140 



GIvEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 15. 



were short of stores Jan. 1, while on those 

 with ordinary entrance, SS"^ per cent were 

 short the same date. 



The experiment gave another interesting 

 fact which was noticed when the wedges were 

 removed — 10 per cent of the frames had the 

 combs carried down to the bottom-boards. In 

 every instance these frames had bottom-bars 

 Xx'4 inch. Half of the frames used had 

 laottom-bars 34xM inch, and half '4x^, with 

 the above result. 



First pollen is coming in to-day from tag- 

 alder. Last year the first pollen was brought 

 in Feb. 14th, from the same source. 



James L. Montgomery. 



Americus, Georgia, Jan. 12. 



[This is valuable, coming as it dues at the 

 beginning of another season when many, per- 

 haps, are debating whether it will pay to 

 change to the large entrances. — Ed.] 



HOW TO CONTROE SWARMING AT OUT-YARDS 

 WITHOUT KEEPING AN ATTENDANT. 



Ernest : — Will you please tell me the best 

 way to manage an out-yard — that is, to prevent 

 swarming where there is no one to hive the 

 swarms all the time ? Would it not work well 

 to put on zinc entrance-guards with our Danzy 

 bottom and yi entrance, letting them extend 

 a good way up the hive so as not to hinder 

 ventilation too much ? Dr. Miller has out- 

 yards. I wish he would tell through Glean- 

 ings just how he manages them. 



J. F. BeeeER. 



Clear Springs, Tenn., Jan. 18. 



[This question is a poser. There is no meth- 

 od that gives entire satisfaction; but I will tell 

 you how we would proceed, and how, in fact, 

 we worked our out-yard last season. All 

 queens' wings are clipped, or else perforated 

 zinc is put over the entrances of colonies with 

 queens not clipped. Toward the swarming 

 season I put on an extra hive-body containing 

 empty combs or frames of foundation wdth a 

 frame or two of brood from below. Empty 

 combs are put in place of the brood-frames 

 removed from the lower story ; but prior to 

 this I aim to have the colonies rousing big 

 ones, and the queen a good one. After the 

 bees have pretty well filled up the upper story 

 with brood or honey I sometimes put a comb- 

 honey super on top of the whole, or I may 

 remove the upper story, crowd all the brood as 

 far as possible into the lower story, and put two 

 supers of comb honey on in its stead, as one 

 super would not hold the bees. The combs con- 

 taining honey are set aside for the purpose of 

 extracting, or for wintering-stores. Colonies 

 so treated have rarely swarmed for us ; and 

 while it is true some honey goes into extract- 

 ing-combs that might have otherwise gone 

 into comb -honey supers, the general good 

 working condition of the colony, and, in the 

 generality of cases, lack of a desire to swarm, 

 I think more than compensate for this. Last 

 season I had a large number of two-story col- 

 onies at our out-yard that filled two and three 

 supers of comb honey while some of the sin- 

 gle-story colonies filled but one and two, and 



swarmed in the bargain. In the upper story, 

 extracting-supers had from three to six ex- 

 tracting-combs of sealed honey. These upper 

 stories were often removed, and in place were 

 put two comb-honey supers, and as a general 

 rule the bees would go into them with a rush. 

 To have put on simply one would have crowd- 

 ed the bees and caused them to hang out of 

 the entrance. And this reminds me that one 

 of the important requisites in keeping down 

 swarming (I will not say prevent it) is to give 

 large entrances; and if perforated zinc is used 

 over them there must be enough surface of 

 metal so that the entrance itself is not con- 

 tracted. The new 1898 Tinker-zinc entrance- 

 guards or Alley traps will give the freest kind 

 of ventilation. 



Some others would not proceed at all on the 

 plan I have mentioned. They would use sin- 

 gle-story colonies, cage all queens at the ap- 

 proach of the honey-flow, then in eight or 

 nine days shake all the bees off the combs and 

 destroy all the cells. Doolittle, on page 16, 

 reports trying a similar plan, and says it is 

 a success ; but my own experience seems to 

 indicate that a colony with a caged queen, or 

 no queen at all, is apt to sulk. They appear 

 to feel as if something were wrong, and won't 

 work. Yes, by all means I should like to 

 have Dr. Miller or any one else tell his way. — 

 Ed.] 



objections to the marks metat^-spaced 



FRAMES. 



The objections to the Marks-Hoffman metal- 

 spaced frame, as illustrated in Jan. 15th issue 

 of Geeanings, is that the cost is too much, 

 and there is too much of a death-trap; also the 

 frames can not be reversed endwise. A frame 

 is not practical unless it can be reversed end- 

 wise. I have tried all of these kinks for 20 

 years, and I will bet the staples and end-spac- 

 ers, as I use them in my hive, against any oth- 

 er form or style of frame yet invented, that I 

 can handle a half more hives the way I use 

 them, in the same time, than any other style 

 of frame or hive yet invented. I am ready, 

 and will prove this at any time by actual trial 

 in the bee-yard. I do not want any death- 

 traps around me. All frames that are con- 

 structed on the Marks style are death-traps, 

 and should not be used in these hard and close 

 times, and especially in the bee-yard, where 

 time is money. 1 think you made a mistake 

 when you shortened the shoulder to the Hoff- 

 man frame. It does not leave projection 

 enough to grasp with the fingers. 



F. Boomhower. 



Gallupville, Scho. Co., N. Y., Jan. 23. 



[With regard to the shortening of the top- 

 bar to the Hoffman frame, see pages 9, 11, and 

 12, of Jan. 1, this year. As to the metal- 

 spaced Hoffman, I don't know enough about 

 them to speak from experience. — Ed.] 



winter ventilation. 

 I have gone over my bees on a frosty morn- 

 ing, and found them clustered along the bot- 

 tom-bar with the frost close to and at times 



