382 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 15. 



full of brood from the strong and give to the 

 weak, and you have equalized the brood. 

 Three weeks later there will not be as much 

 brood in the two hives as if you had let them 

 alone. But let them alone till the stronger 

 has six or eight frames of brood, and then you 

 will gain by equalizing. The secret of it is 

 that a colony with brood enough to fill only 

 one frame full stands nearly still, while one 

 with three or four frames booms right along. 

 [I guess you are right. — Ed.] 



DoOLiTTi^K talks sense, p. 350, when he fa- 

 vors leaving queen- cells and young queens 

 with the bees from start to finish. And he 

 will probably agree that for the best results it 

 is desirable that the cells be in a strong colony 

 at least till they are sealed, and that it is at 

 least a little better that the young queen be in 

 a strong nucleus till she lays. We are not 

 likely to reach the time when good queens 

 can l3e reared for nothing. [I have said a 

 good deal in favor of bees for business, and 

 have rather decried the evident rage for color, 

 which rage now seems to have all but died out. 

 Would it not be well to talk about high-priced 

 queens ? One reared by the most approved 

 plans in a strong colony, under the swarming 

 impulse, or same impulse brought on artifi- 

 cially by feeding, ought to be worth twice as 

 much as one reared in the old-fashioned meth- 

 od in a queenless colony without feeding — a 

 method that is apt to result in small, inferior 

 queens — Ed.] 



Geo. G. Scott takes up half a column of 

 the Ainericati Bee Journal in saying that 

 hive tools and other things likely to be lost 

 should be painted a brilliant red. The advice 

 is worLh all the room he has taken. [Say, you 

 are just right. I am one of those unfortunates 

 who have a habit of losing tools in the apiary; 

 and then I have walked all over them in a 

 search for them, and have not seen them. 

 Painting all such tools a bright red, forming a 

 strong contrast with the grass and surround- 

 ing objects, would, I think, save a great deal 

 of annoyance, and perhaps in some cases some 

 "self-cussing." W. L,. Coggshall manages to 

 remedy this trouble to some extent by having 

 his tools tied to him with a string. Of course, 

 it would be impossible to paint a smoker this 

 color; but screwdriver, pries, etc., could be 

 painted red. This idea strikes me so favora- 

 bly that I have just marked a heading for our 

 ABC book, entitled "Tools," and in it I shall 

 give friend Scott credit. — Ed ] 



Mr. Editor, you've got me all mixed up 

 about Devauchelle and Bingham. I think j^ou 

 are right that both believe in strong colonies ; 

 but Devauchelle thinks the best thing for a 

 poor locality is a big brood-chamber all the 

 time, while friend Bingham says, "The time 

 is likely to come when such a hive in a poor 

 locality may be the only means of getting nice 

 honey in paying quantities." And by " such 

 a hive " doesn't he mean one reduced to a 

 very small brood-chamber ? Perhaps the main 

 point of difference is that Bingham believes 

 in contracting for the honey-flow, and I lean 

 in the direction of the smoker man. [I do 

 not see how you should be mixed up, doctor. 



Mr. Bingham, I take it, is an expansionist — if 

 not politically, then apiculturally — that is, I 

 take it he believes in a small hive for a poor 

 locality, and a large hive for a good one, be- 

 cause he can have a large or small hive at will. 

 Now, is it not possible that Devauchelle has a 

 large hive which he can not reduce ? You 

 know it is easy for us to believe that what we 

 have is just right ; and it is also easy to con- 

 fine our ideas and practices by the limits of 

 the devices we use. Of course, you and I are 

 not guilty of any such bad things ; but De- 

 vauchelle et al. are. — Ed.] 



Have you tried the French way of using 

 the Porter escape? Instead of having the es- 

 cape open into the hive below, have it open 

 outside, in front, above the hive. One advan- 

 tage claimed is that you can see if the springs 

 of the escape do not work exactly right. 

 [This method is all right under some condi- 

 tions. H. R. Boardman has practiced it for 

 years, and I do not know but he is using it 

 now. It has the advantage, according to Mr. 

 Boardman, of getting the laees out of the su- 

 pers a little quicker, because the bees work 

 toward bright daylight. The young bees that 

 happen to be in the supers come out in front 

 of the hive, and naturally find the entrance, 

 so none are lost ; but as a general rule Porter 

 escapes are put on at night between brood- 

 nest and sections, and the next morning the 

 supers are supposed to be free of bees ; but ac- 

 cording to my experience they are not always 

 thus freed, for I have found anywhere from 

 thirty to forty bees in the super next morning. 

 I suppose H. R. Boardman, by his plan, in- 

 duces the bees to leave earlier, with the result 

 that the work is accomplished in less time, 

 and more thoroughly. It might be well to 

 try this matter this coming season. — Ed.] 



A HARD THING it is to be always clear and 

 not take too much for granted as being known 

 by the inquirer. At least it's hard for me, 

 and I see ye editor keeps me company, p. 253. 

 A raw recruit would understand that in all 

 cases stimulative feeding is necessary, and 

 that the queen-cells must be in the same story 

 in which the queen is laying. I don't believe 

 he thinks either necessary in the time of full 

 flow in hot weather. There, I've made the 

 very same mistake by not saying that I'm 

 talking about the reply to E. J. B. about queen- 

 rearing. [There, now, doctor, you mix me all 

 up. Instead of giving the right page, 352, 

 you read the figures backward, and make it 

 2-53. Well, I have found the place now, and 

 we will start over. In my remarks in ques- 

 tion I had in mind the season during which 

 they would come before our readers, which 

 would be from the fore part till the middle of 

 May, and I do not know of any place in the 

 United States in which there will be a natural 

 honey- flow then unless it be in the extreme 

 south. However, j'our point is well taken, 

 for a beginner reading what I said, in the 

 month of July or June, would in all probabil- 

 ity feed during the entire honey-flow. While 

 this would do no harm, it would do no good, 

 and might teach the colony to become lazy. — 

 Ed.] 



