1S07 



GLEANINGS IN BIvE CULTURE. 



84-5 



Well, I just want to stale here what I l)ni.'f- 

 ly stated before, and will, therefore, i.;ive an 

 extraet from the article as it aj^peared in the 

 journal referred to, which may iu)t have been 

 seen by the readers of Gi.Kamngs: 



An ordiiiani--sized coloiiv, in an eiKlit-ftaiiie I/ui.s;- 

 stroth liive, \villi from 2.") to ;!0 lt)S. of good st-altd 

 stoie;'. can be successfully wintered outside, if perfect- 

 ly packed, in njy locality, without inoving any of the 

 e"ight frames. Of couis'e, le.-^s stores will do if 'winter- 

 ed in the cellar. Hut a fair or medium colony cnn he 

 wintered splendidly on five solid .sealed combs of hon- 

 ey or sugar syrup.' with division-boards or d\immies 

 occupying the space of the removed oomb.K, After the 

 removal of three frames of empty comb, just i)Ut in 

 three ordinary .';evcn-eighths-thick division-boards in 

 place of the combs taken out. and spaced in the .>;ame 

 manner as if thev were combs of honey, only they 

 mu.'t be at the sides of the hive. Don't worrv about 

 tlu emptv comb.s for the bees to cluster on. The in- 

 sects will find room for that purpose if they require it, 

 and will always have warm honey to eat when they 

 want it. If you don't believe me, a.sk McEvoy. He is 

 a good autho'ritv on almost every thing, including foul 

 brood and politics. If you have a half-storv of the 

 Her'don h've containing sealed solid stores of honey, 

 put a 2-inch rim under it, then shake out the bees from 

 the same colony into Ihis half of the divisible tirood- 

 chaml er on or "about the l")th of October, or even the 

 fir.1t week in November, and then report how the bees 

 wintered. I know it is a success with me, for I have 

 many a time done it. McEvoy's plan and mine are 

 alike, e.vcept that the clu.'=tering space is not located 

 exactly in the same po.sition in the hive. Tn,- either 

 or both, and judge for yourself. F. A. Gkmmill. 



P. S. — The above plans refer more particularly to 

 outside wintering. 



Now, lam not the originator of the plan, 

 nor do I know how many may have followed 

 such a practice; but I want to state emphati- 

 cally that it was jNIr. McEvoy who induced 

 me to try his method, which he has practiced 

 for about twenty years, so that it was he, and 

 not mysilf, who deserves credit for the success 

 I have had. 



After becoming sati.sfied with the way things 

 turned out I saw no reason why it should not 

 succeed with other frames than the Langs'.roth, 

 and consequently*' some six or s?ven years ago 

 I shook the bees from 20 colonies on to a half- 

 story of the new Heddon hive containing 

 eight of those shallow sealed combs: and in 

 order to provide for more room, should the oc- 

 cupants not be able to enter so small a dwell- 

 ing, I jilaced a two-inch rim underneath each 

 hive. Well, did they winter? Why, of course 

 they did, in the very best shape, .so that my 

 success in this way was identical with Mr. Mc- 

 Evoy's. 



To be sure, I am quite well aware there are 

 others who differ w ith us, and think it is really 

 a necessity to have empty combs for the bees 

 to cluster on, etc.; and, if I mistake not, Mr. 

 France winters in his quadruple hive on two 

 sets of L'lngstroth frames, the up])er story 

 having sealed stores while the bottom story 

 contains empty comb, which is removed in 

 spring, leaving only one story containing the 

 most until the colony becomes populoiis 

 enough to require more room. If I am wrong, 

 1 hope Mr. France will correct me. 



Mr. jNIcElvoy claims that empty cotnb is a 

 detriment rather than an advantage, as the 

 cluster remains unbroken until the approach 

 of spring; and, there being no brood-rearing 

 at an unnecessary time, the bees winter better, 

 and spring-dwindle less; in fact, they seem to 

 boom right along when so prepared. 



TKi:.\TlXC. OR CUKING 1^'OUI. HROOD. 



The junior editor ( \\. R. R.) of Gi,1';aninG3 

 for Oct. !•') also gives instructions how to cure 

 foul brood in the fall, and recommends that 

 the bees be shaken on to foundation, and, after 

 s arving long enough to be weak, or umil the 

 tliseased honey they may have taken away 

 with them is consumed, that two or three 

 such colonies be dumped together into one 

 hive, and then fed. I have not the slightest 

 doubt that his advice is sound, and will effect 

 a cure; but say, Mr. Root, why don't j'ou try 

 another of McEvoy's kinks, and just shake 

 those bees on to five solid .sealed combs of 

 honey at once, and be done with it? Possibly 

 you will smile at .such a suggestion; but let 

 me assure you that bees have been cured after 

 this fashion, at this time of the year (Octo- 

 ber and November), and can be so treated 

 again. Care, of course, must be taken that 

 all the cells be sealed, and that the combs 

 cjntain honey from sound or healthy colonies. 

 There must be no half doing the job, either. 



Now you may probably .say, "Oh, my! 

 what about the honey the bees carry in their 

 honey-sacs?" Well, there won't be much 

 if you go about it properly; and what little is 

 taken will be used long before brood-rearing 

 is started ; and there being no vacant cells to 

 store it in can do no harm. Try it. 



I will merely state, in regard to tli's foul- 

 brood question, that, since ilie securing of leg- 

 islation in Ontario, 1 have, in company with 

 Mr. McEvoy, the inspector ( I being the assist- 

 ant), visited many diseased apiaries in the 

 Province, and have seen many ways of curing 

 the disease, all of which, in proper hands, 

 will succeed; but as this article is now longer 

 than I anticipated, and Mr. McFvoy having 

 given his methods to the public already, I 

 need not say more. 



THE NEW SECTION AND CT.EATED SEPARATOR. 



I have carefully read all that has been wTit- 

 ten, both by E. R. and his father, on the above 

 subject; and as you have assured us that the 

 cost is not going to be a determent, and as I 

 usi the T super and section-holder, I am cer- 

 tainly .going to give the nciu old S}slein a 

 good trial next season. I may say that I have 

 thought some of doing the very thing you now 

 recommend in this line, for three or four 

 years past, but never managed to do it. I 

 iiave, the past summer, given the Pettit S3stem 

 of u.sing his divider, having the round perfo- 

 rations Vg a"d ^'s of an inch, in conjunction 

 with the wedges reconnnended by him for the 

 production of comb honey, and found the out- 

 side sections were much better filled than 

 when no divider was used. 



I mention the fact of having used this sy.s- 

 tem here, because Mr. Pettit preferred round 

 perforations in his divider to having them 

 made of several pieces with a continuous open- 

 ing, as you illustrate the i^ew .separator in 

 Gleanings. His reason for so doing was 

 that he found tlie bees were more apt to draw 

 out the surface of the comb and give the sec- 

 tion, when finished, a ridgy appearance. It is 

 quite possible, as you do not mention any 

 thing of this nature occurring with those using 



