516 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



JUI.Y 1. 



any other place on earth." We know that 

 Bro. Whitcomb will do his " level best" for 

 those who attend the convention, and show 

 us " the sights " on the Exposition grounds. 



A prominent Western bee-keeper wrote me 

 a few days ago that " the rate, however, cuts 

 but a very small figure." Well, may be if we 

 poor bee-keepers were all rich, like him, it 

 wouldn't ; but this is only another evidence 

 that localities differ. 



Further notice of rates, time of meeting, 

 etc., will be given when known. 



A. B. Mason, Str. 



Sta. B, Toledo, O., June 25. 



AN APOLOGY ; RAISING HIVES OFF BOTTOM- 

 BOARDS TO INCREASE ENTRANCE. 



On reading over my article in June 1st 

 Gleanings I find I owe an apology to you 

 and Dr. Miller for those unfortunate words, 

 "think so" and " know so." I humbly beg 

 your pardon, and desire to withdraw those 

 words. I had reference to Dr. Miller's state- 

 ment (which your comments impliedly indors- 

 ed) about raising a hive off the bottom board, 

 when a sudden stoppage of the honey-flow 

 had occurred, causing robbing. This is so 

 much at variance with my experience of near- 

 ly 35 years, that I thought there must have 

 been some cause which Dr. M. had overlook- 

 ed, that set robbers going. Certainly locality 

 could have nothing to do with it. Perhaps 

 I did not make my meaning quite clear ; but I 

 thought Dr. M., in raising his hives, must 

 have broken some propolis that was recent 

 enough to emit an odor, or in some way dis- 

 turbed something about the hive that created 

 an unusual odor that attracted the robbers. 



I suppose you have had some experience in 

 hunting wild bees, and are aware that, by 

 burning a piece of comb ( that containing pol- 

 len I believe is best), you can in a short time 

 attract bees even a mile or two on warm days 

 when there is little honey in the flowers. My 

 object was to get 3'ou to try raising a hive when 

 there was little or no honey coming from the 

 fields, and thus prove which caused the rob- 

 bing sight (changed appearance) or the odor 

 emitted. My experience is, where you raise 

 no odor you induce no robbing, provided your 

 bees have not been on a robbing foray. Is 

 this right ? He opened up the province ; they 

 opened up the way to open up the cavity. 

 Up, seems to me, is a redundancy, and hardly 

 good rhetoric, and fails to mike more clear 

 the meaning. Does not " he opened the prov- 

 ince" give just as clear an idea of what is 

 done? E. S. Arwine. 



Dove, Cal., June 13. 



[No apology is necessary, for I think we 

 very nearly agree. Our differences of experi- 

 ences are more apparent than real, through 

 poverty of expression. — Ed.] 



inserting combs in sections. 



If, when filling sections with comb (page 

 353), you vpill warm the pieces of comb in a 

 tin plate, it will not only save your wax, but 

 the stove and your wife's temper when she 

 comes home. W. S. Frazeur. 



Indianapolis, Ind. 



y. D., Mich. — Some of the brood got chilled 

 during some of the cold nights. As it died, 

 of course the bees carried it out. Without 

 seeing the bees I could assign no other cause. 



W. H. L.,Mich.—\. Milk will not injure 

 bees. 2. It is very seldom that bees will 

 build brace-combs from the bottom of the 

 brood-frame to the bottom of the hive, even 

 when the distance is two or three inches. 



31. T., Ohio. — I doubt very much whether 

 there would be much of a demand for an 

 implement to ventilate a hive through the top. 

 If at all, ventilation should come from the 

 bottom, through a large entrance. 



H. /., Maine. — The two causes that usually 

 briug on dysentery are poor food and lack of 

 protection, or both ; but generally the matter 

 of protection has more to do with the cause of 

 this disease than any thing else. For further 

 particulars, see the A B C of Bee Culture. 



F. A. I\l., yV. )'. — I do not think you would 

 have an}' difficulty in keeping your honey 

 candied if it is kept in a dry place. Usually 

 the prot)lem is how to keep it liquid. Your 

 candied honey may, however, on the approach 

 of warm weather, show a tendency to liquefy; 

 but if it is kept in a cool dry place it ought to 

 keep its condition year after year. 



J. J. G., Mass. — I see no reason why you 

 can not use the building you refer to, for a 

 house apiary ; but of course it would have to 

 be remodeled inside. I would suggest that 

 you construct the interior of the building ac- 

 cording to the plan used by F. A. Salisbury, 

 of Syracuse, N. Y., and which is described in 

 this journal for Sept. 1, 1895. 



C. E. S., Pa. — The telephone for giving 

 notice of a swarm is not now sold by us. You 

 can get it of Montgomery' Ward & Co., of 

 Chicago, or Perry Mason & Co., Boston. What 

 you need to call for is the cheap acoustic tele- 

 phone. They sell them for about a dollar. 

 These phones will answer the purpose of giv- 

 ing signals for swarms, but the wire should 

 be strung around on poles through the apiary, 

 avoid all sharp angles, and draw the wire 

 taut. 



^. E., Pa. — There is no single article for 

 publication that will tell exactly how to pre- 

 vent increase when running for honey; but 

 there is a series of editorials on this subject in 

 GLE.A.NINGS, commencing about Jan. 1 of this 

 year. The method that I recommend is, in 

 brief, this : Give the large colonies two stories 

 instead of one. vScatter the frames of brood 

 between frames of foundation or empty combs. 

 This should be done before the approach of 

 the swarming season. In addition, the colo- 

 nies should be given a large entrance, one 

 inch deep by the width of the hive ; and for 

 safety the wings of the queen had better be 

 clipped. 



