1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



887 



out, and those left spread apart a little so as to 

 give more room for the bees lo cluster between 

 each two combs and a chaff division-board, 

 each taking the space occupied by a frame, 

 placed in each end of the hive, the bees will 

 winter enough better to pay for all trouble and 

 expense. And while I agree with the above 

 perfectly, I go still further and say that, in 

 any locality, where such a course will pay, it 

 will pay still better to have all colonies in full 

 chaff hives which are winteied out of doors. 

 Of course, the expense will be greater at the 

 start; but after you have your bees in chaff 

 hives there need be no further fussing either 

 summer or winter thereafter, as the chaff hives 

 are fully as good for the bees in the summer 

 as in the winter. Some seem to think that a 

 chaff hive is not a good thing for summer; but 

 from an experience covering more than a score 

 of years I am satisfied that a chaff hive will 

 give a greater surplus of honey during the 

 summer, if I may be allowed such an expres- 

 sion, than will a single-walled hive, especially 

 of comb or section honey. 



COVERING FOR BROOD-FRAMES. 



Question. — When wintering out of doors, 

 which is the better way to cover the brood- 

 frames — with a thin board or super cover, put- 

 ting the chaff cushion on top of them, and 

 then a cover on the cushion, or putting the 

 cushion directly on the fiames with a Hill de- 

 vice or something of the kind under it, and 

 then putting on the cover? 



Answer. — My method of using chaff cush- 

 ions is as follows: Buy the necessary number 

 of yards of unbleached cotton cloth, and cut 

 it in such shape that the pieces will just cover 

 the top of your hive from outside to outside. 

 Now put on your Hill device, or three or four 

 sticks one-half inch square and ^ as long as 

 it is across the tops of your frames, so the bees 

 can pass over the tops of the frames under the 

 covering. On top of these sticks spread your 

 piece of cotton clolh, and on top of the cloth 

 place the chaff cushion, and over all place the 

 hood or cover. This cover should not come 

 down on top of the chaff cushion, but should 

 allow a space of at least an inch (two is bet- 

 ter) over the cushion for the air to circulate so 

 as to carrj' off the moisture which may arise 

 and be driven up through the cushion from 

 the bees below. 



AGE OF USEFULNESS OF BROOD-COMBS. 



Question. — How long can combs be used in 

 the brood-frames before it will be necessary to 

 cut them out and put in foundation, or let the 

 bees build new ones ? 



Answer. — Well, really I don't know. There 

 are some who think it is necessary to renew 

 brood -combs every twelve or fifteen years, they 

 believing that, by that time, the cocoons will 

 have so accumulated in the cells that the ac- 

 cumulation will make the cells so small that 

 dwarf bees will be the result. This " think " 

 of such parties seems to me to be ungrounded, 

 for I have brood-combs in my apiary which 

 have been in continuous use for 30 years, and 

 some much longer, as they were transferred 

 from box hives, and, so far as I am able to 



discover, the bees hatching from them are as 

 perfect as ever. If I had perfect worker combs, 

 from the present light 1 have I should say 

 that they would be good for half a century, 

 barring accidents. But this is something each 

 must decide for himself. Perhaps I am too 

 conservative ; but it has always seemed to me 

 to be a foolish thing to destroy some of the 

 good things we have in use for the sake of re- 

 placing it with something new. 





THE DESTRUCTIVENESS OF DISEASED BROOD 

 IN SCHOHARIE CO., N. Y. 



I don't know but I have made it too tame 

 in what I have said about diseased brood, for 

 it certainly has ruined a good many apiaries 

 in Schoharie and Montgomery Counties ; and 

 a great many who keep only a few hives are 

 all cleaned out. It did look very discourag- 

 ing ; but when so many have got to be all 

 right again it seems to be somewhat encour- 

 aging. If we can only winter our bees well, 

 and succeed in getting them strong, and keep- 

 ing them so, if it can be done by uniting bees 

 it will be better than to try to nurse up weak 

 colonies. We may be able to fight it out. 



Where a great many bees are kept, and 

 where the diseased brood has done the great- 

 est damage, I think fully three-fourths of all 

 the colonies have perished in the last three 

 years, for a distance of 35 or 40 miles, leading 

 from Gallupville, Schoharie Co., west to Cen- 

 tral Bridge, Sloansville, Glen, and Randall, 

 Montgomery Co. The disease is also in Ot- 

 sego, Schenectady, and Albany Counties. 



Middleburg, N. Y. N. D. WEST. 



A CRITICISM ON THE TALL SECTION. 



There has been so much said in favor of the 

 tall narrow section that it seems to me the ad- 

 verse side (if there is one) should have its say. 

 Following E. D. Ochsner, p. 752, I will state 

 that I have produced some honey in the above 

 section for the past two years, and have taken 

 pains to ask the opinion of disinterested par- 

 ties in respect to their choice, placing the reg- 

 ular <±% X 4^ section alongside of the ideal. 

 All I have asked here in Wisconsin said they 

 would prefer the square section, except two 

 people. One was a commercial traveler, and 

 the other was W. Z. Hutchinson, of Michigan. 

 Mr. H said he liked the shape of the narrow 

 section better ; that pictures, door and window 

 frames, etc., were of that oblong shape, and it 

 is more pleasing to the eye. But the women- 

 folks everywhere have said the square piece of 

 honey would lie on a small round plate better 

 than the other. 



Now, I agree with Mr. Hutchinson in regard 

 to the shape of picture-frames and window- 

 frames ; but a section of honey is neither one 

 nor the other, and is not intended for that pur- 



