1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



17 



high, and then six feet back of it plant a close row 

 of plum-trees and place your hives beyond them. 



This matter of outside protection is much neg- 

 lected in this country. I have several kinds of 

 fruit-trees in my bee-yard; for what is more deli- 

 cious, or brings in more money for the outlay, than 

 fresh ripe fruit, such as cherries, plums, pears, 

 grapes, and apples? If you have no apiary, or have 

 one and do not fancy planting trees among the 

 hives, still, I say, plant fruit-trees. There is too 

 much of selfishness in our ways of living to-day— 

 not petty selfishness, but big selfishness. Houses 

 are but flimsy structures, because "it will last as 

 long as T want it to, and the next one can do as I 

 did." Many an orchard is never planted, because 

 "it will just get to bearing as I am done with this 

 world." 



Let us think of what was left us by our ancestors. 

 Vermont was once one unbroken forest. Let us 

 think of the strong arms that once cleared its acres, 

 and lived in log cabins the while, but to die as the 

 sun was rising over a fertile, grain-clad country. 

 Let us think of these things, and "go and do like- 

 wise." If you have attended to this matter of shade 

 and fruit trees in the apiary, I think there is scarce- 

 ly a necessity of clipping the queen's wing to pi-e- 

 vent absconding of swarms; though if you allow 

 many high trees to grow near by, you may have an 

 occasional climb. I had over sixty swarms issue 

 the last season, and only one (a small second swarm) 

 attempted to leave. Plenty of small trees will 

 catch them every time. 



I do not like the appearance of those large bee- 

 yards without a tree in them, and with the hives 

 set in regular rows each way. I find that, with hives 

 thus arranged, it is difficult to tell individual col- 

 onies except by the numbers, and a number is too 

 abstract for me. I group three or four under the 

 shade of this "Fameuse," a couple under that 

 small " Flemish Beauty," three or four under the 

 friendly shelter of that clump of cherry-bushes. 1 

 take pains to leave passageways here and there, 

 through which I can run my wheelbarrow, then 

 each hive among one hundred retains its separate 

 impression, and its general history and present con- 

 dition can be told without a record, though some 

 record is often necessary. 



WORKER CELLS TO THE INCH. 



I have been looking up, or measuring up, since I 

 read Dr. Miller's article in Gleanings, and in 

 twenty pieces of natural comb, from different col- 

 onies, I found that the average size is 58.25 cells to 

 the foot, placed side by side, which is less than Dr. 

 M. estimates, by nearly two cells to the foot. How- 

 ever, I have measured samples of comb built upon 

 Given fdn., which ran just five cells to the inch. Van- 

 dervort fdn. ran about the same as natural comb. 

 Now, I wish to ask, upon this subject, whether it 

 were not barely possible that the stretching and 

 sagging of fdn. may not often be caused by too 

 small cell foundation. Is it possible to enlarge the 

 size of our bees by slightly enlarging the size of the 

 cell, say to 56 to the foot? I should like to know if 

 any one has tried it. I should like to learn, from 

 those who have tried it, the effect of drone founda- 

 tion in sections, with queen-excluder beneath. 



Larrabee's Point, Vt. John H. L.\rrabee. 



Friend L., your suggestions in regard to 

 windbreaks are excellent ; and it is not only 

 the bee-keeper but the market-gardener and 

 fruit-grower who can afford to furnish wind- 



breaks. It makes a vast difference in any 

 locality about cutting off the prevailing cold 

 winds. Nothing does it so effectually, so 

 far as my experience goes, as a heavy forest, 

 or, better still, a forest of evergreens. If 

 we can have all the sunshine and not have 

 the wind, we are virtually a good many 

 miles further south. Your suggestion in re- 

 gard to grouping the hives is also good. 

 The matter of getting bees slightly larger 

 was experimented on and discussed years 

 ago ; and although some experiments seem- 

 ed to indicate that larger bees were secured 

 by making comb foundation a little larger, 

 others seemed to indicate they were about 

 the same. In connection with this it may 

 be well to mention the fact that different 

 queens often produce bees of different sizes. 

 We once had a queen, brought from the 

 Holy Land by D. A. Jones, that pleased us 

 in every respect, except that her bees were 

 smaller than the average run of bees ; and 

 occasionally we have an Italian queen that 

 seems to produce extra large workers. As 

 there are no means, however, of measuring 

 them with any kind of accuracy, except the 

 looks of them as they are clustered on the 

 combs or in front of the hive, it is a little 

 hard to be positive in liie matter. Another 

 thing, we have not been able to see that the 

 larger bees gathered any mnie honey than a 

 hive full of small bees. Neighbor H., who 

 was sitting by while I dictated the above, 

 adds the following : 



One spring he was very anxious to get 

 drones from a particular queen, therefore 

 he furnished her with full sheets of dron^ 

 comb, and fed the colony up, so as to make 

 a sure thing of it. The queen very obliging- 

 ly went and put an ejrg in every drone-cell, 

 and he was rejoicing in tlie prospect of an 

 extra nice crop of drones. After the bees 

 sealed them up, however, to his astonish- 

 ment they were all capped like workers. 

 Well, these worker bees were actually large 

 around, but short and dumpy, much like 

 drones, and he thought he had got a larger 

 size of worker bees. About the time they 

 were ready to tly, however, they looked just 

 like any other bees. Their extra size of 

 cradle produced no permanent difference in 

 size. This is probably about the way it turns 

 out with worker cells slightly enlarged. 



KEEPING HONEY LIQUID THAT IS 

 FOR SALE IN THE STOKES. 



MRS. HARRISON ALSO TELLS US SOMETHING ABOUT 

 MAPLE SUGAR IN A KEG. 



fRIEND ROOT:— I fully agree with Mr. Bal- 

 dridge when he says: " It is my experience, 

 that the price for extracted honey indicates, 

 in the minds of consumers, both its purity 

 and quality. A low price for extracted hon- 

 ey, or a less price than is asked for comb honey, is 

 very apt to create distrust on both points." Peo- 

 ple have said to me, " I should think honey with- 

 out the comb ought to be worth the most, because 

 there is no wax in it." I have always said that I 

 felt that my extracted honey cost the most. It is 

 best that extracted honey should be sold in a home 

 market, and direct to consumers, for this reason: 



