1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



651 



OQ top Oil the same. Now select a frame 

 from what was the lower hive haviag' the 

 least brood in it, just enough to keep the 

 queen contented, and put it in place of the 

 center comb ia the hive, now on the stand, 

 and then put on the queen excluder. On 

 the excluder put a super of sections all 

 wedded ready for work, when the bees and 

 <jueen are to be shaken down in front of the 

 hive njw on the stand. I do not look for the 

 queen nor try toshake the bees off clean, only 

 €noug^h so that I can reasonably suppose 

 that the queen is with the bees so she will 

 go in with them in the hive now on the 

 stand When the bees are mostly shaken 

 off the C3mbs of brood, and I feel quite sure 

 the queen is not with any bees which may 

 stick to the hive, the brood is put back in 

 the same, together with the comb taken to 

 give place for the frame having a little 

 brood to keep the queen contented, this hive 

 of brood and scattering bees is placed top 

 of the super of sections (just put on), and 

 the bees have done their swarming for the 

 year. If the combs that were formerly in 

 the upper hive are from one-fourth to one- 

 half full of honey, which the bees have 

 stored in them while they were acting as a 

 swarm-retarder, so much the better, for 

 this honey will move up into the sections as 

 soon as the queen gets well to laying. The 

 three-eighths space left open by the wedges 

 forms a "shute," as it were, for the bees 

 to pass down through as the young ones 

 ■emerge from their cells and wish to go 

 out for the first time; and, on returning, 

 they stop with the queen and in the sec- 

 tions, till at the end of 21 days we have the 

 whole of the bees in the lower story and 

 the sections, by shaking all off from the 

 now broodless combs, and taking them 

 away. Of course, sections are added as is 

 necessary, generally by raising the first 

 super up and putting one under having 

 open top bars. In this way nothing from 

 the brood- combs above can get into the sec- 

 tions, and we have a rousing colony storing 

 all of its honey in the sections, with no de- 

 sire to swarm, and with only the one ma- 

 nipulation, very similar to the shook- swarm 

 plan recommended by all. Try it, doctor, 

 and see how you like one of the plans of 

 non-swarming Doolittle has worked out in 

 his study along this line. 



" HONEY CONSUMED IN A YEAR BY A COL- 

 ONY OF BEES." 



Will Dr. M. and E. R. R. turn to that 

 table given as the amount of honey con- 

 sumed during a year by a colony of bees, 

 as given by H. Kramer, on page j76, April 

 1? Look at that minimum, 19.8 pounds of 

 honey consumed during the great breeding 

 months of the year — May, June, end July, 

 and see if you can believe such a thing. If 

 ycu are inclined to do so, just turn over to 

 page 387, and look at that frame of brood 

 (whica is very similar to hundreds which I 

 hav-e had), and figure out how much honey 

 that brood cost. Then multiply those fig- 

 ures by 7, as each hive will contain about 



the amount of brojd equ il to 7 such frames, 

 if the colony is in a ten frame hive. Then 

 multiply what seven such combs of brood 

 cost in honey by four, as they will be fi.l- 

 ed about four times with broo 1 during Maj-, 

 June, and July. After you have done this, 

 if you know someth ng of the cost of bro d- 

 rearirif' in honey you will think that Mr. 

 Getaz's 200 pounds of honey for a year comes 

 very much nearer the realization-point than 

 that 19 8 does for the three months n med. 

 My figures, after years of close obseivation 

 and experimenting, are as follows, for the 

 average colony: 



October— January 5 lbs. 



Febiuary — April... 10 " 



May — July 70 " 



August — September 1,3 " 



100 •' 

 VENTILATION WITH CELLAR WINTERING. 



I have been very much interested in all 

 that has been said in this matter since this 

 year has come in, and only lack of time has 

 kept me from having a " hand " (in print) 

 in the matter. I see that mj' name has been 

 brought in quite often; but it being out of 

 season I will only say that there is not so 

 much difference between the edi'or and m}^- 

 self as there might seem to be — see pages 

 432, 433, of May 1. I have not the slightest 

 doubt that his ventilation for that ma- 

 chine-shop cellar is just the thing. And I 

 wish to go on record as saying that said 

 machine-shop over the bees (or cellar) is 

 just why he succeeds so well in wintering 

 with his mode of ventilation — just the com- 

 bination necessary for those conditions. He 

 did not have those '"happy" combinations 

 in his other cellars, so he lost. But remem- 

 ber, friend Ernest, that not one in 1000 who 

 winter bees in cellars has a machine-shop, 

 and so it is safer to recommend a plan suit- 

 ed to the masses rather than recommend 

 one that the masses can not well attain to. 

 A hole dug in a side-hill for a bee-cellar, 

 or a pit in which to bury the bees, is with- 

 in easy reach of all; and that is the reason 

 I have given the plan of my out-cellar to the 

 public. The bees wintered splendidly till 

 after the 15th of April, when thej began to 

 waste on the cellar bottom quite badly. 

 Snow, rain, clouds, and high winds pre- 

 vented my getting them out till May 2. 

 And as their last liight was on October 30th, 

 they had a confinement of over half a year, 

 and I do not see now how they stood the 

 test so well. Ten of the united nuclei gave 

 up from loss of old bees during April and 

 the first half of May. But all of the colo- 

 nies not made up of united nuclei came 

 through all right. 



And now for something that beats all rec- 

 ords with which I am familiar: June 2, just 

 one month from time of setting out, one cf 

 the colonies sent out a rousing swarm, and 

 I found others with eggs in queen cells pre- 

 paratory to swarming, before I thought it 

 possible or thought it necessary to plan to 

 discourage any idea of swarming. To be 

 sure, these colonies had been lying out for 

 a week or more during hut days; but 1 did 



