1S91 



CxLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



369 



tion is slid under tho tongue C, and all around 

 the block A. the latter being just half the width 

 of the section. A strip of foundation is picked 

 up. and held against the surfac<' A. The foun- 

 dation is allowed to slide down and strike tlie 

 heated tongue C. which, being withdrawn by 

 the treadle, in connection with the cord F. 

 leaves the foundation witli a melted edge when 

 it strikes the section. In an instant it cools and 

 ndhn-es. 



The principle is all right; but the machine as 

 made, it seems to me, is a little expensive, and 

 possiblv may be simplified a little more than 

 this.] ^ E. R. R. 



^m t< n ^< 



CONTRACTION AND COMB HONEY. 



THK RIGHT AXP WRONG KIND AGAIN, A.S DIS- 

 CUSSED BY DOOI.ITTLE. 



I \\ish every reader of Gleanings would 

 turn again to page 167 of the present volume 

 and read the first part of C. AV. Dayton's article 

 on contraction. It is a rare thing that so much 

 truth is brought out in so little space. I know 

 nothing about his ■■queen-restrictor." and do 

 not refer to that part. I have been very much 

 surprised to see the grounds taken of late in 

 Gleanings by its managers, to the effect that 

 contraction methods tend to give only a me- 

 dium force of bees in the honey-harvest, while 

 all that I have ever written on the subject, and 

 the most I have seen, has been to prove that 

 the contraction plan, if rightly worked, will 

 give a ■■ rousing colony " during the honey har- 

 vest, as Mr. Dayton says, and as few bees at all 

 other times as is consistent with having this 

 rousing colony just when we want it. Uor the 

 benefit of th(» younger readers of Gleanings, 

 and to brush up your memory a little. ^Ir. Ed- 

 itor, let me say a few words as to how I manage 

 bees on the contraction plan, to secure a large 

 yield of comb honey. As the older readers of 

 Gleanings will remember. I formerly worked 

 my bees on the side and toit-box plan combined, 

 therefore all of my hives are two feet long in- 

 side, while the brood-chamber proper is only 

 IS}^' inches inside, 5^4 inches on either side of 

 this being set apart for the side boxes, which., 

 added to the 13i^ inches, makes the two feet. 

 .Since I adopted the lateral plan of working for 

 comb honey, as described in a late number of 

 Gleanings, each of these side-box apartments 

 is filled with chaff, or has a chaff cushion in 

 there, so as to shut the bees out and prol(>ct 

 them for winter. When spring arrives, the 

 bees in these hives thus fixed are stimulated to 

 rear the greatest amount of brood possible, by 

 one or all of the known plans to accomplisia 

 this object, till the nine frames which fill the 

 brood-chamber proper are filled with brood. 

 As the weather is always changeable in the 

 spring and early summer, the chaff packing is a 

 great help to the bees, by way of enabling 

 them to maintain an even temperature, and 

 thus the hives are filled with brood a little ear- 

 lier in the season than they otherwise would 

 be, as all know who are now recommending 

 chaff-packed boxes for single-walled hives as 

 soon as set from the cellar. To digress a little: 



I must say that I think those who are telling 

 that an air-space is as good as a space filled 

 with chaff or straw are making a great mis- 

 take. Let me prove it to you. On several oc- 

 casions, from ants working in my packing, and 

 for other reasons, the chaff or fine straw was 

 taken out of one side, or perhaps one side and 

 one end. during the summer and left out till 

 cold weather came in the late fall or early 

 winter. At this time, when I came to pack 

 these vacant spaces I invariably found the bees 



clustered up against the side or sides which 

 were i)acked, and away from those where the 

 packing was removed. If the packing was re- 

 moved from one side I would find the bees clus- 

 tered in a half -sphere against the opposite 

 side: if remov(^d from a side and an end, the 

 bees would be clustered up against the inside 

 opposite corner, lying right up against the 

 wood along the two packed sides as far out as 

 the cluster came. If all four sides were packed, 

 then I found the bees clustered in the center of 

 the hive in all directions. If this does not show 

 the value of chaff packing, then I was wrong 

 in allowing it to convince me that it were bet- 

 ter to have my bees, all of them, in fully chaff- 

 packed hives, as they are now. But, to return: 



When these nine frames are filled with brood 

 it is generally too early for swarms to issue to 

 the best advantage for the production of honey: 

 and desiring all the bees possible at this season 

 of the year (these bees are in reality our crop of 

 honey), I remove one of the chaff cushions from 

 one of the five-inch spaces, and place three 

 frames of brood, taken from the brood-chamber 

 beyond the .slotted I4 - inch division - board 

 (which was placed there when I used side box- 

 es, the bees passing through this slotted board 

 to the boxes) when empty combs are placed in 

 the brood-nest in place of the removed frames 

 of brood. In a week the other end of the hive 

 is served in the same way, which gives me, as 

 will ho seen, 1.5 frames in a hive, thus securing 

 a large force of bees right at the commence- 

 ment of the honey harvest, with little disposi- 

 tion to swarm thus far. As the brood in the 

 frames set over in the five-inch spaces should 

 be as nearly all sealed when set there as possi- 

 ble, it will "be seen that, in 1;.' days, the brood 

 from these combs should be all matured: and 

 as the queen rarely goes into these spaces to de- 

 posit eggs, I have these combs em])ty of brood, 

 or neady so. by the time the wide frames of 

 sections used on the lateral plan need to come 

 out over these side apartments. They can now 

 be taken out and reserved for new swarms, or 

 used for tiering up for extracted honey. If any of 

 the combs I wish to take out still have brood in 

 them.theyare just as good for the extracting su- 

 per over a queen-excluder, or they can be used in 

 forming nuclei or building up those already 

 formed. As the frames are taken out. the 

 chaff cushions are returned, they having. been 

 stored in the hive all the while, and the wide 

 frames of sections allowed to go right on out 

 over them, as I gave in my former article. 

 When this hive swarms, the brood, with enough 

 adhering bees to care for it, is set in a new hive 

 on another stand. Six frames of comb founda- 

 tion, or empty frames, as I think best according 

 to the time of year, together with dummies to 

 take the place of three frames, are set in the 

 brood-chamber, and the swarm allowed to re- 

 turn, or hived back in the same hive (when the 

 queen's wing is not clipped), when the work in 

 the sections goes right along without interrup- 

 tion on account of the swarming. I need not en- 

 large on this matter. All will see at a glance 

 that colonies treated as here given will far sur- 

 pass in numbers, at just the tune we want nuin- 

 hcrs, those^kept in an eight-frame hive, and re- 

 strict the •' mouths to feed '" after the harvest is 

 past, and yet give us sufficient bees for winter. 

 What we want is a rousing colony at just the 

 right time, and I know of no plan that will give 

 such, equal to the contraction plan as outlined 

 above. G. M. Doolittle. 



Borodino. N. Y., Mar. 16. 



[You and friend Dayton are bound. I see. to 

 put me in a hole. Now, may be I had better 

 keep still, and, as Dr. Mason says, pull the hole 

 in after me. No. I won't keep stiU. Friend 



