- 

 ticial to thin hives, when chaff hives, on ac- 

 count of their extra thickness, are not warm- 

 ed up at all. On this account, it has been 

 several times suggested that the outer cover- 

 ing be made of glass, ificlosing a dead-air 

 space inside of the chaff. Du^'ing winter 

 and spring, the glass would keep off the cold 

 winds, but permit the rays of the siuito pass 

 through readily, warming up the bees as it 

 warms fip our solar wax-extractors ; and it 

 warms them up nicely, even when the weath- 

 er is zero outside. The objections to such a 

 hive would be, lirst, the expense; second, 

 without something to shade the glass, when 

 the sun becomes too warm it would melt the 

 whole inside of the hive down, and fiiore or 

 less supervision and manipulation would be 

 necessary. With a house apiary it might be 

 managed better ; and if it were desirable to 

 start bees to breeding very early in the 

 spring, there is hardly a question but that a 

 combination of a greenhouse and house-api- 

 ary would lix it to perfection. 



THE GRANULATION OF HONEY NOT CAUSED BY 

 BEING EXTRACTED EARLY. 



I believe it is generally admitted, that all pure 

 honey will granulate at the approach of cold weath- 

 er, which I And is not correct. My honey has not 

 granulated, neither did it last year, kept in a cool 

 honey house, in opentin cansithat is, loose covers); 

 also in light barrels; yet there is no appearance of 

 granulation. I have kept bees for (juite a number 

 of years, and iiave ncAer fed, all told, fne dollars' 

 worth of sugar to bees; and if my honey is not pure 

 the bees liave "played olf on me. My honey is Span- 

 ish needle. One writer, 1 think, said that if pure 

 honey did not granulate it was for the reason that 

 it was extracted too green. In answer to that, my 

 sister, living one-fourth of a mile from me, extract- 

 ed some before any of it was capped over, and hers 

 granulated at the apppoacli of cold weather, and 

 my honey stood in the hives a month after the hon- 

 ey season closed, and was perfectly ripe. All ^vas 



