1066 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15 



taken away from their work by the puffing 

 of clouds of smoke into the hive. If the 

 reader will try the following experiment, the 

 advantage of little smoke will be evident: 

 Puff a hive full of smoke from any of the in- 

 finite number of patent smokers now on the 

 market; repeat in a few minutes, and wait 

 beside the hive until the first bee leaves to 

 gather honey. This experiment requires 

 considerable time, for the wait will be a 

 long one; but it will be time well spent if the 

 experimenter has been in the habit of using 

 his smoker too freely. 



The use of small nuclei for mating is the 

 part of the Swarthmore system that has 

 been most debated by bee-keepers, and we 

 will not go into this subject at this time. 

 This is not the chief point in the system, 

 however; and, even if larger colonies are 

 used for mating, the rest of the system may 

 be profitably studied. The use of royal jelly 

 has been shown by Mr. Pratt to be but a 



suggestive than the Swarthmore system. 

 But few, possibly, will care to use this meth- 

 od entirely unmodified; but before condemn- 

 ing the system, as some have already done, 

 the bee-keeper should be perfectly sure that 

 he has tried it. 



Mr. Pratt has also devoted much time to 

 the breeding of a particular strain of Italian 

 bees which he calls the "Golden-all-over" 

 bees. The name describes them well, for 

 they come as near to filling the description 

 of the old Roman poet Vergil as any bees 

 that I have seen. These bees are not cross, 

 as are some of the five-banded bees, but are 

 the most gentle bees that have come to the 

 notice of this writer. Their honey-gather- 

 ing is said to be good; but I am writing only 

 of what I know, and on this subject I have 

 had no experience with them. 



In conclusion I would commend to your 

 good graces my friend Mr. Pratt. He is a 

 good fellow, and is worthy of the careful con- 



A PART OF THE YARD AND HONEY-HOUSE. 



waste of time; the use of artificial cells, al- 

 though it did not originate with him, has 

 been advocated by him, and is now widely 

 used; the laying of eggs in wooden cell cups 

 by the breeding queen saves much time for- 

 merly spent in transferring larvse. These 

 and other points are as useful as small nuclei. 

 Mr. Pratt was, I believe, the first to use 

 compressed wax cell cups. 



Every bee-keeper has certain pet ideas of 

 his own, and certain tools or fixtures about 

 his yard which are not used by other bee- 

 keepers—that is, if he devotes much atten- 

 tion to his bees. Queen-breeders especially 

 are each one the advocate of some particu- 

 lar method. All of this is right, and indi- 

 cates that these men are trying to arrive at 

 the best method of work. In addition to his 

 own methods the queen-breeder should study 

 the otl" "'' systems; and of these none is more 



sideration which you may give to his writ- 

 ings. 

 Philadelphia, Pa. 



THE HOFFMAN FRAME PRAISED. 



Tried Many Others, but Likes Hoffman Best ; 

 its V-edge End-bar Condemned. 



BY C. DAVENPORT. 



I read the symposium on Hoffman frames 

 with much interest, and I should like to 

 be allowed to give my opinion on the matter. 

 As you probably know, I am one of the few 

 who make a specialty of bees, or, in other 

 words, I depend on and make a living en- 

 tirely from bees; and I beheve there are but 

 very few who have depended upon bees alone 

 for their entire support as long as I have. 



