1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



177 



ing over the ground in the apiary, on the api- 

 arist's return." 



" Which is more profitable when using nat- 

 ural swarming — having the frames and sec- 

 tions filled with foundation, or just starters? " 



"As to the sections, I now say fill them al- 

 iVays. More salable section honey results 

 therefrom. As to the frames, consult your 

 time and your pocketbook. If time is pre- 

 cious, so you can not look after the combs 

 when being built from starters, and your pock- 

 etbook can afford the foundation, then buy it. 

 If the contrary, then you can well make it 

 pay to have the bees build their combs in the 

 brood-frames as long as they will build worker 

 comb. When they take to building mostly 

 drone comb, a few frames filled with founda- 

 tion, to use at such a time, will well pay, even 

 if you have to pay $1.00 a pound for the same." 



"One more question, a little olT the order 

 of the rest, and we'll be going. How can you 

 tell when a colony is about to supersede its 

 queen? " 



"This is generally told by a decrea.se of 

 brood in the hive, or the brood being scattered 

 about in different parts of several combs, in- 

 stead of being compact together ; and, togeth- 

 er with these conditions, the starting of queen- 

 cells while the old queen is present in the hive. 

 If in the swarming season, the scattered and 

 scanty brood is what we go by. If out of the 

 swarming season, then the starting of queen- 

 cells, the same having eggs, larvte, or pupte in 

 them, tells us on first sight that the old queen 

 is about to be replaced with a young one. 

 But it is often the case that, after all of these 

 things looking toward the supersedure of a 

 queen, the bees will change their minds (?) 

 and destroy all the cells started. If they do 

 this they will often go to feeding the queen in 

 an extra manner, when she will put in a lot 

 of brood as compact as, and nearly to the 

 amount of, that done by a young queen. And 

 I have known such about-to-be-superseded 

 queens taken away after the young queen was 

 hatched, and roaming over the combs with 

 their mother, to keep up a good rousing colo- 

 ny for two years, when introduced to the same, 

 this showing that the bees themselves do not 

 always know just what is best." 



THE DOOLITTLE DIVISION- BOARD KE^DER, 

 AND WHY NO FLOAT SHOUIvD BR USED. 



Tell your readers to keep the float out of 

 the Doolittle feeder. Ten years ago when 

 I first made them I thought some of the bees 

 would get drowned, so I made some floats for 

 my feeders, which were even full size, Gallup 

 frame, 2 in. inside measure, with sides coming 

 up to }i in. from top-bar. After filling up the 

 feeders I laid on the floats, took out two 

 frames of empty comb, and hung the feeders 

 in their place. Now for the result. In almost 



every instance the float would work to one 

 side or the other, and stick there ; and then, 

 after a little, with the weight of bees on it, it 

 would fall and drown about 50 bees, more or 

 less, so I stopped using the float, and had no 

 more trouble with dead bees in the feeder. 

 All things considered, the division-board feed- 

 er is a long way ahead of any other feeder for 

 me. H. W. Wheei^ER. 



Mt. Pleasant, Feb. 10. 



[While I never tried floats in the Doolittle 

 feeders, I have tried them in other feeders of 

 similar construction ; and from what experi- 

 ence I have had I felt very sure that they 

 would be worse than useless in division-board 

 feeders, and have so advised our readers. Mr. 

 Wheeler's experience above is exactly what I 

 should expect. 



Since I told how to make a division -board 

 feeder, there have come in dozens of letters 

 praising this particular article. We did not 

 try it to any great extent until last season, but 

 found it so immeasurably superior to any 

 thing else that we shall use it in the future al- 

 most exclusively. For spring feeding there is 

 nothing that will compare with it ; and now 

 is a good time for bee-keepers to make them. 

 For particulars regarding their construction, 

 see Gleanings for Dec. 1, page 895. — Ed.] 



TEMPERATURE OF A BEE-CELLAR. 



I have a few colonies of bees in my cellar, 

 and the temperature is down to about J 5 above 

 zero. I have chaff cushions on my hives. 

 Last year I did the same, and they wintered 

 well. Now, would that be too cold ? I have 

 made a tin covering to go outside of a big 

 Rochester lamp, so as to make it dark in the 

 cellar, and it works satisfactorily. I can raise 

 the temperature with it. Now, will the burn- 

 ing of that lamp in there affect the air in any 

 way so as to destroy my bees ? 



Luther, Mich. A. E. HovEV. 



[a temperature of 15 degrees above zero in 

 the cellar is altogether too low; and if this 

 continues for any great length of time you 

 will probably find that many of your bees will 

 be dead before next spring. A large lamp in 

 the cellar to raise the temperature may be used, 

 but it is better to put the top of the chimney 

 of the lamp at a point where the burned gases 

 of the lamp can be conveyed up the stove 

 chimney. A lamp has been and often is used 

 to warm up a cellar, without any provision for 

 carrying off the gases ; but if there are many 

 colonies in the cellar it is liable to be attended 

 with bad results In any case, be sure the 

 lamp is turned high, or high enough so it will 

 not throw off that disagreeable smell so often 

 noticed when a lamp is turned down. Instead 

 of using artificial heat I would abandon your 

 present cellar or bank it up so that it will re- 

 sist extreme temperatures outdoors, with very 

 little variation inside. The cellar elsewhere 

 described in this issue by T. F. Bingham will, 

 I think, remedy your trouble with low tem- 

 peratures — Ed.] 



