1S'.>7 



GLKAXINGvS IN BICIv CULTURK. 



time of the year, these old bees seem to liiiijcr 

 alonj; for a chance to j;et out of the hive to 

 die, the same as they do at all times when 

 they can Hy freely, and so jjather in little 

 clustei"s of three, six, twelve, or more, in a 

 place where they remain in a half-dormant 

 state till caught by extreme cold, or a chance 

 is offered for a flight. 



I find, by referring to an old diary that w-as 

 in writing at the time I was conducting ex- 

 periments along this line, that one year, when 

 a fine warm day occurred just before the first 

 very cold weather, on which ilay the bees all 

 flew finely, owing to their lieiug confined to 

 their hives from cool rainy weather for two 

 weeks preceding, I found nudtitudes of 

 sluggish bees clinging to the sides of the 

 hives, on the grass, fences, etc., near the 

 evening of that day. On touching them they 

 had life enough to thrust out the sting, but 

 none would fly or even crawl; and w^hen the 

 next morning came with a temperatiue of only 

 15 degrees above zero these bees were frozen 

 stiff, remaining where they were the night 

 before. This was a surprise to me, and I was 

 led to believe, which belief still clings to me, 

 that I had discovered the real cause of the ' 

 trouble. A look into the hive after this cold 

 wave had passed brought to light no dead 

 bees on the combs as are usually fovind where 

 the bees have no chance to fly for some time 

 before the first extreme cold, and very few 

 were found at au}- time during the winter, all 

 getting clustered compactly for winter without 

 passageways. 



Then, again, I have often noticed that these 

 little knots of bees were found, dead or other- 

 wise, only with the first contraction of the 

 cluster, as afterward no gain in dead bees 

 between the outer ranges of combs was notic- 

 ed with each expansion and contraction. 

 Therefore I do not pay any attention to pas- 

 sageways for* bees during winter at the pres- 

 ent time. 



'^^s^M9mm 



n:c£^M^3^-^k-: 



DEEP-CELL FOUNDATION TESTED BY EUGENE 

 SECOR. 



A/r. Root: — Last spring you sent me for tri- 

 al six pieces of deep-cell foundation. They 

 were about 2 inches wide, and long enough to 

 reach from side to .side of a 4^x4j^ section. I 

 put these six pieces into two-inch-wide sec- 

 tions, anrl the sections in the center rows of a 

 super covering an eight-frame hive. The re- 

 mainder of the sections in the super had Van- 

 deusen flat-bottom-foundation starters, about 

 three-fourths full. 



The super was put on a strong colony July 

 7, with the intention of catching the basswood 

 flow, which was soon to open. But we got no 

 honey from that source. The only resources 

 left were the last days of white clover and the 



fall flow. The sections were entered by the 

 l)ees very slowly. I think the deep cells' were 

 first occupied, but the comb-building progress- 

 ed simultaneously on Ihe flat-bottom founda- 

 tion just as fast as in the sections which con- 

 tained the new-])rocess foundation. When 

 taken ofl', all the .sections containing the deeiv 

 cell or drawn foundation were well filled, and 

 all the other sections on one side of the super. 

 On the other side, right up to the dcep-celi 

 sections, nothing whatever had been done. 



Now for the mouth test. As I .said, the 

 pieces used were not to exceed 2 inches wide. 

 The rest of the comb in the sections was built 

 by the bees. I would cut a small mouthful 

 from the top, and then one from the bottom 

 of the section, and eat them alternately. If I 

 had been blindfolded I could not have told 

 one from the other. Others tested it in the 

 same manner and with the same result. The 

 lower part of the section was built with drone 

 comb. 



I find that the season and the abundance (or 

 otherwise )of the flow of nectar has more to do 

 with the thickness of the combs — in other 

 words its " gobbyness "— than the foundation, 

 keeping in mind that only the thinnest foun- 

 dation is fit for sections. The " waxye.st " 

 honey I ever ate was all the natural product of 

 bees. I believe every observing bee-keeper 

 has noticed the same thing. 



Now, what of the future of this new-process 

 foundation ? I believe it is going to be a val- 

 uable thing for "bait" sections at least. 

 What is puzzling me most is how to fasten the 

 stufif in sections wdthout melted wax. I don't 

 remember to have seen your plan of putting it 

 in described. " Eugene Secor 



Forest City, la. 



THE NEW DRAWN FOUNDATION A DECIDED 

 SUCCESS. 



In the Oct. 1st issue of Glf:anings vou ask 

 for testimonials as to the merits and d'emerits 

 of the new drawn foundation. I must say that 

 I used about 20 pieces of this foundation, us- 

 ing 2 pieces in most of the sections, as I be- 

 lieve in full sheets. I consider even this to be 

 too small a scale to give it a thoroi:gh test. 

 But, candidly, I do not hesitate to say that I 

 think the new drawn process a big step in ad- 

 vance — so much so that I believe the comb- 

 honey man can give an advance of 25 cts. per 

 lb. in preference to buying the old style at 50 

 cts. I also desire to .say that, in soliciting tes- 

 timony in regard to the new drawn process, 

 there has been an oversight in said testimony; 

 viz., how much more is it worth per pound 

 than what we have been using .? Some who 

 oppose it have said, "Too much of a gob of 

 wax." Let us see just a minute. Foundation 

 that runs 10 ft. per lb. is what I have been us- 

 ing. I put this into the supers, and the bees 

 proceed to draw it out. When it is drawn out 

 to the same width as the new-process founda- 

 tion, I find that both kinds are identically the 

 same, and the same number of feet to the 

 pound ; consequently the same amount of 

 " gob " in each. 



I run for comb honey, and my neighbor 

 runs for extracted. Why is it that he gets 2 



