876 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15. 



queen coming into the hive would be much 

 the same to the bees as a strange worker. But 

 remember that the notion doesn't stand square 

 and solid on its feet. [Why call it a " stag- 

 gering notion," doctor ? You have offered a 

 very plausible explanation, and to my eye it 

 stands squarely on its feet. — Ed ] 



E. S. .\rwine, p. 846, seems a little uncer- 

 tain what may be meant by piping. Small 

 wonder. The term is generally applied loose- 

 ly to any noi;re a queen makes. Better follow 

 the G rmaii idea as used in Vol. I., American 

 Bee Journal. There are two distinct sets of 

 notes used by queens, differing in both pitch 

 and rhythm. In piping, a long shrill note is 

 uttered, followed by several others, each short- 

 er than its predecessor. In quahking, the 

 notes are coarser, more hurried, and more 

 nearly of the same length A queen never 

 pipes in a cell, and never quahks out of a cell. 

 Perhaps the note of a queen that is balled or 

 grabbed by a worker tnight be called a squeal, 

 being high pitched like piping. 



" A COLONY having a laj-ing queen of the 

 current 3'ear's rearing can be pretty surelv re- 

 lied upon not to desire to swarm, no matter 

 how strong it may be within any reasonable 

 bounds." — R. L. Taylor's Buffalo paper. 

 That is probably true under some circum- 

 stances. One J ear I gave newh- reared queens 

 to prevent swarming, and nearly every one 

 swarmed. But I think the rule works all 

 right with Hutchinson. [The exception 

 proves the rule; but I should say, according 

 to my experience, that there maybe quite a 

 number of exceptions to this rule. I have al- 

 most come to believe that, in the matter of 

 swarming at least, bees are pretty sure, at 

 least at times, to break over all rules. — Ed.] 



As NEARLY AS I can find out from others, 

 50° is the minimum temperature o^' a cluster 

 of bees — below that, death. With the sur- 

 rounding temperature at that poi it, the center 

 of the cluster may be the same. As the sur- 

 rounding air gets colder, there is more eating, 

 so as to fire up the center sufficiently to keep 

 periphery at 50°. So ihe colder outside, the 

 warmer in center of cluster ; and it may be- 

 come so warm in the midst of severe winter as 

 to allow brood-rearing, which requires 86° to 

 95°. [According to this we have the paradox 

 that, the colder the weather the warmer the 

 cluster. But the query arises in my mind, 

 " If this is so, why will not bees winter better 

 during prolonged severe cold weather than 

 during milder winters ? " Perhaps the answer 

 is, " Too much food consumption (and it is 

 certainly true in the hu nan family) causes dis- 

 ease." — Ed.] 



A PLEASANT SIGHT it is to me to see in 

 some of the hives in the cellar, the bees hang- 

 ing two inches below the bottom - bars. I 

 don't know whether it's because the hive's so 

 full of bees or because the sealed honey comes 

 down so low, but likely the latter. [Yes, it is 

 a verj' pretty sight. When we wintered in 

 the cellar I used to enjoy looking at the great 

 bunches of healthy bees under the l>rood- 

 frames ; and at the beginning of winter I 

 would say to myself, " How much better in 



the cellar than outdoors in a bunch pinched 

 together about the size of a snowball ! " but 

 when spring came on, and the cellar bottom 

 was literally covered with bees an inch deep 

 in places, then I thought to myself, "Would 

 they have died had they been outdoors ? ' ' 

 We now winter on summer stands exclusively. 

 If our winters were more severe and prolong- 

 ed, r suspect we should get better results in 

 the cellar. But our outdoor bees have averag- 

 ed the best in wintering, and hence we prefer 

 that method for Medina. — Ed.] 



N. Genn is much in love with his plan for 

 ventilating hives — no entrance either in hive 

 or bottom-board. In spring he puts a loose 

 lath under each side and one under back end. 

 When warmer he takes out the back lath, 

 leaving ventilation clear through. When 

 more ventilation is needed, put two thickness- 

 es of lath under each side, leaving back and 

 front all open. Simple and good, but some 

 will want the greater ventilation given by four 

 blocks. [This, and a good many other items 

 like it, going the rounds of the bee-keeping 

 world, all go to show that large entrances will 

 have to come. And, all in all, I believe that 

 the}- afford the best solution of the problem 

 of better ventilation. .\s the editor of the 

 Revieiv well remarks, a large entrance can 

 easily be contracted, but a small one can not 

 be enlarged. Putting blocks under the four 

 corners of the hive necessitates prying the 

 hive loose from thebotto'u, and breaking one's 

 back to get the hive up. How much easier to 

 manipulate a stop or slide weighing an ounce 

 or so to contract a large entrance! — Ed.] 



"We USUALLY FIGURE on about 10 pounds 

 of hone} per Langstrolh frame " is the state- 

 ment on p. 852. I changed my views about 

 weight of combs after some wt ighing. Please 

 weigh some. I'll not reproach you with being 

 fickle-minded if you change that 10 to .some- 

 thing nearer 5. [After the estimate was print- 

 ed, the thought struck me that I had put it 

 too high, for the cold print afterward made it 

 seem to me too big ; so when I came across 

 this Straw I was quite ready to give up. At 

 all events, following your suggestion, with a 

 pair of spring scales I trapsed down to the 

 house-apiary through the mud, where we have 

 stowed away a lot of sealed combs of sealed 

 honey, which we always keep on hand for col- 

 onies short of stores. I weighed some of the 

 heaviest of these, and the scales showed 8^ 

 lbs.; the me lium weights about 6; the light 

 ones about 4; so I ^hall have to acknowledge, 

 doctor, that 5 lbs. would be a correct estimate 

 to place upon combs as they are usually filled 

 in the hive with winter stores. My estimate 

 of 10 lbs. was based on the fact that, years 

 ago, when we were extracting, we had a good 

 many combs that weighed 10 lbs.; but I had 

 forgotten the fact that we then spaced our 

 frames l>i inches from center to center, in- 

 stead \y%, as we now do. The thought also 

 stiick in my mind that some of our heavy ex- 

 tracting-supers, which I lifted to put bee- es- 

 capes under, must weigh (according to my 

 back ) nearly a hundred pounds ; but they 

 probably did' not stand over 75, including the 

 hive-body. — Ed.] 



