42 i 



GLEANINGS IN J3EE CULTURE. 



May 



in A. I. Root's chaff hives, wintered on the summer 

 stands. I have found out that section combs that 

 were not capped over, tlie honey l)eing- removed, 

 are not suitable to use again. Tliej' becom? toiifi'h 

 and hard; last season the honey-flow was short. 

 The bees g-athered enough to winter well in this 

 part of the country. J. M. McRevnold-s. 



Topcka, 111., April 37, 188C. 



A GOOD REl'OKT FUOM THE CONTIJOMi ABLE HIVE. 



Friend Rout:— J have 18 hivos of bees in ISfrs. 

 Cotton's Controllable hive, and they keep me busy. 

 It is the best hive I have seen so far. I hived one 

 swarm of bees in a Controllable hive last year, 

 June 5, and have used Mrs. Cotton's new system of 

 bee management, and that swarm left me 3f!-l lbs. 

 of surplus comb honey, and came out all right this 

 spring. AVm. Hiestands. 



Palm Station, Pa., Apr. 2", 18SC. 



[Friend H., we are very glad indeed to hear this, 

 and I have no doubt but that the Controllable hive, 

 managed according to Mrs. Cotton's instructions, 

 will give e.vcellent results. Neither is there any 

 doubt but that Mrs. C. might do a large and profit- 

 able business if she would sell her goods at prices 

 .something near the usual price asked for beesup- 

 ])lies.] 



OUR OWN APIAKY. 



experiments with perforated zinc. 



§OME one, whom I do not now remember, wrote 

 us that the perforations in our new zinc 

 were wider than those of the foreign make, 

 and that he thought, in consequence, queens 

 would get through. It is to be remembered, 

 that six or eight months ago Mr. Henry Alley, who 

 has had a largo experience in zinc, pronounced the 

 foreign as the best. If, indeed, Ihe perforations in 

 our zinc were wider than those of the foreign make, 

 then our perforated honey-boards might be almost 

 of no value for the purpose of excluding queens 

 from the surplus department. To test the truth of 

 the matter I have made some careful measure- 

 ments of the perforations, both in our own and in 

 other makes. The instruments usrd for the pur- 

 pose were some I had in college for laying out plats 

 and making other accurate drawings. They are 

 capable of measuring down to the four-hundredth 

 of an inch, and with these I obtained the following 

 results: 



The width of the perforations in the foreign zinc 

 was nineteen hundretlis of an inch; the width of 

 the American, with oval holes, sixteen-hundredths; 

 the Jones, eighteen-hundredths; our own, a width 

 between the foreign and the Jones zinc. I verified 

 these results with a steel rule having hundredths of 

 an inch marked off, so that 1 do not think I am far 

 from the correct measurements. It is to be ob- 

 served from the foregoing, that the perforations in 

 our zinc, instead of being icider arc narrower by a 

 difference that is very slight. If queens can not 

 get through the foreign zinc, then I do not think 

 they will get through ours; that is, if measure- 

 ments mean any thing. 



Now, laying aside measurements with which we 

 obtained the jireceding fractious, let us put the 

 zinc to an infallible test; namely, a trial in the api- 

 ary. Queeus from different parts cf the apiary 

 were seleted at random. Each of these was caged 

 over the zinc in such a manner that the only means 

 of escape back to tlie bees was through the perfora- 

 tions in the zinc. It was amusing to watch them in 



their eli'orts to get through. After repeated twist- 

 ing and squirming, their attempts were of no avail. 

 Finally the apiarist selected the smallest, poorest 

 queen ho could find in an apiary of over 3)3 colo- 

 nies. The efforts of this queen likewise proved a 

 failure. The apiarist then picked (lueens up iiy the 

 wings, and tried to force them through, but found 

 that he could not do so without injuring thera. 

 The thorax of a queen is much larger than most 

 peoi)le think; and one is apt to suppose, on looking 

 at zinc, that queens can pass through that e.isily, 

 when an actual test would prove to the contrary. 



If a queen can not get through, can workers filled 

 with honey? To answer this question I instructed 

 the apiarist to get two l>readpan feeders. These 

 he was to till about half with honey, and to put 

 over each the ordinary clieese cloths. The feeders 

 were then placed under the maples somelilile dis- 

 tance from th? apiary. Over one of the feeders as 

 thus prepared was i)laced a piece of our perforated 

 zinc, so adjusted that the bees could not get at the 

 honey except by passing through the perforations. 

 Over the other feeder in like manner was placed 

 a piece of American zinc. My reason for testing 

 the latter was to see how they compared in results. 

 Besides, several of the beekeepers have called for 

 this American zinc, stating that they thought it 

 better than the zinc of larger perforations. Well, 

 what do results say? In a short time the bees were 

 swarming over both feeders. Through our zinc the 

 bees seemed to have no dilliculty in passing, and, 

 even gorged with honey, they appeared to get out 

 as easily as they entered. Not so with the Ameri- 

 can zinc. The bees passed through tolerably well; 

 but on becoming gorged with honey they were 

 caged, and could not got out again. At the time I 

 was there, perhaps half a pint of bees were shut in, 

 and unable to make their escape. They could got 

 perhaps half way through, and a few mannged to 

 squeeze out, but I am sure the friends will not find 

 it economy to use il. 



The size of the perforations should be such as to 

 admit worker-bees filled with honey to pass freeli', 

 but not allow the same privilege to queens. As 

 our dies were made after the foreign zinc, it seems 

 to me we have hit the size pi-etty nearly. 



CARNIOLAN BEES. 



During the early part of this Fpring these bees 

 seemed to be crossed with Italians, as nearly half of 

 the bees were of the latter race. Now that the old 

 Italians in the colony have all died off, leaving none 

 but this new race, the steel-gray color mingled with 

 the jet blMck stands out clearly. One can hardly 

 form a correct idea unless he views a whole swarm 

 of them at a time. IJut even yet 1 think when wo 

 come to talk about pretty bees the old Italians still 

 take the lead. Aside from color, I have not yet dis- 

 covered that the Carniolans differ very much from 

 the Italians. If the former should in no way prove 

 suj^erioi-, the mere matter of color or beaiity ought 

 not to warrant us in introducing tliis new race in 

 our apiaries very largely. The crosses with the 

 yellow bees would not very easily be distinguished 

 from the old-fashioned hybrids— at least, customers 

 would not know the difference, even if we did. 



NUMUER OF COLONIES UP TO DATE. 



In addition to the original 181 colonics, we pur- 

 chased 41 of friends Shook and Rice. After divid- 

 ing up a good share of the strong colonies" we now 

 have 30 J lair stocks. E. II. ROOT. 



