56 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



dent of the Michigan Beekeepers' Associa- 

 tion. He discussed the subject very thor- 

 oughly from the conditions in his own local- 

 ity and those of liis own apiary, answering 

 many questions on the wintering proposi- 

 tion. 



Mr. Ira B. Bartlett, of East Jordan, who 

 was to speak on " Wintering Bees on Sum- 

 mer Stands," was absent, and a paper on 

 the subject was read by the Secretary. 



" How to Manage 500 Colonies for Ex- 

 tracted Honey with the Least Labor " was 

 the subject of an address by Mr. C. P. 

 Dadant, Hamilton, 111. His talk was very 

 pleasing, and he answered the many ques- 

 tions asked him on the production of ex- 

 tracted honey, in a thorough manner. 



The afternoon session, which was the 

 closing session of the meeting, was given 

 mostly to business of the Association and 

 the election of new officers. By a unani- 

 mous vote of the convention the Secretary, 

 Mr. 0. H. Schmidt, Bay City, was instruct- 

 ed to east the vote re-electing the entire list 

 of officers of the previous year. It also 

 elected the President, Mr. Jenner E. Morse, 

 as the next delegate to the National Asso- 

 ciation, and the place of the next Michigan 

 convention is Lansing, at the Agricultural 

 College. 



FITTING SUPERS TO ODD-SIZED FRAMES 



BY R. F. HOLTERMANN 



There are two distinct classes of beekeep- 

 ers. Those in one class have every frame 

 in the apiary the same size, and even of the 

 same make, the brood-chambers uniform, 

 and the upper stories of the same capacity 

 and size. By that I mean the frames are 

 not only of the Langstroth dimensions, but 

 they are all either Hoffman, staple-spaced, 

 or not self-spacing at all. 



On the other hand, the beekeepers of the 

 other class buy almost any thing which is 

 a beehive, not because the bees are in good 

 shape and they get them at the right price, 

 and intend to put them into other hives as 

 soon as time or perhaps even money will 

 permit, but because a hive is a hive, and the 

 matter of uniformity or interchangeable- 

 ness does not enter into their calculation. 

 Those of the latter class never make much 

 headway in beel^eepi ig. 



To tlie first class I aim to belong; but I 

 liave bought a good many colonies of bees, 

 and in that way have many frames which, 

 while of the Langstroth type, are not staple- 

 spaced, but spaced by the Hoffman method, 

 and some are not self-spaced at all. Unless 

 a colony has crooked combs or lack of time 

 does not permit transferring, I aim to get 



every one into the twelve-frame Langstroth 

 hive soon after buying. However, there 

 have been times when I have had to fit a 

 sujier upon a hive which did not fit it for 

 perhaps either length or width, and neces- 

 sity has schooled me to do this with a very 

 fair amount of success. 



If a hive is not wide enough for the 

 super, the queen-excluder can be made to 

 stick over on each side (the width of the 

 rim is generally '/g inch), or a cleat can be 

 tacked on each side of the hive. The same 

 can be done at the front of the hive. The 

 difficulty here is with the cover; and the 

 only way out of this is to take some roofing- 

 jiaper, tack it on a rim, and put the pre- 

 vious cover on top of this. At the season of 

 the year when supers are on, this answers 

 fairly well. 



Brantford, Canada. 



ISLE-OF-WIGHT DISEASE ABATING 



A Criticism of Some of the Statements Made by 

 Joseph Tinsely in the Sept. 15th Issue 



BY JOHN SMALLWOOD 



Mr. Tinsely 's experiences, p. G-J7, Sept. 

 15, are so diametrically opposed to those of 

 others and to ray own that I feel compelled 

 (lest there should be any mistake) in de- 

 fault of some one better to take up the cud- 

 gel myself and dispute them. But first let 

 me say that the rock-bottom and exhaustive 

 authority on this question is the Report of 

 the Board of Agriculture (price 1 shilling, 

 post free, from the Board) ; and as there is 

 a revision of it published this year it is the 

 last word on the subject. 



Let us notice especially the first paragraph 

 of your correspondent's letter. Writing of 

 the disease he remarks, " It shows no sign 

 of abating.'' It is evident the writer either 

 is too careless or else has not taken the 

 trouble to acquaint himself with the truth. 



Unquestionably during this current year 

 tlie scourge has mucli abated. Better climat- 

 ic conditions, an abundant yield, and also 

 )irobably because the weak colonies have 

 been wiped out, are the possible reasons for 

 tlie improvement. I should very much have 

 liked to give official statistics; but as there 

 are none published, this is impossible. 1 

 must, therefore, prove my assertion from 

 other sources. 



As expert (or inspector) for two counties, 

 Oxford and Middlesex, the latter of which 

 lost 80 per cent of the colonies in 1910-11, 

 my personal visits to our subscribers have 

 occu]ned me from the early spring until the 

 date at which I am writing. I have found 

 very few new cases; in some instances even 

 the bees have seemed to cure themselves, and 



