1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



49 



Dee pees soon fount dot honev, an' carried it home. 



Dot dup an' tent vos mit 'em fairly a life. 



It kept me fiUin' de subers mit embt^ comb, 



So fast dit dey carry it off of mine vife. 



By half-bast dree dey hat her so glean. 



Dot no pee or drop of honey on her vos seen. 



Den I askt her to gif us some egsblanation 



How it felt, an' if dose pees causet her bain. 



She said, " It vos a very ticklish sensation." 



But she wouldn't like to dry it ober again. 



Efen som of de neighbors hat herd of her condition, 



An' came to see de circus, an' askt for admission. 



De honey in de parrel, ve tought, mite be soiled, 

 So ve brought it out too, to haf it vorket ofer. 

 Dot vay ve vould be sure it vouldn't git shpoiled. 

 Soon de pees vent for it vorse as for vite clofer, 

 But it dook 'em a bart yet of de nex' day 

 Before dey hat it alltogedder carried avay. 



"efen some of der neighbors had heardt of 

 her condition." 



It vos der most beautiful honey vot efer you seen 



After I got true distractin' it for de second dime. 



Such heltay color, an' so nice an' glean. 



I put it all in glass jars an' markt it " Prime." 



I sold it in town at almost double brice. 



Because, 't vos der only honey pees gaddered dwice. 



Dough abbarent de loss, dare is always some gain 

 If you just keep shtill an' use your brain. 



r^ ^ ^ 



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ANSWERS TO 



SEASONABLE 



QUE^STIONS 



^^^^Ol^i 



1 



SIZE OF BROOD-CHAMBERS. 



Question. — I am about beginning in bee- 

 keeping, and wish to make my hives during 

 these -winter months -when I have Httle else to 

 do. Will you please tell us through the col- 

 umns of Gleanings just -what the size of the 

 brood-chamber should be ? I see by the differ- 

 ent bee-papers which I have been enabled to 

 read, through the courtesy of a friend, that 

 there is a difference of opinion along this line. 



Answer. — Yes, indeed, there is a difference 

 of opinion regarding the size of brood-cham- 

 bers — especially so when working for comb 

 honey ; and as I suppose the questioner de- 

 sires to know something of the particulars in 



the matter I will explain how I arrived at the 

 size of the brood-chamber which I have used 

 successfully for nearly 30 years. 



When I first began to keep bees the old bee- 

 keepers about me kept them in hives contain- 

 ing from 2000 to 2500 cubic inches, so I started 

 out with a hive which gave nearly 2600 cubic 

 inches in the body of the hive, or about 2150 

 cubic inches inside the brood-frames, which 

 were 12 in number, of the Gallup size of the 

 Langstroth frame, the size of which was 11^ 

 X 11 X outside measure. I soon found, how- 

 ever, that, as a rule, three of the 12 frames 

 would be filled with nice white honey early 

 in the season, and generally nearly all of these 

 three frames of white nice honey would re- 

 main in the hives all during the next spring, 

 often till the honey harvest arrived, very little 

 if any of it being consumed, unless we chanced 

 to have a poor season. After a little thought 

 on the subject I concluded to place three 

 blanks or division-boards in the place of three 

 frames, two on one end of the hive and one 

 on the other. To this end I nailed top-bars to 

 frames on pieces of one-inch boards, which 

 were cut so as to be yi inch short at the bot- 

 tom, and yi at either side, and simply hung 

 these on the rabbets the same as the frames al- 

 ways hung. I had previously found that my 

 average queens would occupy only about 800 

 square inches of comb with brood, which left 

 about 600 square inches of comb to be filled 

 with honey and pollen, as my hive of about 

 2150 cubic inches gave me about 1400 square 

 inches of comb, surface measure. Thus each 

 year I was losing the use of from 20 to 30 lbs. 

 of the choicest honey for the sake of insuring 

 the bees with an abundance of honey should 

 a poor season occur. This honey, when plac- 

 ed in sections, was worth not far from $5.00 

 at that time, while, if necessary to feed to se- 

 cure sufficient stores during an occasional poor 

 year, on account of a smaller brood-chamber, 

 $2.00 worth of sugar, properly made into a 

 syrup, would provide them the necessary feed 

 to carry them through. 



I tried about ten colonies with the three 

 boards in place of the three combs, the first 

 year, thinking it best not to go contrary to 

 the veterans, on a large scale at first, fearing 

 that they might be right after all. However, 

 I was more than gratified to find that I had 

 not only obtained the 25 pounds in the sections, 

 but that these ten colonies averaged over 40 

 pounds more comb honey than those which 

 had their usual 12 combs. I began casting 

 about to know why this should be so, for I 

 had no expectation that I should receive more 

 in the boxes than what was naturally placed 

 in the frames whose places were taken by the 

 boards. The reason soon became obvious why 

 this was so. As the queen kept the nine frames 

 nearly filled with brood, when the honey har- 

 vest came, the bees had nowhere to put the 

 honey which they gathered, except in the sec- 

 tion boxes, so they immediately commenced 

 work in them. With the 12 frames of comb 

 they had more or less empty comb, which was 

 already built, in which to store their honey ; 

 and as bees always store honey in any empty 

 comb available about the brood-nest before 



