'654 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 1. 



"to work hard. For myself and the benefits it 

 has conferred in this line, the multiplicity of 

 duties I have performed and still attend to, 

 fairly well shows." 



Few will dispute Mr. White's claim to be 

 called a worker when we learn that he is Hon. 

 Sec. Hunts, and Cambs. Teachers' Associa- 

 tion, and in this capacity has been representa- 

 tive at annual conferences of teachers in Lon- 

 don and elsewhere. He is Hon. Sec. Hunts. 

 B. K. A. and of the Cambs. and Isle of Ely 

 B. K. A., while locally he is secretary to 

 trustees of local charily, Hon. Sec. Technical 

 Education Committee, collector of taxes, 

 church choirmaster, conductor of concerts, is 

 correspondent of five local weekly papers, and 

 writes bee articles for ever so many other pa- 

 pers besides. 



Bee-keepers also know that Mr. White has 

 done a very great amount of bee-tent lecturing 

 during his" annual holiday from school duties; 

 and when he coolly tells us that ' ' the above 

 are my means of recreation from school work," 

 it almost makes one wonder when or during 

 what hours he lies down to rest. Solid testi- 

 mony to the value of the disinterested ser- 

 vices he has for many years past rendered to 

 his neighbors is found in the public recogni- 

 tion of his labors on several occasions, when 

 testimonials have been presented to him by 

 the leading residents of his neighborhood. 



In concluding this brief notice we may men- 

 tion one event, viz., the public presentation 

 to Mr. W^hite of a gold watch and illuminated 

 address in 1895, on his fortieth birthday, to 

 mark his sixteen years' services to the locali- 

 ty. On this occasion, when returning thanks 

 for the honor done him, he alluded to the 

 fact that in all his work much of the success 

 he had been able to achieve was due to his 

 good wife, and the possession of a happy 

 home — sentiments in which we are sure our 

 readers will cordially agree. 



Mr. White holds the first-class certificate of 

 the B. B. K. A., and frequently officiates as 

 judge at bee and honey shows. Indeed, he 

 may be very fairly classed as one of the pub- 

 lic men of the bee-keeping craiV.— British Bee 

 Journal. 



«»t — 



PLAIN SECTIONS A SUCCESS. 



Require no Cleaning; Fences Could be Improved a 

 little ; Blacks inferior to Italians and Hybrids. 



BY E. W. BROWN. 



Here is my report on the new fence. I have 

 used about 600; a few I and T fences, Ijut the 

 greater part being my special fence you made 

 to go in the Hilton T super, three sections on 



The kind of season we had this year for clo- 

 ver is the kind in which the Italians and hy- 

 brids store some surplus, while the blacks 

 store nothing till basswood comes. As bass- 

 wood did not amount to a great deal this sea- 

 son, the black bees stored but very little sur- 

 plus. I got 48 well-filled (15 ^<-oz. ) sections 

 to the colony from 40 Italian and hybrids, 

 there being more or less Carniolan blood in 



my hybrids. This was white-clover honey. 

 From 10 black colonies I got no white clover, 

 but about 12 sections of basswood per colony. 

 While the black bees were working on bass- 

 wood the other bees continued to work stead- 

 ily on white clover. My best colony gave me 

 96 well-filled sections and 20 pounds of ex- 

 tracted. This colony has an Alley queen, 

 bought in 1896 She has always been in a 

 10-frame hive, and has never swarmed, al- 

 ways coming in at the lead for surplus honey. 

 I received two queens from Alley at the same 

 time — the other one proving to be absolutely 

 worthless. 



Well, well ! I started out to report on fences 

 and plain sections, and haven't said a thing 

 about it yet. According to my opinion the 

 fence is a success, but can be slightly im- 

 proved. The plain sections are a perfect suc- 

 cess in every way, and with me they have re- 

 quired no cleaning when filled during the 

 white-clover flow; and I feel assured that they 

 will require very little cleaning when filled 

 with fall honey, which is the time the bees 

 gather the most propolis. This thing alone — 

 the fact that no cleaning is required — is suffi- 

 cient reason for me to adopt the fence and 

 plain section altogether. 



The improvement I would make in the 

 fence is to make the cleats wider than ^ inch, 

 and to extend the cleat to the bottom and top 

 of the fence. My bees siy they do not care 

 for this passageway over and under the ends 

 of the cleat. Just as soon as they get a little 

 crowded for storage room, and begin to finish 

 the outside and corner sections, they begin to, 

 block up this opening over the end of the 

 cleats. The reason I would make the cleats 

 wider is because, in many instances, the edge 

 of the cleat comes very nearly even with the 

 inside edge of the section, in which case the 

 bees often round the cappings up to the fence 

 so that, in taking out the sections, the outside 

 row of cappings is broken. I notice this very 

 little in using the I fence, but with my special 

 fence I notice it a great deal because the bees 

 cap the honey all around next to the wood, 

 filling the section better than they do with 

 the 1 fence. 



I see you figure on having the bottom edge 

 of the fence about Ig inch above the inside 

 bottom of the section. This is all right if we 

 do not want the surplus arrangement queen- 

 excluding, and I think the top edge ought to 

 be the same distance below the upper inside 

 edge of the section. Some of the fences you 

 sent were this way, and some were almost as 

 high as the top of the section. In no case did 

 I have any Vjulged combs. Now, as I hive my 

 swarms on half-depth brood-chambers (less 

 than 6 inches deep), could I not get along 

 without queen-excluders if you made my 

 fences with the bottom edge almost on a level 

 with the inside bottom of the section ? This 

 is what gave me this idea: I happened to drop 

 a quart of bees with a queen on top of an 

 Ideal super, and the bees immediately de- 

 scended to the hive below the super, while 

 the queen was left trying to squeeze in be- 

 tween the sections and fences, but could not 

 doit. This set me to thinking, " Why not 



