1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



783 



•yiTEEN-KKARING A LA UOOI.ITTLE A SUCCKSS. 



You ask for the experience of those who have 

 tried the Doolittle plan of rearing queens: and 

 as I have reared a considerable number that 

 way this summer I will report. When I first 

 read Mr. D.'s description of his method I was 

 not favorably impressed, but concluded to try 

 it, and now use no other. It certainly gets fine 

 queens. 



At first I was not very successful in getting a 

 good per cent of the prepai'ed cells started and 

 completed by the bees: but 1 have experiment- 

 ed carefully, and now succeed in getting from 

 40 to iX) per cent started, and that in the upper 

 story of a strong colony having a queen below, 

 using a queen-excluding honey-board of course. 



I tried giving the cells to a queenless hive to 

 start, also putting the queen above the honey- 

 board and cells in brood-chamber to be built, 

 but found that, if the hive was properly pre- 

 pared, just as many would be started in the 

 upper story, and the cells almost invariably 

 contain dried lumps of royal .ielly after the 

 young queens hatch, showing that the brood- 

 supply is abundant. The preparation I have 

 found necessary is, to put a couple of fi'ames of 

 brood, one hatching and one unsealed larvte, 

 above the queen-excluder the day before intro- 

 ducing the cells. I find that a colony will sel- 

 dom start as many of the second lot of cells as 

 of the first. 



I give twelve cells to a colony, believing that 

 a small number will be better fed than more. 

 When honey is coming in freely, and the bees 

 get crowded for room, they sometimes build 

 comb over and around the cells, if they are left 

 until ten days old. J. Webster Johnson. 



Tempe. Arizona, Sept. 8. 



i.mbe;ddin6 foundation wires with lamp 



heat: GEO. E. FRADENBUKG TELLS 

 HOAV HE DOES IT. 



Shortly after Miss Wilson gave her plan in 

 Gleanings, of imbedding wires in foundation 

 by means of lamp or gasoline-stove heat, Geo. 

 E. Fradenburg. Kansas City, wrote us that he 

 had {)reviously sent us a letter on the subject. 

 Although we have not yet made the plan a 

 success, we are glad to publish his letter on the 

 subject under date of Jan. 18, 1891 : 



I do it with a lamp with a piece of tin over 

 the top: the tin has a slot cut in the center, 

 which dii'ects the heat on to the wire. I use a 

 Rochester lamp, turned down quite low. and a 

 scalloped chimney. «iiich gives a good ciicula- 

 tion with the tin on the chimney. When the 

 frame is passed moderately fast over the lamp, 

 only the foundation along the wire is slightly 

 melted, and runs down on the wire. 



Geo. E. Fradenburg. 



Kansas City, Mo., Jan. 18. 



HOFFMAN frames: TESTIMONY FROM ONE 



WHO HAS USED THEM 1.5 YEARS, AND 



LIKES THEM. 



I have used a franle similar to the Hoffman, 

 for fifteen years. I like the spaced frames bet- 

 ter than loose ones, especially in moving from 

 place to place. The top of the frame I use is 

 similar to the American frame. The frame 

 makes the honey-board. As to the ends of 

 frames. I don't see any particular need. The 

 top, if made true, will hold the frame to its 

 place. The outside combs that Dr. Miller 

 speaks about can be obviated by placing a 14- 

 inch strip against the side of the hive: then 

 the outside combs will be right. As to han- 

 dling combs with fixed distances, it can be done 

 much quicker if bees are on the edge of the 



frame. Pinch the bees, and then let them have 

 time to crawl away, and there need be very 

 few mashed. There is no gumming where the 

 end rests on the rabbet. The whole set of 

 frames can be shoved at once, or any number. 

 I am satisfied the Hoffman frame, or some 

 frame with fixed distance, is the coming one. 

 George Briggs. 

 New Sharon. la., Aug. 24. 



BEE COUNTRY UP IN THE MOUNTAINS OF CAL- 

 IFORNIA. 



The lioney season here in the mountains 

 (elevation 2.500 feet) is practically closed, as the 

 bees will not gather more thi< season than they 

 will need to winter on. The crop was not equal 

 to that of last season, per stand, but the in- 

 crease in apiaries and stands in this communi- 

 ty more than made up for the short crop. The 

 black buckwheat, upon which they mainly 

 depend for summer and fall pasture, has ceased 

 blooming earlier than usual. Our nearest 

 neighbor, H. G. Bovee, extracted 5 tons from 

 100 stands. A. L. Hubbard, an enterprising 

 young man. is starting in the business, and 

 took 1^4 tons from 30 stands. This is quite a 

 honey region, and there are already a dozen 

 bee-keepers in this community. They depend 

 solely upon wild flowers for their pasture. 



Ravenna. Cal., Sept. 8. W. S. Devol. 



CLOSED-END FRAMES PERFECTION. 



Dr. Miller was thinking it time for reports of 

 closed-end frames, and he is right. With me 

 they are pei'fection. as made and used by my- 

 self: but I bought 100 of a dealer, and they are 

 100 too many. The ends of mine are ten inches 

 long, and reach from the bottom-board to the 

 cover, and can not be glued tight. I have no 

 trouble with their killing bees, as I handle 

 tliem mostly two or three at a tiiue. or by whole 



hives. J. C. LiLLIBRIDGE. 



Port Allegany, Pa., Sept. 5. 



HOW MUCH CLEAR WAX CAN BE OBTAINED 

 FROM A POUND OF COMB? 



Please tell me about how many pounds of old 

 combs that are clean make a pound of wax. 

 Oneonta,- N. Y., Sept. 7. C. E. Gifford. 



[Much depends upon the age of the comb or 

 combs to be rendered. You would get more 

 wax from combs built from foundation than 

 from those natural built. From the average 

 combs you would probably get from (K) to 80 

 per cent pure wax.] 



TWO QUEENS IN ONE CELL. 



I found a queen-cell with two queens in it a 

 short time ago: tliey were perfectly formed, 

 but had got so crowded in the cell that they 

 could not eat their way out, and died. 



The lioney crop in this vicinity is not large. 

 Ours is only fair, and we have allowed no 

 swarms. M. H. Hunt. 



Bell Branch. Mich. 



A VI.SIT TO THE LEININGER BROS., AT FORT 

 .JENNINGS. OHIO. 



They have the best-looking five-banded bees 

 I ever saw. I got six queens, and we did not 

 use smoke nor did we get a sting. They are 

 the best-natured bees I ever handled, and I 

 have kept bees 16 years. E. .S. Harvey. 



Cavett. Ohio. 



SUGAR vs. HONEY* FOR WINTER FEED. 



Which is the safer to feed for winter stores — 

 good honey, or syrup from granulated sugar? 

 Is there any choice? Mrs. J. R. Fisher. 



Rushville. N. Y., Aug. 18. 



[Feed sugar .syrup, every time.] 



