1884 



GLEANINGS IN liEE CULTURE. 



405 



of it. It is very thick, and has a splendid amber 

 color; in appearance, it is not unlike a nice qualitj' 

 of basswood. However, on tasting it I found it to 

 ha\e a bitter, aromatic flavor, the same as on the 

 leaves. It probably would not answer for any 

 other purpose than feeding or strengthening' weak 

 colonies in early spring. I will bring the jar when 

 I come home vacation, and you can express your 

 opinion on it then. Your son, 



Ernest K. Koot. 

 P. S.— I wish you would give the juveniles a word 

 of exhortation on this subject, and get them to i-e- 

 port. Who knows but they, with their disposition 

 to ramble and climb, would recall, in their simple, 

 condensed style, many facts hitherto undiscovered? 

 This year, of all others, seems to be especially 

 favorable. E. K. R. 



TOO MANY DRONES. 



In regard to so many drones in one of my hives, 

 it looks to me that there are a fourth drones. That 

 hive has swarmed twice. What shall I do with 

 them? J. A. Uhi.. 



Millersburg, Ohio. 



Friend U., go riglit at it this minute, and 

 cnt ont the comb that those drones were 

 bred in, and supply its phice witli worker- 

 comb ; or, better still, after sifting out all 

 the drones with the drone-trap, put the re- 

 maining bees on frames of worker-foiuida- 

 tion. A bee-keeper should be ashamed of 

 having a hive full of drones at tliis tulight- 

 ened stage of apicultural lore. 



cook's new .M.4NUAI,. 



Our 12th thousand has been out just 3 weeks, and 

 600 are sold. Is not that worth an editorial note in 

 Gleanings? All should rejoice as we do at your 

 6910 subscription list. A. J. Cook. 



Lansing, Mich., May 31, 1884. 



My report of winter results is as follows: Fall 

 count, 115; dead, 6; sold, 17; alive at date, 93. Bees 

 are in good and healthy condition, and strong in 

 numbers. S. H. Moss. 



Colchester, McDonough Co., 111. »■ 



honey-boards made of the perforated zinc: 

 some further facts in regard to the 



SIZE OF perforations. 



I put on my honej-boards, made of your perfo- 

 rated zinc. It won't work at all; it is too close or 

 small a spaoe; have lost lots of bees since yester- 

 day; left above, and could not get down or out. 

 What shall I do with them? They won't do for out- 

 side drone-protectors, nor inside honey-board. 



Jno. H. Daniel. 



Cumbei-land, Guernsey Co., O., June 8, 18S4. 



Friend D., it seems a little strange there 

 should be so many different repoi-ts in this 

 matter. Alley has decided in favor of the 

 smaller perforations, and quite a number of 

 others say it is all right, although yours is 

 the first report we have had of it for lioney- 

 boards, if I am correct. It seems (luite like- 

 ly that what we want is something about 

 half way between ours and the Jones style. 

 We are now thinking about putting in the 

 necessary machinery to perforate the metal 

 ourselves, and theii we can have it just 

 where we want it. We have plenty of 

 honey-boards in stock made of the Jones size, 

 but no zinc of this size in any other shape. 

 The small size we can furnish in sheets in 



any quantity, or made up, as desired. AVlio 

 can give us "further facts in the matter? If 

 1 am not mistaken, we are not sure just 

 what we do want. 



SOME queries arout urood-combs. 



I am having some trouble in getting my founda- 

 tion in between the diagonal and upright wires in 

 my brood-frames. I can't do it without tearing or 

 mutilating the fdn. Can you give me a little in- 

 struction? 



Friend M., our girls warm the sheets of 

 fdn. in the sun, or otherwise, until the wax 

 is soft enough to be tough, then they push 

 one end under the diagonal wire, fold the 

 sheet partly, and slip in the other. 



FRA.MES THAT DON'T HANG TRUE. 



Please tell me, also, what to do when the bottoms 

 of the frames do not hang so as to correspond with 

 the tops, some almost touching each other, and 

 others too far apart. And how far should the out 

 side frame hang from the side of the hive? 



The metal corners ought to l)e made so 

 that every frame hangs steady, and straight 

 down ; however, if they are not, it does not 

 matter so very much, for the projections on 

 any comb after it has been used a little while 

 will keep it i>retty near the proper distance 

 from its ueigliboV. The outside of the 

 frames should come witliin I inch of the in- 

 side of tlie hive, as a rule. If it comes 

 within i incii. however, it will do j-ust as 

 well ■. but if it sh(.uld be as much as \ inch, 

 l)its of comb would be built in during a 

 heavy tlow. 



PUTTING THE SECTIONS OVER NEW SWARMS. 



Would you advise luitting the surplus honey-sec- 

 tions on young swarms as soon as they are hived? 



I Avouldn't put the sections over any 

 swarm until they had got pretty well started 

 on the Inood-combs, and the queen had com- 

 menced laying eggs ; otherwise the whole 

 family might move up into the sections, and 

 begin housekeeping. 



HOW MANY COMBS TO GIVE A NEW SWARM. 



Would you give a fair-sized young swarm a full 

 supply (10) of brood-frames at first? 



I would give every swarm as many combs 

 or fdn. as they want to work on. Giving 

 them more in hot weather would do no harm: 

 but if you are short of combs, they are just 

 as well off to have one more at a time as 

 soon as they need it ; that is, put in combs 

 enough so 'that all the bees will have combs 

 enough to cluster on. and so that they will 

 not build combs in the empty space. Al- 

 most every trip through our apiaries I tind 

 one or more colonies building comb on the 

 enameled sheets, because they have filled up 

 faster than the boys thought they woidd ; so, 

 friends, keep a careful watch while clover 

 honey is coming in as it is now. It was 

 only yesterday that I made a <pieer discov- 

 ery. I told the boys I could tell by the looks 

 of the Hying bees of every colony pretty 

 nearly when they had got to building combs 

 on tiie enameled" slieets. I did it by their 

 extra vigor and industry : and it traiispired 

 that every colony that had g(jt started to 

 building liew natural combs showed an in- 

 dustry something like that of a new natural 

 swarm. Tliis would seem to indicate that 



