652 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 1 



not think it possible for any colony to swarm 

 within a month of time of setting- out. 

 Hives full of bees, brood and honey (ten 

 L. frames), and swarming- within one 

 month from setting- from the cellar. Will 

 your machine-shop wintering show better 

 results, Mr. Editor? 

 Borodino, N. Y. 



[Don't you remember, friend D., that J. 

 A. Buchanan, some years ago, boiled some 

 honey from foul- broody colonies for ten min- 

 utes, g-ave it back to some healthy bees, and 

 every colony fed such syrup developed foul 

 brood in a very short time? And, again, 

 elaborate experiments have been conducted 

 by several scientists of note, going to show 

 that even two hours is not sufficient to kill 

 the spores of Bacillus alvei sometimes. I 

 refer J Genonceaux, of Europe; Dr. W. O. 

 Howard, cf Fort Worth, Texas; Prof. C. F. 

 Hodge, of Massachusetts ; Mr. Brice, an 

 English scientist; bacteriologist J. J. Mc- 

 Kenzie, of Ontario, Can.; and T. W. Cow- 

 an, ec itor of the British Bee Journal, It is 

 possible that, in the honey you brought to a 

 boil there were very few if any spores 

 among the bacilli; but in any case, while 

 you may have followed a certain method of 

 procedure without bad results, such a plan 

 pursued by others might lead to disaster. 



With regard to wintering half of your 

 bees indoors and half outdoors, I stand cor- 

 rected; and on the general subject of win- 

 tering both indoors and outdoors, I do not 

 think we disagree very much; but certain- 

 ly a machine-shop is not a necessary factor 

 in good wintering. The machinery in this 

 case happens to be over the cellar. The se- 

 cret of success lies in the fact that the cel- 

 lar is dry and very large, affording a great 

 amount of ventilation; but when you com 

 pare our machine shop cellar with yours 

 you fail to note the fact that our cellar is 

 used for wintering nuclei, t ^o and three 

 frame, iust as they are used in the queen- 

 rearing season, late in the fall. I am of 

 the opinion that, if you attempt to winter 

 such little colonies in a cellar without ven- 

 tilation, even though your temperature be 

 uniform, you might lose a large proportion 

 of them. To sum up, "'here the tempera- 

 ture can not be controlled, copious ventila- 

 tion is an essential factor in indoor winter- 

 ing-. With a temperature under control it 

 may be dispensed with; but the result, I 

 think, will be still better if fresh air be 

 supplied. — Ed.] 



A T-SUPER WITHOUT SEPARATORS OR FENCES. 



Some Suggestions from a Bee-keeper of Large 

 Experience. 



BY ROLAND SHERBURNE. 



I take the liberty to send you a drawing 

 of a modified T- super to hold 4 ^ X4'4 X7-to- 

 foot sections, which I have been using for 

 several years with yreat success. As I am 

 not a new hand at bee keeping, but a veter- 



an, and, last year, raised 25.000 lbs. of hon- 

 ey from one apiary, about half comb and 

 the rest extracted, without hiring any out- 

 side help, I think my views are entitled to 

 consideration. I have nothing patented, 

 and no ax to grind; but if I can give my 

 fellow bee-keepers a new idea, or simplify 

 the production of honey, I ought to do so. 



Years ago I vowed I would never raise 

 comb honey until 1 found seme plan that 

 would do away with brace-combs, division- 

 boards, followers, wedges, thumbscrews,, 

 and the innumerable "contraptions " that 

 have been mad?, sold, and used by the long- 

 suffering bee keepers. 



Like all bee-keepers I must use something 

 of my own make, to suit my own notions, sO' 

 I have changed the T-super to what I will 

 call the modified T-super. 



In the ordinary T-super, holding 4 rows, 

 7-to-foot sections, the outside rows, or 8 sec- 

 tions, could not be well filled on account of 

 a lack of a full bee-space outside of sections, 

 while the inside sections were all right. I 

 was raising two kinds of sections — the full 

 weight and light 11 or 12 oz. in the same 

 super. (I will say here that I never used 

 separators cf any kind. ) 



This had to be changed; so, instead of 

 making the super 12 in. wide, inside, I 

 made it 12>s in., and nailed cleats or strips 

 of wood, \% X i\ thick, y% in. wide, 5 strips 

 on each side. These strips held the rows, 

 of outside sections y\ inch away from the 

 inside of the super, and left, inside of the 

 cleats, 12 in. clear for the sections. This 

 arrangement gives me well- filled outside 

 sections, and these sections, 4'4 X4'4 X7-to- 

 ft. , will come nearer averaging a pound in 

 well-filled supers than any others I know of. 



Notice these shipments: 12 cases, 336 sec- 

 tions, 327 lbs. net; 18 cases, 504 sections, 

 500 lbs. net ; 16 cases, 448 sections, 445 lbs. 

 net; 4 cases, 112 sections, 113 lbs. net. This 

 is the kind I send out, and I have to be 

 careful that the cases do not average too 

 much, with the last year's crop. 



Again, I have no thumbscrews nor screws 

 of any kind — no wedges nor followers. 

 One of the side boards is nailed securely to 

 the ends; the other side is nailed with two 

 6 penny nails at each end. 



When I fill the super I just take a ham- 

 mer or strong knife, and loosen this side a 



