1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



567 



besides, he explained tliat there are bees just 

 ■outside the city limits, all around the city, and 

 prohibiting them from th(i corporation would 

 not help the matter at all, because bees will fly 

 from one to three miles. One bee-keeper oflfer- 

 ■ed, at his own expense, to put screens in front 

 of the windows and doors of the candy-factory; 

 but the proprietor would not be appeased in 

 that way; and the result is now, that a com- 

 mittee of the council saw the foolishness of try- 

 ing to prohibit bees in the corporation; and 

 when the council took a vote, they struck it 

 out of the ordinance entirely. 



Mr. Beitel makes a strong point; viz., in small 

 corporations it is entirely useless to prohibit 

 bees inside of the town limits, because those 

 J list outside of the limits can come in and do 

 practically as much damage. Putting them 

 outside of the limits does not help the matter. 

 An ordinance that would prohibit bees from 

 being kept within the corporation must also 

 prohibit the bees themselves from Jiijing into the 

 ■city or town. As bees can fly from one to three 

 miles, the utter foolishness of such a measure 

 is apparent to even those who are not bee- 

 keepers. The only pi-actical way is to screen 

 the windows, and put on a few bee-escapes, so 

 that the few that do accidentally get in while 

 the doors are open can escape. 



ADVANCED BEE CUI/FUKE: HITTCHINSON'S NEW 

 BOOK. 



As soon as it was announced that Mr. Hutch- 

 inson was to write a new book, I waited with 

 no little degree of expectancy for its appear- 

 ance. Accordingly, on the evening following 

 the day of its arrival I sat down to read it; nor 

 did I lay it aside until I had read almost every 

 word of it. The book is well named. It is not 

 only Advanced Bee Culture, but I think it is a 

 little in (idvunce of the times. From the na- 

 ture of the subject, it does not go into details 

 ordinarily sought after by begiiniers; but to a 

 professional or old bee-keeper it is suggestive 

 ■of a good many new kinks. Like its predeces- 

 sor it is nicely bound in appi'opriate cover; but 

 is larger, and contains 87 doubk^-column pages 

 the size of those of the Revieiv. 



It discusses its subjects somewhat in the or- 

 der of the seasons of the year. For instance, 

 the first subject considers the " Care of Bees in 

 Winter;" the next, "Securing Workers for the 

 Harvest." and so on uniil we gtt to " Sections 

 and Their Adjustment on the Hives," and iinal- 

 ly ends up with " Mistakes in Bee-keeping." 



Like the A B C of Bee Culture it gives, in a 

 ■condensed form, matter that has appeared fi'om 

 time to time in the bee-journal of which the 

 author is editor. This lifts both works beyond 

 the vale of personal observation and personal 

 prejudices. 



On page 1.5, uuder the subject of " Bee-hives 

 and their Characteristics," the author says: 

 •• The times have not seemed to take kindly to 

 inversion. Like many new things it was ex- 

 travagantly praised; but it is far from being 

 valueless." I agree with our author exactly; 

 but 1 would add, with fixed frames inversion or 

 reversing is feasible and practicable; but with 

 loose frames, or, as Mr. Hutchinson calls them, 

 •' open-end frames," it is not practicable. That 

 is, I mean the expense required to make loose 

 frames invertible would more than offset the 

 advantage gained. 



In the chapter on " Bee-hives and their 

 Characteristics." Heddon's new divisible-brood- 

 chamber hive is given the preference ; after 

 that the Dovetailed hive with loose frames is 

 given the choice. Mr. Hutchinson enumerates 

 a number of good features in the divisible- 

 brood-chamber hive— among them the shake- 

 •out function, and the readiness with which 



queens can be fouud thereby. I believe it can be 

 done, but I have not been successful with it in 

 our Heddon, neither has Mr. J. H. Martin, who, 

 by the way, is an admirer (and was- formerly a 

 possessor of 100) of these hives. Said Mr. Mar- 

 tin, " This is one of the things claimed by Mr. 

 Heddon that I can not make work." 



In the same chapter on hives, Mr. Hutchin- 

 son, in speaking of fixed frames, says: •' Closed- 

 end frames are having quite a boom just now. 

 Contrai'y to the belief of those who have never 

 tried them, they can be handled more rapidly 

 than the open-end frames." 



On the subject of honey-boards, he thinks the 

 slatted style will still be retained, in spite of 

 the fact that thick and wide top-bars will prob- 

 ably rid the hivesof the nuisance of burr-combs. 

 The slatted honey-board has gone out of sale in 

 our establishment almost entirely; and as it 

 only keeps burr-combs from the sections, and 

 still leaves them on the brood-frames, I could 

 not be induced to use it after experiencing the 

 great comfort of using wide and thick top-bars 

 this and last summer. 



Under " Sections, and their Adjustment on 

 the Hive," Mr. Hutchinson prefers the old- 

 style Heddon case for a non -separator arrange- 

 ment, and the T super for those, who prefer sep- 

 arators, or are obliged to use them. 



Under " Varieties of Bees " he decides in fa- 

 vor of the Italians for extracting, and hybrids 

 for comb honey. Of Cai'niolans he says: '" I do 

 not find the Carniolans any more gentle than 

 the Italians; and they do run about on the 

 combs in a reckless manner." A little further 

 on he thinks they are worthy of a trial, but 

 would want to test them three or four years be- 

 fore coming to a decision. 



Mr. Hutchinson is at home on the subject of 

 introducing queens. He, like myself, prefers 

 the candy method, and con'oborates what I 

 have said in another column on the advantage 

 of letting the bees release the queen quietly 

 themselves, without any disturbance resulting 

 from opening the hives. 



Under " Shade for Bees " our author does not 

 recommend evergreens, grapeviiies. and the 

 like, but prefers an easily adjustable shade in 

 the form of a shade-board, because shade is not 

 needed in the spring and fall, nor in the morning 

 and evening; and he adds: "For thecomfoit 

 of the apiarist it is well to have a few scatter- 

 ing trees in the apiaiy; but let their branches 

 be trimmed to such a height that they will not 

 be knocking off his hat nor gouging his eyes." 

 This savors strongly of experience of one who 

 has " been there." I have had my hat cram- 

 med down over my eai's, <i la Miller, my veil 

 torn, and occasionally a punch in the face, from 

 a naughty twig that stuck out in the way. I 

 might add further, that I experienced much the 

 same, inconvenience with grapevines, barring 

 the cramming of the hat over the head. 



In " The Use and Abuse of Foundation," Mr. 

 Hutchinson covers the ground fa'rly and can- 

 didly; but I think he retracts some from the 

 position he formerly occupied in his little book, 

 "The Production of Comb Honey." But an 

 editor who never retracts is one who should be 

 avoided. 



Under the subject of " Queen-rearing " Mr. 

 Hutchinson is surely at home; and I know that 

 the plans advocated there will work. 



I have mentioned only a few of the subjects 

 contained in the book, and only a thought or 

 two from those. This book will very nicely 

 supplement the work designed for beginners; 

 and every apiarist who has more than a 

 beginner's knowledge of the subject should 

 certainly have the book. Price by mail, .50 

 cents postpaid. It can be had at this office. 



E. R. R. 



