JULY 1, 191 I 



age, and, from all oiilward signs, appears 

 (lead. The next sjaring, should this same 

 tree happen to be a little baokwkavd in 

 sending out its buds we take it for granted 

 something' is wrong, and so with the point 

 of our knife we raise a chip off the bark tn 

 see if it's not dead. If we are close obserA - 

 ers we find a similar case of observations 

 with our bees and their queens. 



We Avill now take a strong' colony of bees 

 Avith a good prolifie queen — one that has 

 kept the hive Avell filled with brood througl',- 

 out the summer, and at the end of the hon- 

 ey-flow we find the hive filled with brood 

 and eggs. At this time the queen may be 

 laying three or four thousand eggs per day; 

 hut now as the honey-flow draws to a close, 

 and the bees bring in less honey each day, 

 so the queen will begin to fall off in her 

 egg-laying, and in a few days' time from 

 her laying three or four thousand each day 

 she Avill be laying perhaps two thousand and 

 then one thousand, and only a few hundred 

 eggs. Now, the bees observe this apparent 

 failing of the queen, and about this time we 

 iiappen along in our requeening manipula- 

 tions and cage the queen for three days. 

 What happens in that hive is now a guess. 

 The egg production has been falling off 

 each day more and more until now it has 

 stopped abruptly, and those little Avorkers 

 come to the conclusion that there is some- 

 thing wrong, and start in to rear another 

 queen. In my mind the age of the queen 

 will have nothing to do in regard to their 

 supersedure; and if friend Hand will try 

 this out he will find it the rule and not an 

 excepition. 



Prattsville. N. Y. 



TWO FENCES ON EACH SIDE OF 

 THE SUFEM 



BY CLARK VV. WILSOK 



Two years ago I bought over 200 N 

 section-frames for li/2-iiich sections, and 

 last season T used them. Tn a ten-fra ne 

 super seven l^/^-inch frames separated by 

 fences is full capacity, and, in order to fill 

 sufficiently the space, two extra fences have 

 to be used — that is, two fences on each side 

 between the outside wall and section-frame, 

 making ten fences to a super. 1 find this 

 arrangement ])i'oduces a remarkable effect 

 on the actions of the bees in finishing comb 

 honey. In every super of clover honey the 

 outside frames of sections are completely 

 finished before the center combs are capped. 

 The reason is easily seen on examination of 

 the super so occupied, for the extra fence 

 on each side makes more room for a double 

 thick wall of clustering bees, and they get 



ill their work lie tore liie normal-spaced 

 cluster. The finished sections average 14 

 ounces up to a full pound. 



These sections and frames are unmistak- 

 ably the best invention in this line on the 

 market. The top-bar serves several good 

 l>nrposes. A most important one is that the 

 sections are kept clean on all four sides, 

 excepting, of course, the edges; second, the 

 sections can be forced in together, and they 

 stay " put " before and after the full sheets 

 of foundation are fastened in by the wax- 

 lube. The continuous use of a dozen blocks 

 for three frames allows fast work with the 

 tube; third, the frames can easily be used 

 for chunk-honey production, Avhich cannot 

 be said of Danzenbaker section-frames. 



Canastota, N. Y. 



WASP^ 



I!Y S. H. BURTON 



I am sending you a peculiar-looking sec- 

 tion of honey which you might photograph 

 for Gleanings. If the cells are queen-cells, 

 then the bees must have adopted a new 

 material for queen-cell building, as the cells 

 look more like the work of wasps. But I 



Work of mud-wasp. This was the only section in 

 the sujjer that showed any such trouble. 



hardly think the bees Avould allow such 

 things in the super long enough to construct 

 these cells. This was taken from a hive that 

 yielded a crate of fall honey, and nothing 

 peculiar was noticed with the rest of the 

 sections. 



Washington, Ind., Nov. 22. 



[It is probable that the cell shoAvn was 

 built by a species of Avasp Avhich gets into 

 the super during a time Avhen the bees are 

 not occupying it. — Ed.] 



