1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



139 



the reason that, as a rule, workers having 

 much imported " blood " in them do not cap 

 their honey nearly so nice and captivating to 

 the eye as do those having more of the golden, 

 hybrid, or German "blood" in thetn. 



To sum up I would say, first have your 

 queens mate with drones as distantly related 

 to your queens as possible; second, use queens 

 as closely related to importetl Italian stock as 

 possible, where working for extracted honey; 

 for there are no bees in the world, in my opin- 

 ion, that excel those one generation from im- 

 ported stock, for honey-gathering. Third, 

 where white capping of combs becomes one 

 of the great objects to work for, as is the case 

 when working for comb honey, then choose 

 the golden Italians, on account of their quali- 

 ties in that direction; while at the same time 

 they are in no way second to Italians from im- 

 ported stock, as to their honey gathering qual- 

 ities. Try these things for yourself, until you 

 have proved which is right, and then, as the 

 conductor told the little boy in the sleeping- 

 car, carry out what is right, if it stops the 

 whole train. 



Among the passengers on a sleeping-car go- 

 ing across the continent was a father and 

 mother with a bright beautiful boy of about 

 six or seven years. The little fellow, by his 

 gentle manners and courteous behavior, soon 

 became the general favorite. Supper was 

 over, and all were well started out into the 

 darkness of the night. The berths were be- 

 ing made up as the new conductor entered, 

 saying, in a rather stern voice, "Tickets, 

 please." As the attention of the passengers 

 was attracted to him he was seen to stop sud- 

 denly. Before him was the little favorite in 

 his night-dress. The boy's mother said, 

 " Robbie, can't you oiTer your prayer in bed 

 to-night ? There is no room in the aisle where 

 so many are passing." But he answered, 

 " No, mamma; I feel that, if I would be right, 

 I must kneel down to pray." The conductor, 

 who stood listening, siid, "Yes, my boy, you 

 may kneel down in this aisle to pray, even if 

 I have to stop the train for you." While the 

 dear little fellow kneeled, and with folded 

 hands prayed to the great loving heavenly 

 Father, the conductor, removing his cap, 

 stood reverently, while the tears were seen to 

 glisten on his eyelids. The petitions of all 

 praj'ing hearts in that car were more fervent 

 that night, and some forgetful ones were led 

 to do right bj- once more embracing the long- 

 neglected privilege of prayer. 



most of my honey I have clung to the 2-lb. 

 section on this account. The slatted separator 

 is no doubt good, but I have been thinking 

 along friend Pettit's idea since the subject 

 came up, with this diflference : Some time ago 

 we had a honey-board made with slots similar 

 to that of the present zinc. Why can't you 

 take your separators, steam thtm, and run 

 them through the perforating-machine that 

 you put the zincs through ? If they curl they 

 could be dried under pressure, or perhaps 

 punched without steaming. That would give 

 us a ventilated separator that would allow of 

 the warmth of all the bees circulating through- 

 out every part of the super, and would allow 

 the bees to move quickly to the sections where 

 the combs were ready to receive the worker's 

 load when it conies in. With the small sepa- 

 rated spaces, I have often thought that a load- 

 ed bee has sometimes to make an extended 

 journey to find a section ready for it. 



I am feeding my bees. I find them all very 

 light save the bees in the hive with double 

 brood-chamber. There was a case of extract- 

 ing-combs left on it last fall (a common prac- 

 tice in California). I went over the bees last 

 week and found hive after hive very light, till 

 I reached that big hive, when, to my surprise, 

 I found both lower bodies well filled, and the 

 combs in the super packed solid with beauti- 

 ful honey that they had gathered after we 

 ceased extracting. Hurrah for the roomy 

 hive, in this locality ! E. H. Schaeffi^e. 



Murphys, Cal., Jan. 25. 



[I am well aware that honey-boards have 

 been made by running strips of thin veneer 

 wood through a zinc-perforating machine; 

 but so much of the wood is cut out that what 

 is left is very weak and flimsy. Then, more- 

 over, it is impracticable to punch out wood 

 in the same way we do metal. It can be done, 

 but the edges of the wood will be rough and 

 stringy. Our present plan of using slats in a 

 fence separated a perforated-zinc distance 

 apart is easier to make, and stiffer. If the Pet- 

 tit divider is a good thing its form of con- 

 struction will be between some form of fence, 

 or plain board perforated with holes. The 

 time will come when bee-keepers evervwhere 

 will have more respect for big hives than 

 they do now. I shall use in our out-yard, 

 same as last season, two-story eight-frame 

 hives, even for comb honey. — Ed.] 



THE FENCE AND THE BIG HIVE. 



Friend Ernest: — I am interested in the 

 " fence " question. In my experience I have 

 found that the bees will produce more comb 

 and honey if they can work in a mass. The 

 poorest results are from cramping them in 

 small one-pound sections. As I retail the 



HEAVY TESTIMONY IN FAVOR OF THE DEEP 

 OR I,ARGE ENTRANCE. 



Allow me to acknowledge my indebtedness 

 to your valuable paper for the deep-entrance 

 idea. It is, I believe, worth more to us bee- 

 keepers here in the South than any thing we 

 have had in the way of improvements for sev- 

 eral years. It has entirely prevented lying- 

 out this past summer. It has helped to con- 

 trol swarming ; for, when used on 8-frame 

 hives, they swarmed very little, while those 

 without the deep entrance have all swarmed, 

 some of them twice. It has increased the hon- 

 ey-yield by preventing laying out, and conse- 

 quently keeping the bees in working order. 

 On hives with deep entrances, ten per cent 



