46 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan.") 5. ] 



want to handle them, or would not if they had 

 them. I thought to myself, " What is the use 

 of encumbering a hive with frames when they 

 are not needed? " for they certainly are no ad- 

 vantage to the bees. I believe they worked 

 havoc with many of my neighbors' bees. 



When I first commenced keeping bees there 

 was hardly a farmer here but had some bees ; 

 all styles of boxes were in vogue — soap-boxes, 

 barrels, and nail-kegs included — and bees were 

 kept rather successfully as to wintering, as 

 well as to raising honey. Not so, however, 

 after I sold them new-fangled hives and trans- 

 ferred the bees. One after another of the old 

 bee-keepers dropped out of the ranks, the 

 hives were worked up into kindling ( very ex- 

 cellent kindling indeed, though high-priced). 

 Now no bees are left to tell the story, and 

 I am practically sole possessor of the field. 

 When I think of this I feel guiltv; but I cer- 

 tainly did the black deed in good faith. And, 

 too, it may be all right as it is. There are 

 bees enough, and the number of honey-pro- 

 ducers is probably fully up to the requirements. 



On the other hand, the bee-space has been a 

 great help to the bee-industry. I will not take 

 the time to envimerate the advantages, for 

 every one is familiar with them. Where would 

 bee keeping be to-day had it not been for this 

 bee-space ? If we have paid for the lessons 

 learned, I ask, ought we to expect to learn 

 any thing of great value without paying for it? 



And now, really, do we wnnter our bees so 

 badly after all ? Wintering in the movable- 

 comb hive, including the detestable bee-spaces, 

 is a science; but I believe we are beginning to 

 understand that science. I believe we have 

 learned to winter our bees even better and 

 surer than the box-hive men of this and past 

 ages. It seems to me that the greater protec- 

 tion we give, alone fully mikes up for the dis- 

 advantages of the "bee-space." It may be 

 that, sooner or later, a hive will be brought 

 out having the advantages of both the box 

 hive and the movable-comb hive so combined 

 that it will captivate the bee-keepers and be- 

 come universally adopted as " the hive ; " but 

 it is a long way to that time, I think. In the 

 mean time, let us honor the bee-space : and, 

 even should that time have come, we will still 

 honor it for the good it has done. Father 

 Langstroth be praised for it ! 



Naples, Out. Co., N. Y. 



[I know there is a good following who be- 

 lieve that the bee-space around the end-bars 

 is decidedly detrimental to the bees during 

 wimer. They contend, also, that even during 

 summer the brood will not extend out as near 

 the end-bars with a bee-space clear around 

 them as it will to the bars of the closed-end 

 frame. Whether this is true or not, I am not 

 able to say from observation. I only know 

 that good results are secured with open-end 

 frames. Some years ago ( I think it was dur- 

 ing the winter of 1<S81 ), when there was such 

 a great mortality of bees throughout the coun- 

 try, it was said that bees in box hives fared 

 rather better than those in the regular Lang- 

 stroth. But in late years there seems to be no 

 practical difference. Whether this is due to 



the fact that modern bee-keepers protect their 

 colonies having open-end frames or not, I can 

 not say. 



Believing that there is a demand for closed- 

 end frames, we have for two years been selling 

 the Danzenbaker hive. This, as is well 

 known, has closed-end frames with a bee- 

 space back of them ; and this space is closed 

 up by stops that make the space back of the 

 frames practically a dead-air space ; and I 

 should think, friend Greiner, that such a hive 

 and frame would just about fill the require- 

 ments of a certain class, especially farmers, 

 who can not succeed with the modern open- 

 end-frame style of hive. — Ed.] 



TALL VS. SQUARE SECTIONS. 



Better Filling and Better Price for the Former; 

 Paraffine Paper a " Delusion and a Snare." 



BY B. F. ONDERDONK. 



Glad I am you made the footnote to one of 

 my articles on Danzy sections, page ol9 ; viz., 

 " It remains to be seen if these sections may 

 not necessarily be sold at as low a price as the 

 square ones," or words to that effect. The 

 suggestion was timely, as I had been keeping 

 records of each hive, number and styles of 

 sections, with foundation supplied in all 

 known forms, closely packed on top with 

 quilts or paraffine paper, or bee-spaces. 



The cleanest and best-filled sections are 

 those under the enameled quilts; very little 

 propolis is applied, and it is easily removed. 

 The quilts will last many years. Paraffine 

 paper I find a " delusion and a snare." Sec- 

 tions with bee-space are thickly varnished. 

 By accident I find that vatnished section- 

 holders are entirely free of propolis between 

 the bottoms of sections and the bottom-bars. 

 I used up some old stuff, the refuse of altera- 

 tions 1 made in my house, the lumber having 

 been finished in hard oil. All exposed parts 

 were clean, while a holder alongside w-as 

 thickly daubed. I shall varnish holders and 

 separators. 



Now to answer your footnote. At the open- 

 ing of the season, only a third of my sixteen 

 colonies were provided with supers for Danzy 

 sections. These were provided with 4-inch 

 sheets and }i bottom-starters. The latter I 

 find necessary for well-filled sections. By the 

 end of the white-clover harvest the D. sections 

 predominated. I placed on the hives, during 

 the entire season, 2000 sections — 1000 D., 500 

 slotted, 7 to foot, and 500 4 '4 open all the way, 

 bottom and top. 



My product in D. sections, white clover, 821 



fall honey, 407 728 

 Extracted from " less than 12 oz., 81 



Drawn and partly so, D. sections, 125 



Not worked, dO 272 



4]4 sections, white clover, 218 



4% sections, fall honey, , 250 468 



Extracted from 4% .sections less' than 12 



oz., 160 



Drawn, or partly so, 4"^ sections, 209 



Not worked, 414 .sections, l(i8 532 



Total, 20(X) 



The light sections, between V2 and 14 oz., 



