886 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15. 



good hives for all purijoses, although they too 

 are quite heavy to handle; but then, if we wish 

 to combine a summer and winter hive together 

 we must expect to have a heavy hive to handle; 

 so you see we shall have to take the bitter with 

 the sweet. 



My bees have not done as well this season as 

 I expected. Although there was a profusion of 

 blossoms thev did not seem to yield any honey 

 whatever, aiid they seemed to, gather only 

 enough honey to live on: but when basswood 

 commenced to bloom they just rolled in the 

 honey for five or six days; then there was a 

 little honey brought in from the white clover. 

 All of the bee-keepers around here looked for a 

 good How of fall honey, but there we are disap- 

 pointed, for the fall flowers do not secrete any 

 nectar to speak of. The goldenrod does not 

 bloom out as bright this fall as it has in former 

 years; for as soon as it starts to bloom it turns 

 brown and does not come out with the blight 

 golden color. Can you tell what causes this? 

 This year I worked my home apiary for both 

 comb and extracted honey: but next year I 

 shall work for comb honey, for I think there is 

 more real profit in it for the bee-keeper than 

 there is in extracted. Geokge N. Cokneli.. 



Northville, Mich.. Oct. 1. 



THE ADVANTAGES OF CLOSED-END FRAMES 

 IN WINTERING. 



HOW BEES BUILD CUMB.S IX BOX HIVES. 



I took Gleanings out of the mail this morn- 

 ing, and find Mr. A. N. Draper says, on page 

 841, "One of the greatest advantages of the 

 closed-end frames you don't seem to appreciate; 

 and that is, in wintering and breeding up in the 

 spring, as the closed-end frames prevent all 

 circulation around the edges of the frames." 



On page 317, April 1.5, Mr. P. H. Elwood says: 

 " Mr. Quinby observed, soon after the introduc- 

 tion of the Langstroth hive, that bees did not 

 winter as well in them as in box hives, on ac- 

 count of the open frame, and he remedied it by 

 making his frames closed-end." "Abbott, late 

 editor of the British Bee Journal, says: ' There 

 is nothing more unnatural in hive arrangement 

 than the practice of making or leaving spaces 

 around the frame-ends.' liees usually close 

 up the space between the combs and frame- 

 ends or side-walls of the hives, as far down as 

 honey extends.'" 



Last May. soon after this last quotation ap- 

 peared, I took a trip out to Mr. Elijah Inman's 

 place, where he keeps about .30 colonies of bees 

 in box hives. About a dozen were examined, 

 in some of which the bees had died during the 

 winter, and as many that contained rousing 

 live colonies, to see how the combs were attach- 

 ed; and it was found that they were attached 

 at the top. and a considerable distance at the 

 side, while at the upper corners of the hives, 

 almost without exception, there remained a 

 hole through each comb, an inch or mon; across. 

 Mr. Inman has kept bees 20 years or more; and 

 when I pointed out these apertures to him he 

 said, "Why. the bees always leave those to go 

 along." 



One season I ran short of hives for the swarms. 

 and about 20 were hived in hive-caps. The 

 caps were 7-inch, and were set down on a board 

 with a ^^ striu under thi' edge, to provide an 

 entrance. The inside measure of the caps was 

 7x14x28 inches, and the bees usually occupied 

 one end and left the rest vacant. 



wintering in 7-inch caps. 



For winter they were taken up from the bot- 

 tom-boards and set upon scantlings in the cel- 



lar, and I never knew bees to winter so well; 

 and it was in the following May, in transferring, 

 that I noticed the combs were not attached at 

 the upper corners. Nearly all know that it 

 retains heat far more to have the combs at- 

 tached all along the top and upper corners than 

 at the side; and unless the bees can be taught 

 to modify their instincts this advantage can 

 not be claimed. 



On the contrary, it is really an advantage to 

 have a space around the frames in winter, and 

 we want a circulation of the kind meniioned, 

 and the closed-end frames afford it in one of the 

 best possible ways. The reason my bees win- 

 tered so well in the caps was because the air 

 that circulated among the combs and around 

 the cluster of bees took up moisture and impu- 

 rity, and passed on into the vacant part, away 

 from the bees. There must be a circulation of 

 air in the hive. Put six inches of chaff over 

 the colony out of doors in cold weather, and 

 there will be a forced circulation of air upward 

 through it. Put the same colony in the cellar 

 and there will not be a circulation through it, 

 but the moisture and impurity will pass from 

 the cluster of bees just the same, and lodge in 

 some part of the brood -chamber, to the destruc- 

 tion of the colony. We can provide a draft 

 that is equivalent to that through the chaff by 

 raising the honey-board a little at one edge. 

 The amount of ventilation a colony needs de- 

 pends upon the temperature of the outside air. 

 The lower the temperature, the more chaff and 

 less other ventilation. 



VENTILATION WITH CLOSED-END FRAMES. 



W. A. Boynton, on page 847, describes how 

 frames and hives swell when subjected to dif- 

 ferent atmospheres. Propolis isn't soft and 

 pliable in winter; so if a frame changes in the 

 least there will come cracks between every one 

 of the closed ends, so that air can get out slowly 

 on all sides. I have known hundreds of combs 

 to crack on account of a change of temperature, 

 and sometimes they dropped entirely out of the 

 frames, and that when they were not moved at 

 all. Propolis breaks sooner than wax. 



Dewitt Miller is a bee-keeper living near 

 Bassett. la. I went to look at his bees in May. 

 18SI0. There were 34 colonies. I ivanted to buy 

 the strongest ones. Some racks of sections 

 were left on all that winter, and he told me I 

 might have my choice out of those not having 

 sections on. for '?.5.00 each. Upon closer exami- 

 nation I found there were 1.5 which were very 

 strong, and 19 very weak, and that every strong 

 colony had sections on. The bees had not 

 clustered in the sections— it was simply vacant 

 space. In the weak colonies, enameled cloth 

 was laid directly upon the brood-frames, and 

 with the other colonies the enameled cloth 

 was spread upon the top of the rack of sections. 

 The drafts that did not circulate around the 

 sides of the combs circulated into these racks of 

 sections, and saved the bees by conducting 

 away impurity and moisture. Mr. Millers cel- 

 lar is a rather warm one. and the bees could 

 endure considerable ventilation; had it been 

 colder they would have done as wi^ll with less 

 ventilation— about as much as is furnished by 

 the cracks and empty space that accompany 

 the closed -end frames. 



TESTING MOISTURE AND VENTILATION. 



The reason most bee-keepers do not appreci- 

 ate th(> effects of moisture and ventilation is 

 because the wood of the hives runs in a hori- 

 zontal direction. Take a ten-frame Langstroth 

 hive, and nail the bottom and cover-boards on 

 solid; then turn the hive up on one end and 

 subject a colony in it to five months' confine- 

 ment, where the temperature is below 40°. and 



