1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



4?3 



I worked different bee-yards, in which were differ- 

 ent kinds of frames of the shallow pattern, none of 

 whicli could I so manipulate as to get the same 

 amount of bees in a given time with the same 

 strength of colony that I could produce with the 

 square form of frame. Especially in case of weak 

 colonies in the spring does this frame prove ad- 

 vantageous in building them up. In order that 

 brood-rearing may go on successf ullj% the tempera- 

 ture inside of the cluster must be at least 90 de- 

 grees Fahr., as 1 ha\e proven many times with a 

 self-registering thermometer, and a small colony 

 can keep up that heat only when they can cluster 

 in the most compaci form. This is in the months of 

 April, May, and the tirst half of June, which I am 

 speaking of; for later in the season the difference 

 in favor of the square frame is not so mai-ked, 

 when the weather is warm right along. 



A year or two ago I received a hive from one of 

 the advocates of a still shallower frame than the 

 Langstroth, with the request that I try it. This T 

 did to please the party; and although I found that 

 the claims made regarding the hive in all other re- 

 spects were verified, yet in the respect of building 

 up in the spring I can do nothing with it. I have 

 no doubt but that these shallow frames are all right 

 for latitude 39° and south, where Mr. L. lived when 

 he invented them; but for our northern latitude, 

 where we have frosts till into June, I can not think 

 that they are as good. On this morning (the 4th of 

 June) the drops of dew formed into ice on the tops 

 of my tin hive-covers were as large as the end of 

 my little finger, as they were also on the morning 

 of June 3d. 



Again, last year I put a large swarm in another 

 hive of the shallow pattern, this being still shallow- 

 er than the other, and this spring both came out in 

 good condition upon taking out of the cellar; but 

 to-day neither are any thing but nuclei as com- 

 pared with those which were of equal strength two 

 months ago on Gallup fnanes. On the first day of 

 June a bee-keeper with whom I have had year.s of 

 correspondence, but whom I had never seen, living 

 in the western part of the State, called on me. 

 He has some 300 or more colonies of bees, and has 

 made bee-keeping a profitable business, although 

 not very often heard from in the bee-papers. He 

 uses a frame the same size of the Gallup, one way, 

 and % inch larger the other. He told me that, 

 when the Heddon patent hive first came out he 

 thought that he would try it, for he was not just 

 satisfied with the amount of surplus room that the 

 top of his hive allowed. The first season he hived 

 14 large swarms in these hives, and all went along 

 "swimmingly" till he set them out of the cellar in 

 the spring; and in spite of all he could do he lost 13 

 out of the 14 before June, and the two left were on- 

 ly remnants of colonies, while he lost only three in 

 his other hives, out of 300. Being determined to 

 succeed with the Heddon hive he again filled them 

 in swarming time the past summer; but the result 

 this spring was the same as before, and he did not 

 see but that he should have to give them up on ac- 

 count of not being able to " spring them " in those 

 hives. It is natural lor bees to cluster in a round 

 form, and this they must do to economize the heat 

 to the best advantage, and I am more than ever 

 convinced, from the past 16 years' experience, that 

 the long shallow frame will not do for this frosty 

 locality, if we would work our bees to the best ad- 

 vantage. 



AN ITEM. 



This morning, as I was out looking at the drops of 

 ice, spoken of above, with the mercury standing at 

 just 33° (the freezing-poiat), I came back to the 

 house under the apple-trees, which still have some 

 bloom left upon them. I stopped a moment, and 

 what should I hear bvit a bumble-bee above me 

 gathering honeyy I watched him some time go 

 from Hower to ttower, putting his tongue down in- 

 to the flowers, the same as a hive bee would do with 

 the tempei'ature at 60^. I passed on to other trees, 

 and saw quite a number in the different trees get- 

 ting honey, or at least they acted as if they were 

 doing so. The time of day was half-past four, and 

 the sun was just beginning to gild the tree-tops. 

 Evidently they thought it was "the early bird that 

 catches the worm;" but what about that point that 

 nectar is never secreted in a frosty night, as we 

 have been informed? and how could these bees 

 stand the freezing air when our honey-bees could 

 not stand it out of the hive a single minute without 

 being chilled so as to become lifeless to all ap- 

 pearances? G. M. DOOl^ITTLE. 



Borodino, N. Y., June 4, 1888. 



Admitting your reasoning, friend D., I 

 think there are quite a few who secure all 

 the results you mention, and yet use the L. 

 frame. Suppose you put in the chafL-pack- 

 ed division-boards, so as to reduce the 

 brood-chamber of an L. hive until it is 

 about as wide as it is deep. Then we have 

 a square space to be occupied by the bees, 

 only it is nearly twice as long as it is deep 

 and wide. It has one advantage— or, at 

 least, I think so — over your brood-chamber 

 and your square Gallup hive, Inasmuch as 

 it is shallower. If w^e want to pack the 

 bees up snug and warm, we do not want ilie 

 brood-chamber too deep up and down. My 

 experiments with both the American and 

 Gallup frame (and I have used both) con- 

 vinced me that they were too deep for the 

 very' purpose you mention. Well, our 

 brood-chamber in the contracted L. hive has 

 the advantage, as I think, of giving us a 

 cube of smaller dimensions than if we used 

 the Gallup frame, only this cube is nearly 

 twice as long as its depth and width. This 

 extra space is not, however, empty space. 

 It is filled with comb ; and, according to my 

 notion, it should be pretty well tilled with 

 stores also. AVhen a colony is in the shape 

 of a sphere, as you suggest, the circumfer- 

 ence of the sphere touches the top and bot- 

 tom of the brood-nest and three of the sides, 

 with sealed stores on the fourth side, and it 

 is just according to my notion for wintering 

 or springing. Of course, the sealed stores 

 would be in one end of the L. frames, while 

 the brood and bees will occupy perhaps over 

 half of the otlier end. As a rule, we should 

 hardly want so much stores by the tirst of 

 June ; but as we frequently have a dearth 

 of pasturage in our locality, even during 

 May and June, I think it is a pretty good 

 state of alfairs. I suppose, of course, you 

 mean that this present season you had frosts 

 in June. We have had them here also, but 

 it is a very unusual thing indeed. We usu- 

 ally get some strawberries by the last of 

 May here ; but this year, strawberries and 

 every thing else are fully two weeks later. 



