12 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jabt. 



frnnt, and pour the feed in upon the bottom-board. 

 The bees d ■ not enrry the honey out of the bive; 

 they must store it RoroewhHre. Hee-keepers fHil to 

 make it pny, b^canse the hpos had an empty brood- 

 chamber. Section bo.xes filled with fdn. had been 

 given a eolonv at 9 a.m., feeding- commenced, and 

 the next day, at evening, the bees had commenced 

 capping si>me of the sections. Fifty -two lbs. of 

 h'^ney was f< d, and 44 lbs of comb honey obtained. 

 Toget unfinished sections filled, and at the same time 

 have the honej- removed from some other unfinished 

 sectiona, | put the sections that I wish emptied, over 

 the hive, and the ones that [ wish finished, in the 

 miin body of the hive, keeping the queen out of 

 them by using perforatpd zinc. 



W. Z.' Hutchinson: VVili not pouring in honey at 

 the entrances incite robbing? 



D. A. Jones: I do not pour it in at the entrance. I 

 pour it ilown inside the hive at the back. 



VV. Z. FIutchin<on: You sp^ak of using perforated 

 zinc. F should like to know something about that. 

 Po the bees work through it freely? Is therfany 

 oftjection to itsuse, e.xcept its oost? and where is the 

 expense? is it in the material, or in the prepara- 

 tions? 



D. A. .Tones: It is in no way detrimental. The bees 

 work ihrough it freely. I see no objection to its use 

 except its c St, and its cost is in the preparations. 

 Tin would be no cheaper, for the roason that it 

 comes in smaller sheets, and the waste would be 

 greater. 



C. F. Muth: Mr. Jones sent me some perforated 

 zinc. T thought there was more than I should ever 

 sell. Tt was all nold long ago, and I have since then 

 sold large quantities, and my customers are well 

 pl«>ased with it. They tell me that the queens never 

 pass through it. 



Kev. L. L. Langstroth : 1 tried experiments, years 

 ao-o. to determine if there was a space throusrh 

 which the workers cituld freelv pass, and the queen 

 could not. I found that space to be 5-33, through 

 which not even a virtrin queen could pass — her 

 shnuMers, or. rather, the thorax, preventing h^r. 

 The ffreat d ffinultv in my experiments was, that the 

 wood would shrink and swell and warp, and the bees 

 gnaw off the cirners, miking the space wider. Had 

 T had the modern perforated zinc, I should probably 

 ha^e m»de 'f it a practical success. 



W. Z. Hutchinson: I have used honey-boards the 

 past season, m>ide of wood, the slats of which were 

 5-33 of an inch apart, and they answered every pur- 

 pose, and are cheaper than zinc. 



Bev. L. L. Langslroth: D> they not shrink and 

 swfll or warp, and do not the bees gnaw them? 



W. Z Hutchinson: No. sir. They are held in place 

 bv strips of tin, and are nainted. 



S. T Petiit: I can hardly think the wooden boards 

 would be better than the zinc. It would take some 

 time to make them, while the zinc is all ready, and 

 80 lasting. 



W. Z. rfutchinson: The wooden boards cost only a 

 third as much as the zinc, and 1 prefer them. 



ANOTHER REPORT, BY W. Z. HUICHINSON. 



The following report from friend Hutch- 

 inson was received after the alinve was in 

 tvpp, and hence we give both. There seems 

 to be a little difference between the two, 

 relative to feeding back. 



Oh for elbow-room! oh for the whole of Glean- 

 ings, in which to describe the glorious time we had 

 at Flint! but as I am restricted to a page, I must be- 

 gin. 



FOUL BROOlJ 



Probably never received a more exhaustive discus- 

 sion, and that, too, by such men as C. F. Muth, D. A. 

 Jones, T. F. Bingham, L. L. Langstroth, and Dr. A. 

 B. Mason. There is a mild and a malignant type of 

 the disease. Before brood is sealed, both kinds have 

 nearly the same appea'-ance: but, after the mild, or 

 "innocent" kind, is sealed over, if a comb is cut 

 asunder, a watery substance runs out. That foul 

 brood can be developed from decomposing brood 

 was very positively asserted by some, and as strong- 

 ly denied by others. Foul brood has been cured by 

 salicylic acid, ths starvattoa, and the cremation 



methods. If but few colonies were affected, nearly 

 if not quite every one was in favor of the cremation 

 method. A comb containing malignant foul brood 

 was on exhibition, and, as the same hands that 

 handled the frame were afterward used in handling 

 other articles on exhibition, I should like to ask If it 

 would not be advisable for every one who brought 

 any thing away from the exhibit to either burn or 

 boil, or at least scald the article. The discussion 

 upon 



COMB FOUNDATION 



Was prefaced by the exhibition of a Given press, 

 and the making of foundation in the presence of the 

 convention. The exhibitor, Mr. K. S. Taylor, pre- 

 ferred the Given fdn., because the base of the cells 

 was so very thin, while the walls, receiving no press- 

 ure, were soft and easily drawn. The fdn. could be 

 made directly into wired frames. Mr. VanDeusen, 

 of New York, said that many objected to the flat- 

 bottomed on account of its hardness; such should 

 remember that the heat of the hive softens the wax. 

 He did not think that the flat-bottomed fdn. was any 

 more objectionable than the round cell of the Dun- 

 ham. Mr. Jones said, that in order to secure even 

 sheets of wax, the dipping-board should be reversed 

 each time it was dipped. 



WINTERING 



Was discussed in much the usual way. There was 

 talk about chaff hives, chaff and other kinds of pack- 

 ing, about temperature, dry cellars and wet ones, 

 about ventilation, long confinement, not much about 

 pollen, but a little about the importance of proper 

 food. There was a great saving in food in cellar 

 wintering, and Mr. Jones had had bees confined six 

 months, and they came out in fine condition, look- 

 ing as though they could bear six months' more 

 confinement. Prof. Cook said that they wintered 

 their bees successfully in a cellar, in which the water 

 often stood eight inches deep, while Dr. Mason said 

 that it was improper food that killed bees in cellar. 



ARTIFICIAL PASTURAGE. 



Sweet clover was decidedly the favorite plant to 

 sow for honey alone. Dr. Mason said that it grew 

 luxuriantly, even in the busy streets of Toledo, O., 

 and one of his neighbors had received 1000 pounds 

 of surplus honey from it, and It was gathered late in 

 the season. 



THE GENTLEST BEES. 



Mr. Jones said that the Halians were more gentle 

 than the Syrians, but that there was a diflPerence in 

 the Syrians; those from Mt. Lebanon being the most 

 peaceable. He preferred the progeny of a Syrian 

 queen mated wiih an Italian drone. 



QUEENS MATING MORE THAN ONCE. 



Dr. L. C. Whiting had seen queens mate more than 

 once before beginning to lay. Mr. Langstroth had 

 seen the same thing, but had always thought that 

 such queens were not really and fully fertilized un- 

 til the last time they flew. 



EXHIBITS AT THE STATE FAIR 



Were discussed in such a manner as to cause at least 

 one exhibitor to feel the blood tingling in his cheeks 

 — but not for shame, however. To revise our pre- 

 mium list, and urge its adoption for another year, 

 the following committee was appointed: H. D. Cut- 

 ting, Dr. Kezartee, Dr. Mason, Mr. Muth, and Mr. 

 Jones. 



"SEPARATORS" 



Was the heading to an essay read by myself, in 

 which I tools tbe ground that they were useless, if 



