1911 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



149 



Heads of Grain 



from Different Fields 



fair surplus: but the bees from this queen are not 

 hardy. Now, I hope our good queen-breeders will 

 continue their good work with due respect to any 

 Burbank follower who can give us red clover with 

 corollas short enough for honey-bees with ordinary 

 tongues to work on. 

 Deerfield, Minn. J. F. Bkady. 



The Condensation of Moisture in a Hive in the 

 Winter. 



If a pan of water is boiling on a stove in the win- 

 ter time when the outside temperature is about 

 zero, water will soon be running in drops down the 

 windows; but there will be none on the walls of the 

 room, as they are double, and therefore warm. The 

 glass, on the other hand, being thin, is cold, and 

 the moisture in the air is quickly condensed. This 

 Is just the principle made use of in Jay Smith's win- 

 ter cases as illustrated on page o99, Oct. 1, 1909. The 

 sides and bottom of the hive not being protected, 

 they are kept cold; and the top, protected by the 

 cork cushion, is warm. Instead of cork I use cush- 

 ions made of rabbit fur directly over the super cov- 

 ers. Over this I put a sack of clover chaff from the 

 clover-huller, as this is very fine and compact. This 

 latter cushion is B in. thick. Over all this I put a 

 Smith winter case 14 in. deep, covered with galvan- 

 ized steel. A weight in the shape of a stone on the 

 top of the telescoping cover makes the packing 

 still more compact. My entrances for strong colo- 

 nies are 3 x ft, in., and still smaller for weaker colo- 

 nies. 



The colder the sides and bottom of the hive when 

 the inside air is warm, the less moisture there is in 

 this air: therefore the bees are warmer and more 

 active, for they do not feel the cold .so much If the 

 air is dry. The smaller the entrance the better, 

 just so the bees have pure air. 



I run for extracted honey, and do not use exclud- 

 ers. With Jumbo brood-chambers, would a queen 

 under these conditions lay eggs in the four outside 

 frames of a twelve-frame hive? or w<nild she go up 

 into the center frames of the super, allowing the 

 four outside frames to be filled with pollen and 

 honey? 



How many frames of brood would an average 

 frame of pollen enable the bees to rear? 



Jonesboro, Ind. C. A. Neal. 



[Your philosophy regarding the condensation of 

 moisture is correct: but we advise you not to go too 

 far in making the entrances too small, else you may 

 rue it in the spring. 



"With regard to the queen and how she would 

 scatter her brood when usnig a Jumbo brood-cham- 

 ber, much would depenrl upon the queen and the 

 time of year as well as the honey-flow that may be 

 on. We can hardly tell you whether she would go 

 above or below: but we think she would give the 

 preference to the brood-nest, as a queen is inclined 

 to spread out laternUy rather than go above a bee- 

 space into another set of frames. 



As to your last question, we can give you only a 

 very poor guess. One frame of pollen may be suffi- 

 cient to furnish a colony all the nitrogenous ele- 

 ment it would need for brood-rearing, if none were 

 being gathered, for two or three weeks, or perhaps 

 for even a longer period. — Ed.] 



Red-clover Bees do Work on Red Clover. 



There has been some discussion in regard to long- 

 tongued bees, and it seems to me .some of our 

 queen-breeders have been criticised more than 

 they deserve. Although not a queen-breeder I rear 

 a few queens for my own use, and I have also 

 bought queens from different breeders. What I 

 have to say has not been solicited by any one. 



I have bought the so-called red-clover queens, 

 and they have given perfect satisfaction. Do they 

 work on red clover? Last year was very dry, and 

 there was scarcely any white clover in blossom 

 here; but the bees were fairly wild on the red clo- 

 ver, and it was the first crop too. When it was cut 

 for hay a day afterward, I went out to see if it was 

 ready to put in the barn: and, to my surprise, I 

 could see bees still tumbling around over those 

 heads of red clover that had already been mown a 

 day. and were nearly leady to be put in the barn. 

 Bees not of the so-called red-clover strain were 

 nearly idle, with the exception of one colony whose 

 queen, a yellow one I bought of Swarthmore. This 

 colony also worked well on red clover and stored a 



The Proper Location of an Apiary in a Pasture Lot 

 Next to a Wheatfield. 



I am in trouble about my bees. I live in a small 

 town, and last year rented two adjoining lots for 

 my chickens and bees. These have now been sold, 

 so I must move the bees to a new place. I have the 

 use of three lots across the alley from the rectory as 

 a pasture for my horse: but the bees seem cross, and 

 I am afraid they will injure my horse. This pasture 

 is about 180 feet square, and on the southwest side 

 (where 1 had thought of putting them) is a neigh- 

 bor's wheatfield. I do not want to be a nuisance to 

 my neighbors either. Would it be safe to move my 

 bees there (ten hive.s) if I fasten crash sacks along 

 that side and in front, .so as to compel them to rise 

 above the height of a horse immediately after leav- 

 ing the hives. 



How close could I put the fence in front of the 

 hives? 



What is the " sweet clover " spoken of In Glean- 

 ings? Is it the sweet white clover? Can it be sown 

 on land already in a fairly good sod? 



Adamstown. Md., Feb. 13. G. W. Thomas. 



l.We would not advise you to put the bees in the 

 pasture lot up next against the wheatfield. There 

 is always danger, when bees are so placed, that they 

 will attack a team of horses when they go by draw- 

 ing the mower and reaper. Your better way Is to 

 put the bees in the center of the lot, then put a 

 fence around them to keep the horse from getting 

 up close to the hives. Make the little yard large 

 enough .so that the animal can not get any nearer 

 than 25 or 30 feet of the entrances of the hives. A 

 still better plan would be to locate your apiary in 

 your lot back of the rectory. If you place the en- 

 trances of the hives so that no one encounters the 

 flight of the bees while the.\ are at work in the 

 fields you would probably have no trouble from 

 their stinging any one. Of course, you would ob- 

 .serve the usual precaution of using smoke and 

 avoiding all robbing. 



The sweet clover usually spoken of in Gleanings 

 is the white. There are two other (yellow) varie- 

 ties, one known as Melilotiis Indica, which is an 

 annual, and Melilotiis officinalis, which is a bienni- 

 al. Both are good for honey, and bloom a little 

 earlier than the ordinary white sweet clover. 



In our judgment you could not grow any .sweet 

 clover on well-sodded land. It seems to thrive best 

 on embankment.s. side hills, and where almost 

 nothing else will grow.— Ed.] 



W. S. Pouder's Method of Liquefying and Bottling 

 Honey. 



Does Mr. Ponder always leave the top of his fill- 

 ing-tank uncovered? and will the effect be damag- 

 ing to the honey if closed? 



Whitestone, N. Y. Adolph Loehr. 



[Mr. Ponder replies:] 



We leave off the cover of our filling-tank while in 

 use, because some vapor from the heated honey 

 would condense on the under side of the lid: but I 

 would not consider the matter of very much im- 

 portance, as not enough moisture would accumu- 

 late to injure the honey. After the lid is removed 

 from my filling-tank I still have in place a remov- 

 able strainer made of finest wire gauze which pro- 

 tects the honey from dust or insects. I have an 

 improved and rapid method of liquefying honey 

 which is all strained into my filling-tank, and the 

 tank is then used to bring honey to the proper 

 temperature for bottling, which it does rapidly and 

 uniformly. 



Indianapolis, Oct. 16. Walter S. Pouder. 



A Sour Smell around the Hives that did Not Come 

 from Goldenrod. 



There was a big crop of aster here this fall, and 

 some of my hives were filled up to the outside 

 frames, so I have but little fear for the winter, I 

 winter outdoors without any packing, simply con- 

 tracting entrances to Ji x 8, and I never have any 

 trouble as long as there Is a good fall flow. 



