1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



131 



found it necessary to keep on feeding his bees 

 clear up to the time asters commenced yield- 

 ing, in order to have them continue breeding. 

 Only by this method was he able to secure 

 good results. On this account Mr. B. had 

 added a permanent feeder to his hives, ena- 

 bling him to feed at any time without remov- 

 ing quilts, supers, or the like. 



As regards wintering bees on summer stands, 

 Mr. Benton has tried a new method with good 

 success. An outer case is made use of, and 

 the entrance is so well protected that neither 

 •wind nor sunshine can possibly hit it. The 

 brood-chamber is stood on end, the rear upper- 

 most, and the combs running flatwise with en- 

 trance, imitating the " Warmbau " of the Ger- 

 mans. The illustration shows plainer than 

 words can do it, so here it is. 







Pretty sensible idea, is it not ? Perhaps the 

 same method may be used with good success 

 without turning the hive on end, simply by 

 turning lhe hive a quarter way around and 

 boring a l)4-inch hole about two inches below 

 top-l^ars for an entrance, and then packing as 

 shown. 



Among the questions asked were the follow- 

 ing : 



1. Do you prefer wintering under sealed 

 cover or quilt and packing ? 



Anscver. — Quilt and packing is best. 



2. How keep moths out of combs? 

 Answer by F. Benton. — By use of bisulphide 



of carbon. 



Greiner stated that he burned sulphur in a 

 top story over a stack of combs or comb hon- 

 ey, then aired after. Sulphur fumes do not 

 injure the health of human beings, but bisul- 

 phide of carbon does. Care must be exercised 

 with the latter. 



From a paper read by F. Greiner, entitled 

 "Things are not Always what they Seem," I 

 make the following extract : 



" Friend Lapsley expresses an opinion in 

 Gleanings that beginners are sometimes 

 misled by veterans. The introducing-cage, 



made of wire cloth only, and mentioned in 

 this report before, is a thing that is not what 

 it seems, because it does not work in friend 

 L.'s hands as represented. In order to be 

 brief, and not occupy all the room there is, 

 writers often refrain from going minutely into 

 all the details, supposing the readers are able 

 to read between the lines. Sometimes readers 

 do not catch on, and failures result, even with 

 good and experienced persons, as, for instance, 

 Mr. Iv. If the introducing-cage is made from 

 proper cloth, stiff enough, there will be no 

 trouble.". 



The Doolittle method of ascertaining the 

 amount of stores by lifting and weighing in 

 one's hands each frame (comb), thus guessing 

 the weight, undoubtedly proves a success in 

 the master's hands ; but it might not in the 

 hands of many others. Greiner does not like 

 to tear all his colonies to pieces in such a man- 

 ner, particularly at a time when robbers are 

 troublesome. Weighing the whole hive on 

 scales he preferred, and this was indorsed by 

 Mr. F. Benton. A guess has to be made on 

 the weight of the empty hive, the combs, the 

 bees, the pollen, etc.; but even this does not 

 leave the sum total any more uncertain than 

 Mr. Doolittle's guessing the weight of each 

 comb, and is much less work. 



The queen - clipping device advertised in 

 some papers may not be what it seems. It re- 

 quires much fussing, and G. claims he can 

 clip three queens without that instrument to 

 one with it. 



The wax-moth has two broods, according to 

 Mr. Harry Howe, and Entomologist F. Ben- 

 ton indorsed this in a measure. Greiner could 

 not see any noticeable let-up in their breeding 

 throughout the season. 



Many implements are recommended and 

 used for scraping propolis from section-holders 

 and hives. Some seem flimsy. A piece of 

 steel from a crosscut saw, 3X6 inches, serves 

 better than any thing else. 



The bee-escape was also hauled over the 

 coals. A few prominent men do not seem to 

 recognize it as possessing any great merit. It 

 does not, under all conditions, do the work re- 

 quired ; but when properly used it is a very 

 pleasant auxiliary in the apiary. 



In another paper, on comb-honey supers, 

 Greiner spoke of the gradual development of 

 the soap-box into the one-pound-section super 

 of to day. He had used T supers, combined 

 honey and shipper's cases, and several other 

 styles, but uses almost exclusively a wide- 

 frame super. He thinks separators indispens- 

 able, and uses them, even at the risk of being 

 called unskillful. The market demands hon- 

 ey of uniform weight and perfectly smooth 

 faces. Such honey can not be produced with- 

 out separators. The cleated separator is in 

 favor with him, also the tall section, 4x5 

 inches. Fences he is not going to adopt. 

 His experience with them leads him to advise 

 making fences of hard wood to prevent the 

 bees from enlarging the spaces between the 

 fence-boards. Perforated separators suit him 

 better than fences ; he used them years ago, 

 and honey produced between them showed 

 perfectly smooth faces. 



