GLEANIKGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



755 



BEES WORKING IN SECTIONS NOT 

 OVER THE BROOD-NEST. 



DR. MII-IjER gives SOME FACTS FROM ACTUAT. EX- 

 PERIENCE. 



SN page 634 of Gleanings, friend Doolittle 

 says: "Did either one of you ever fully test 

 the matter you are there talking about, or 

 have you reasoned it out in theory?" Doo- 

 little is one of the men 1 Hire to get into a 

 struj-'glc with. Did you ever see two or three bees 

 trying to get a dead bee out of a hive? Part of the 

 time they pull directly apart, as if lighting for 

 possession of the dead bee, and then part of the 

 time they pull together; but eventually, cither by 

 both pulling together or one giving up to the oth- 

 er, the dead bee is removed. A careless observer 

 would say they were fighting about the dead bee. 

 In the same way we may fight with each othei-. It 

 matters not who gives up, so we get the dead bee 

 out. To answer your (luestion, Bro. Doolittle, I 

 will say I have tested the matter hundreds of times, 

 and have had supers by the hundred in which tlie 

 sections were well started in the middle and at one 

 side, while the sections at the other side were un- 

 touched. I think I never knew an exception to the 

 rule, that the bees commenced work first in the 

 sections over the brood-nest; and not till the su- 

 pers were reversed did they commence work in the 

 other sections, except in a very few cases, and then 

 I think they were badly crowded. I had no theory 

 whatever in the matter. It was simply the con- 

 tinued e.xperience of several years. 



And now I will try to comply with your request, 

 friend D., to tell why your bees work well two feet 

 or more away from the brood. Before I ever 

 heard of contraction I had bees go as much as four 

 feet away from the brood to store honey. The ex- 

 planation lies in a single word— Tieat. Friend Root 

 has already intimated as much. In addition to 

 what he has said, ficre is a further reason why 

 your bees act differently from mine. Your bees 

 are closed up more than mine, so that the sections 

 over the dummies are warmer than mine. I sus- 

 pect mine are too open. My hives are ten frame, 

 and the super does not extend over the whole 

 width of the hive, but leaves a space of more than 

 two inches uncovered. This produces the effect 

 that no warm air comes to the outside sections, 

 only as it comes sidewise from the other sections. 

 You \\&ve helped to hasten a decision that hereaft- 

 er I would have my hives closed up warmer. 



Now, Bro. Doolittle, that you have whipped, let 

 me ask you a question. " Did you ever fully test 

 the matter," so as to hnow that bees work just as 

 soon and as well over the dummies as over the brood- 

 combs? If a super of empty Actions Is put on a 

 hive, don't the bees commence over the brood 

 first? Are you sure that, after the sections are all 

 started, the bees do not work just a little more 

 freely in those over the brood? 



WAKING UP SLEEPY BEES. 



Friend Root, on page 638 you think a man of my 

 experience ought to have known enough to rouse 

 up the bees, even if it was cool, by pouring warm 

 feed over them. Yes, I reached that experience 

 long ago, and have gone clean beyond It. I have 

 learned by experience that there are times when 

 such means are ineffectual to arouse them. In the 

 ease under consideration, I did pour the warm feed 



right over the bees; but if it roused them up 

 enough to clean themselves up, they only quieted 

 down again. You needn't tell me I should have 

 daubed the sides of the feeder so that they would 

 be led clear to the feed. I knew that too. I tell 

 you, those bees wouldn't be aroused. But j-ou 

 live In Medina, and I don't suppose you ever have 

 weather the first of October such as many of ua 

 have. I don't believe that matter of climate is con- 

 sidered enough. You and I, probably, would not 

 quarrel about chaff hives or cellar wintering if wc 

 both lived in Medina or both in Marengo. You 

 talk about jour bees troubling peaches. Why, 

 dear friend, my bees never touch a peach. They 

 would have to travel miles and miles to find one. 

 A peach tree won't live here. Even the apple- 

 trees that you grow will not live here, and wo 

 have a small list of extra-hardy ones whose names 

 you would hardly recognize. So, many times I 

 think we would understand one another better if 

 we kept In mind the difference In climate. 



BLOWING SMOKE IN THE ENTRANCE. 



You saj-, page 640, a very little smoke over the 

 top of the frames is sufficient. I rather like to give 

 them a little whiff at the entrance, before I touch 

 the hive at all. The guard--, perhaps the most Iras- 

 cible In the whole hive, are there, and the slight 

 jarring the hive receives in having the cover re- 

 moved, and In other manipulations, is often suffi- 

 cient to start thcin out for an attack; and, once out 

 in the air, they annoy one for some time. Allow me 

 to emphasize for beginners one word you use. 

 Blow the smoke (}ver the frames. It is rarely nec- 

 essary to deluge the center of the cluster. Point 

 the nozzle of llie smoker across the frames, not 

 down between them. 



HOW TO GET RID OF MORELLO CHERRY-SPROUTS. 



In reply to your question on p. 65'3, 1 had a hundred 

 Early Richmonds on morello roots, and the latter 

 sent out thousands of sprouts, which, if let alone, 

 would have made an Impenetrable thicket In a few 

 years. Persistently keeping them cut down close 

 to the ground is the only way I know to do any 

 thing with them, and it is no worse than to keep 

 down many other kinds of weeds. Part have been 

 cut down with a scythe and part with a grub hoe, 

 and I am not sure there's any difference. A large 

 part of the ground has remained free from sprouts 

 for a year or two. Whether they are entirely dis- 

 couraged, or are only waiting their chance to come 

 up again when they think no one is watching, I do 

 not know. C. C. Miller. 



Mai-engo, 111., Sept. 4, 1888. 



Well, old friend, if there are no peaches 

 growing on trees within miles of you, there 

 certainly is great difference in locality be- 

 tween us. 1 have sometimes felt sorry for 

 you to think yon would persist in lugging 

 your bees into the cellar when chaff hives 

 answer us completely ; but I did not for a 

 moment dream that your locality was so 

 much colder than ours that you could not 

 raise apples and peaches— that is, such ap- 

 ples as we have. I take it all back, and beg 

 your pardon.— In regard to those cherry- 

 sprouts, I think I woiild chop the cherry- 

 trees down, and p)ow every thing under be- 

 fore 1 would liave such unsightly-looking 

 brush as we see around cherry-trees in a 

 good many places. 



