1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



399 



I am afraid some queen-breeders, in the rush 

 of the season, are not always as careful to ob- 

 serve this point as they should be ; and to fill 

 orders promptly they may sometimes yield to 

 the temptation of taking queens that look 

 well, but which have been reared either out of 

 the swarming season, or else the colonies that 

 built their cells were not stimulated as direct- 

 ed. 



My advice would be to purchase four or five 

 select queens from as many diflferent breeders 

 — queens to be the very best. Now, although 

 each breeder will be honest, and endeavor to 

 give you his best stock, either the journey 

 through the mails or some unaccountable cir- 

 cumstance will result in one or more of the 

 queens not coming up to expectation. Not 

 all queens will come anywhere near matching 

 the qualities of their mothers which the hon- 

 est breeder had selected for the very purpose 

 of breeding a superior stock. 



Where one wants to requeen a whole apiary 

 he should himself rear nine-tenths of the 

 queens. Until some one finds a better method 

 I would recommend the Doolittle plan ; but if 

 one has only a few colonies, and has. not had 

 much experience, he had better buy his queens 

 unless he wants a little fun in learning how to 

 do the work himself. 



For general purposes there is yet no better 

 stock than the leather-colored imported. Some 

 of them are exceptionally good. — Ed.] 



IF A JUMBO HIVE IS THE BEST FOR EXTRACT- 

 ED, WHY IS IT NOT EQUALLY GOOD FOR 

 COMB ? 



I have been much interested in the discus- 

 sions appearing in Gleanings concerning the 

 proper size for hives ; and while the weight of 

 testimony seems to be in favor of the 8 frame 

 L. hive, or near that size, for comb honey, I 

 believe it is quite generally conceded that a 

 larger (or jumbo) hive might be best in most 

 localities for extracted honey. Now, I infer 

 from what has been said upon the subject that 

 the Dadants extract nearly all of their honey 

 from supers, and the puzzling question that 

 confronts me is this : If, under similar condi- 

 tions as to season and locality, bees will store 

 more honey in supers in a large than in a 

 small hive when run for extracted, why will 

 they not when run for comb honey ? As I 

 have paid but little attention to bees of late 

 years I should like it if some competent bee- 

 keeper would lead me, and may be others, 

 "out of the woods" in this matter. In 

 Gleanings for Dec. 15, 1899, appeared a good 

 article on the subject by Mr. L. Stachelhausen. 

 Will he not be kind enough to contribute his 

 promised " method " in his next article soon ? 



Cobleskill, N. Y. S. A. Burner. 



[If it is a fact that a large hive is best for 

 extracted, it is perfectly natural to assume that 

 it will be equally good for comb, and I am 

 not sure but the assumption is correctly drawn. 

 This whole question is one of locality. Where 

 the honey-flow is short, lasting only two or 

 three weeks, and only moderate, and no hon- 

 ey worth speaking of at other times during 

 the whole season, then unquestionably the 



eight-frame Langstroth capacity is large 

 enough. With a larger hive in such a locali- 

 ty, the surplus would probably all be crowded 

 in the brood-combs. But in a locality where 

 the honey-flow continues for a month or six 

 weeks, or where there are two or three such 

 flows aggregating anywhere from two to three 

 weeks each, then the large hive for extracted 

 honey is unquestionably the better ; and I 

 should be inclined to believe that it would 

 also be better for comb. But we must not for- 

 get this one fact : That, while the bees will 

 gather as much honey whether running for ex- 

 tracted or comb, it is not so easy to get so 

 much marketable honey in sections as that in 

 a liquid form. — Ed.] 



OUEEN-EXCLUDERS FROM FOUL'BROODY 

 HIVES. 



Having purchased a number of queen-ex- 

 cluders that had been used one season over 

 bees badly affected with foul brood, what pre- 

 caution should I take in using them again ? 

 Would it in any way endanger others, or 

 should they be discarded altogether ? 



Tilsonburg, Ont. W. E. Young. 



[While there is a possibility that queen- 

 excluders in foul-broody hives might not 

 carry infection to colonies in hives on which 

 they were placed, yet I would never take any 

 chances. I would put the whole bundle in a 

 kettle of water and boil not less than two 

 hours, this extent of time being necessary to 

 kill the spores ; for, as Mr. Cowan points out, 

 spores are very different from microbes.- -Ed.] 



DISCOURAGING FOR SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 



It has been another dry winter in Southern 

 California. It has rained only about 8 inches 

 in this locality. The sage is in bloom now, a 

 month ahead of time, but it does not amount 

 to much, I don't think there will be any sur- 

 plus honey here this season ; and from what I 

 can hear it is worse down south. 



San Benito, Cal., May 2. A. Borgman. 



EXTRACTING-HOUSE ON WHEELS. 



I would thankfully hear from any reader of 

 Gleanings who has had experience, how 

 best to build a practical and convenient ex- 

 tracting-house on wheels, to be set close to 

 hives in out-apiaries, carrying all requisites 

 along. A. MoTTAZ. 



Ulica, 111., Feb. 21. 



[I should be glad to receive photos and de- 

 scription of a good extracting-house on wheels. 

 —Ed.] 



bee-proof armor-suits. 



On page 94, Feb. 1, you mention Mr. Cogg- 

 shall's bee- proof armor-suits. Can you not 

 give a description of them so that they can be 

 made from it ? E. D. HowELL. 



New Hampton, N. Y. 



["Bee-proof armor-suits" was a name adopt- 

 ed by me as half a joke on the Coggshall bees 

 to indicate their general temper. Why, don't 



