258 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Apr. 15 



Putting Foundation Under the Brood chamber to 

 Prevent Swarming. 



What Is your opinion of the following method of 

 running for extracted honey? Will It prevent 

 swarming? What would be the objections to it 

 apart from the trouble of lifting? I propose to put 

 a hive with frames of foundation under the brood- 

 chamber as soon as it is nearly filled with brood; 

 then, when the queen has gone down to the new 

 chamber, repeat the process — lift off both of the 

 hives and put a third (with foundation) under- 

 neath. Am I right in supposing that, as brood 

 hatches near the top, the cells are filled with hon- 

 ey, and so the queen is gradually driven down? I 

 use ten-frame hives — British standard frame. It 

 looks as if it would prevent swarming; but could I 

 get as much honey as by putting supers with foun- 

 dation in frames above? 



Alfriston, England. A. G. White. 



[In all probability the queen would be very slow 

 about going into the lower chamber. Her tenden- 

 cy is rather to go above than below. We would 

 rather doubt also whether the bees would build 

 comb from foundation as readily when it Is below 

 the brood-nest as from above. No, we do not think 

 your plan would work very satisfactorily unless 

 the weather were very warm and the colony very 

 strong. If you desire to get extra combs or increase, 

 follow the Alexander plan of increase, the same as 

 the one referred to in the letter of Mr. J. F. Moore, 

 on preceding page. — Ed.] 



Our Homes 



By A. I. Root 



Feeding in the Spring Very Successful. 



As my experiments with the Doolittle brushed 

 swarms have proved to be very successful, and 

 nothing has been said of the Importance of feeding 

 in connection with this plan, I thought possibly my 

 experience along this line might prove to be of in- 

 terest. 



On April 23 I put on a full-depth upper story with 

 frames with filled foundation, and placed two frames 

 from below in the upper story. May 29 the colonies 

 so arranged were booming, and some had sealed 

 queen-cells, so I brushed the strong colonies and 

 gave the brood from these hives to the weak colo- 

 nies. Everything looked promising; but by June 

 11 the bees were on the verge of starvation because 

 of the unfavorable condition of the weather. Now 

 comes what I think is the most important part of 

 the whole plan. I put an Alexander feeder under 

 each hive and fed a very thin syrup, about three to 

 one. and kept this up until the honey-flow started. 



At this writing, July 20, 1 have taken off 52 pounds 

 of section honey per colony, spring count, and the 

 prospect is good for nearly as much more. This 

 plan does away with drones, as I have not seen any 

 flying for a long time. While I am a great admirer 

 of Mr. Doolittle. it seems to me that too little space 

 is given in the bee-journals to the question of feed- 

 ' Ing. If the bees are fed in the spring they will get 

 the honey when it comes. 



Sag Harbor, N. Y. I. Warrev Sherman, 



[In case of a shortage of stores, there is nothing 

 to do, of course, but to feed in the spring; but if 

 enough honey or sugar syrup can be fed in the fall 

 to last until the main honey-flow begins again in 

 the early summer, it has been found that spring 

 feeding is only a waste of time and bee energy. 

 When weather conditions are unfavorable, as re- 

 ported by our correspondent, that is another mat- 

 ter.— Ed.] 



Honey-bees Visit Koses. 



Under the heading of " Nectarless Flowers," page 

 98, Feb. 15. Mr. John H. Lovell attacks another 

 writer whose article appeared on page fiSO, Nov. 1. I 

 am not capable of discussing flowers with Mr. Lov- 

 ell, but feel that I ought to defend the other writer 

 so far as I think he is right. There Is not the least 

 doubt in my mind that he saw honey-bees working 

 on wild roses; in fact, I have never known the 

 blooming season to pass without noticing real hon- 

 ey-bees gathering pollen freely from wild roses. 

 Possibly roses do not secrete nectar; but Mr. Lovell 

 evidently doubts that bees visit roses under any 

 circumstances. If he were here in Madison Co.. 

 Alabama, during fruit-bloom I could show him 

 bees working on plum-blossoms; but, of course, 

 bees are very much influenced by conditions, and 

 conditions vary in different localities. 



Huntsvllle, Ala. H. M. Webster. 



For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to 

 keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up 

 in their hands, lest thou dash thy loot against a 

 stone.— Psalm 91 : 11, 12. 



The above is not only a wonderful prom- 

 ise but it is one of the most precious prom- 

 ises in God's holy word, and it has been a 

 comfort and encouragement to thousands 

 for ages past; and the question naturally 

 arises as to whom the prophet was referring 

 when he used, we might almost say, such 

 extravagant language. Happily the very 

 first verse of this justly celebrated 91st Psalm 

 answers the question most fully. It reads, 

 "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the 

 Most High;" and that also celebrated j?rs^ 

 Psalm makes the meaning still plainer. He 

 that "meditates" on God's holy word, 

 "both day and night," shall surely have 

 guidance and protection from on high. 



For several months past I have had let- 

 ters from many good people remonstrating 

 because of my criticisms in regard to the 

 Woman's National Dailjj, and its editor's 

 way of doing business. Several have sent 

 me clippings, evidently inferring that I have 

 not been reading said daily. Permit me to 

 say here that I have at least " run over " al- 

 most every issue since its start, and, as you 

 may remember, I for a time gave it excel- 

 lent notices in connection with these ex- 

 tracts; but finally I felt sure I should not te 

 doing my duty if I did not warn the public 

 at large against sending the institution any 

 more money. Some great and good man, 

 I forget now just who it was, but, if I re- 

 member, it was a great preacher who said, 

 as they found a drunken man in the ditch, 



"But for the grace of God, there lies " 



calling himself by name. Well, when I 

 have been following Lewis of late I have 

 often thought "But for the grace of God 

 there is where A. I. Root might be now." 

 Please do not think I mean to boast, dear 

 friends, for God knows I have nothing to 

 boast of; but I want to go back and give you 

 a little bit of history to show you how ihe 

 loving heavenly Father sent kind friends in 

 answer to prayer to keep my poor erring 

 footsteps from being "dashed against" 

 many a financial "stone." I told you not 

 long ago of the advice an old money-lender 

 gave me when I was about to go into my 

 first business venture, and of the way I sur- 

 prised him and my old father when I decid- 

 ed not to borrow any money after all. Well, 

 in my Home paper for March 15 I also lold 

 you how I was helped out of a financial trou- 

 ble in answer to prayer; and I want to give 

 you here one more little story that I have 

 often thought of when watching friend Lew- 

 is through his many speculations. 



It happened after I had built up a pretty 

 large business, and was astonishing people 

 with the growth of our industry; in fact, I 



