GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 



SEPARATORS, HIVES, AND CASES. 



AND SOME OTHER REMARKS CONCERNING THE PRO- 

 UUCXION OF COMB HONEY. 



fjjRIEND PORTER, ia giving us the fol- 

 lowing good items from his experi- 

 — ■ ence witli separators or no separators, 

 adds, in a private letter, the following. I 

 have taken the liberty of putting it in here, 

 because we usually have a desire to know 

 liow much of a producer a man is when he 

 writes on questions of so much importance. 

 1 am glad to be able to state, that friend 

 Porter is emphatically a successful producer 

 of nice comb honey. 



" I have been quite successful, and produce more 

 honey than any other man in Virginia that I know 

 of. Many of my colonies stored 300 lb3. and upwards, 

 each. I think no such results would be possible 

 hero, with Heddon's system." 



B'RIEND PORTER'S ARTICLE. 



Friend Boot:— In view of the reports of W. Z. 

 Hutchinson, Mr. Heddon, and others, showing such 

 success without separators last year, it appears that 

 it must still remain a mooted question. 1, too, made 

 repeated trials in 1883. With sections two inches 

 thick and with full-sized starters of foundation, I 

 was invariably obliged to watch, and cut away new 

 combs started on the edges. In some cases this was 

 done four times before the sections were filled out, 

 and it had to be done every day. The result where 

 the sections were completed was very unsatisfacto- 

 ry, for many were bulged out so they could not be 

 crated. Repeated experiments had the same result. 

 Having no narrow sections, I tried some. It is very 

 likely, that with I'i or 1?4 inch sections, better work 

 will result. But there is another very serious ob- 

 .iection. Many object to the plan of tiering up, 

 claiming that the honey is cleaner and better if re- 

 moved often, and just as soon as it is capped. Tier- 

 ing up, 1 judge, is essential to success with Mr. Hed- 

 don's system, for his hives and cases are so con- 

 tracted in width that he has to make room above. 

 Using a ten-frame hive and case to fit, I practice 

 tiering up, and regard it as very important, in the 

 height of the honey season, to afford room for the 

 great number of workers, as it helps to prevent 

 swarming. But we all have less prosperous colo- 

 nies, which do better work without, and such need 

 to have room made by taking out sections just as 

 fast as they are capped. 



Now, the diflSculty without separators is here seen 

 in another light. Put in new sections with starters 

 beside those nearly done, and watch the result. I 

 venture to say, that in nine cases out of ten the re- 

 sult will be too irregular to crate. In the discussions 

 so far, this appears to have been left out. It has a 

 very important bearing. I can not but think, and I 

 am not alone in this, that Mr. Heddon is on the 

 wrong track with his narrow hive and narrow rack, 

 and that many who are adopting his plan will regret 

 it. ,1 have practiced for two years the plan of con- 

 tracting the ten-frame hive to eight, seven, and nine 

 frames of brood at the time of putting on oases of 

 sections by the use of dummies, or thick division- 

 boards at the sides, and thus forcing the bees right 

 up. By doing this we have all the advantages he 

 claims, with the added one of having a ten-frame 

 hive to use for extracting when needed, and, what is 

 of great importance, to hold the bees we want for 

 pox honey till we get them into the boxes;. 



In another respect, Mr. Heddon's system is open 

 to criticism. His cases are too slight a protection 

 against the great and sudden changes of tempera- 

 ture which come upon us, even in May and June. 

 If heat, so fessential to comb development, is pro- 

 duced internally to a degree that withstands these 

 cold nights and days we often have, it must be at a 

 great expense of food — fuel — with only a ^s-inch 

 j side, which, tiered up three cases high, would pre- 

 j sent a surface of more than five square feet of that 

 j thin material with four plain joints between the life 

 within and the cold without! Here in this temper- 

 ate climate where we winter always on summer 

 stands, I find it advantageous to confine the heat, 

 and save it by covering the case with a thick quilt 

 I till the nights get warm, though my cases arc inside 

 I of the second story. Lightness, and ease in hand- 

 ling, may he obtained at too great a sacrifice,of oth- 

 er essentials. 

 To obtain the largest amount of comb honey, we 

 ^ must have at the right time a powerful force of 

 bees. To prevent any " slip between the cup and 

 the lip" by natural swarming before they get to 

 work In boxes, we often do need room below of ten 

 frames, and then to use the extractor. True, 8 

 frames of solid brood In all stages of development is 

 a strong base; but more room for work and for food 

 is often desirable. Then it is so easy to contract 

 space with the duHimy when desired. Besides, we 

 have a broader surface on top for storage — a most 

 desirable thing. J. W. Porter. 



Charlottesville, Va. 



t> * »> ^ 



THE BEE-KEEPER AT HOITIE. 



SEE PICTURE ON PAGE 739, DEC. 1. 



f RECEIVED Gleanings to-day, forwarded from 

 Fremont, and was somewhat surprised to see 

 — ' the trouble and expense you have been to en- 

 graving my home and apiary. You are right in your 

 surmises in regard to pine sidewalks in Michigan, 

 Mine has not stones under the stringers, friend R., 

 but it is laid on a hard beaten path; and although it 

 has been down six years, you see It is still straight 

 and level. Yes, I, too, think a picket fence nice, 

 and in our locality we are obliged to have a fence, as 

 cattle run the roads; but even if they did not, I 

 think I should prefer a nice tidy fence of some 

 kind. 



I am very sorry the trees in front are not bass- 

 woods, as they were planted one year before I com- 

 menced bee-keeping; but along the north fence is a 

 row that I have planted since; and I am proud to 

 say, that when I bought the ground, seven years 

 ago, there was no fence, sidewalk, trees, or house; 

 and I have made the improvements (aside from 

 what God has done) with my own hands, and I feel 

 like saying to all bee-keepers, "Go thou and do like- 

 wise." The latch-string is always out; and if you or 

 any other bee-keeper should happen along at any 

 meal-time, I will guarantee that the meal will be 

 palatable. The baby is a girl, and her name is Lulu. 

 I wish you could see her, and know her father. You 

 could not borrow the baby, but you could hold her a 

 while, and I know she would have a smile for you, 

 as she does for every one; and she, with her papa 

 and mamma, have done much to cheer me in my sad- 

 ness. 



Oh, but we did miss you so much at the conven- 

 tion at Flint ; We bad a deljghtfql time, so many 



