18!)7 



GLEANINGS IN BKK CULTURB:. 



809 



ne.xl. till- best lilU-d st'i-tioii.s Oiiii not lie secured Willi - 

 out a bee-space above the sections. 



It is but fair to say that Mr. I), does ])roduce 

 some very line honey, ami some of his custom- 

 ers have secured some eciually jjjood, as I can 

 personally testify. While I am an advocate 

 of a bee-space over sections I would not say 

 that first-class honey can not be produced by 

 doing away with the space and using parafline 

 paper directly over and in contact with the 

 sections. Mr. Miles Morton, who produces as 

 fine honey as can be found in the world, uses 

 an enamel cloth (the equivalent of jKiraftine 

 paper), directly on the sections, and so do 

 many others.— Ed.] 



DRY LUMBER FOR HIVES. 



Its Great Importance for Western States; Why 



Bees Can \ot (lather as Much Honey from a 



Distance of Four Miles as from Two. 



BV M. A. GILL. 



Mr. Editor: — May 1 call the attention of 

 some of the eastern manufacturers of bee-sup- 

 plies to the fact that goods intended for use in 

 the arid regions should be kiln -dried to the 

 "last extremity," or else the saw -gauges 

 should be set to make at least },-$ inch extra in 

 all bee-spaces, either of hive or super ? For the 

 last two seasons I have labored with our asso- 

 ciation to purchase their goods of your firm, 

 having noticed, while inspecting the bees of 

 the county, that, in most cases, the goods 

 sent in here from your factory (through Bar- 

 teldes, of Denver, I suppose) have stood the 

 dry climate well, and that the bee-space, even 

 in old hives, is about what it should be. 



But both seasons the coTimiittee have decid- 

 ed to purchase where tliey could buy a little 

 cheaper; and the consequence is we got a car- 

 load of supplies last spring that was manu- 

 factured from such green lumber that the bee- 

 space has disappeared, or so nearly so that it 

 is of no account. 



I purchased for my own use 800 supers, and 

 shall be compelled to get out strips and nail 

 on top of all of them, for in some cases I find 

 the sections stand flush with the top of super. 



I for one want a ,^„ bee-space, as I use no 

 cloth or quilt on top of the sections, believ- 

 ing that I can keep the sections cleanest with- 

 out them. I also fa.sten my starters .so the 

 dovetailed corner of the section comes up, 

 which prevents the bottom from unlocking if 

 the combs are not built clear down and fasten- 

 ed to the bottom; but the plan proved the 

 worse for me in connection with the above- 

 named supers; for our bees here, after July 

 1st, gather a very tenacious propolis; a:id in 

 prying off the covers, even in the hottest part 

 of the day, it would lift open the tops of from 

 one to five sections on nearly every super. 



Imagine the bitter thoughts a man would 

 have, when spoiling from five to ten dollars' 

 worth of fine comb honey every day, and all 

 for the lack of a proper space ! No, the goods 

 we got last season may be all right back east, 

 but they are a dismal failure in a climate like 

 this. 



I .see one of your subscribers from the win- 

 dy Pacific coast asks if bees can gather as 

 much honey four miles as they could two. 

 May I ask him if he could carry as many 

 sacks of flour home in a day four miles as he 

 could two ? Is a colony of bees much differ- 

 ent from an industrious man in doing a day's 

 work? Doesn't each do all it can, governed 

 by conditions and circumstances? 



Speaking of windy locations, I will say 

 that, in my o])inion, a high wind and a heavy 

 honey-flow will prove very di.sastrous to the 

 working force in a very few days' time if they 

 have to fly a long distance. So if my bees, 

 and the field where I expected them to work, 

 were four or five miles apart, whether it was 

 a windy location or not, I would hitch up my 

 team and give the bees a ride of at least 'S}4 

 miles. 



Grand Junction, Colo., Oct. 7. 



[Thanks, friend G., for the fine compliment 

 you pay us. We have made a sort of specialty 

 of hives for the West, knowing full well that 

 all the lumber mu.st be thoroughly dried or 

 else provision made for bee-spaces. We have 

 endeavored to do both; then if the bee-space 

 does shrink up to the desired point, or the 

 point that suits one, he can with a jack-plane 

 go around the top edge once or twice, and 

 Vjring it down a trifle. — Ed.] 



LATE-RE.\RED QtJEENS. 



Question. — Will queens be of any use which 

 are reared after all the drones are killed off in 

 the fall ? 



Answer. — If all drones are killed before any 

 queen becomes old enough to be fertilized, 

 and the season of the year is late fall, of course 

 such a queen will become barren, or a drone- 

 layer. Some would say a drone-layer, every 

 time; but my own experience has been that 

 nearly or quite half of the queens w^hich I 

 have wintered over that were not fertilized 

 never lay at all. But if I read the question 

 aright, the asker wishes to know if a queen 

 which fails to meet a drone before going into 

 winter quarters will be of any use. Well, that 

 depends upon the size of the colony she is in. 

 If it is merely a nucleus, with no prospect of 

 w'intering over, then I should say such a queen 

 would be worthless. But should the colony 

 be a good one, then I should consider her of 

 some value in such a colony, as my experi- 

 ence goes to prove that a colony having a 

 queen, be she laying or otherwise, will remain 

 much more quiet during the winter months 

 than will a queenless colony; hence the colo- 

 ny having a queen will come out .stronger in 

 the spring, with less consumption of stores, 

 than will one with no queen. This non-lay- 

 ing queen can be allowed to remain with the 

 colony until we are able to procure a young 



