FEBRUARY 1, 1916 



the large wing ou one side. Such a queen is 

 more easily caught, her beauty is practically 

 unmarred, and I think she can fly no better 

 than a queen with two wings clipped. But 

 when I find a queen of that kind she is im- 

 mediately caught and the small wing taken 

 off. The mere fact that her beauty is prac- 

 tically unmarred condemns utterly the one- 

 wing plan, at least for my use; for unless I 

 can get a good square look at the one- 

 winged queen I cannot tell whether she is 

 clipped or not; whereas if both wings are 

 clipped I can spot her with the least glance 

 as she dodges around a corner. For one who 

 cares much for the appearance of a queen 

 and a little for the time spent in looking 

 for her, the one-wing plan may be all right. 



The last argument of Dr. Miller, that 

 clipping both wings enables one to tell at 

 a glance whether the queen is clipped or 

 not, is a clincher. It might take two or 

 three good square looks to determine wheth- 

 er a queen on the Stover plan has been 

 clipped. It very often happens in the 

 height of the season, when colonies are 

 strong, that one glimpse is about all one 

 will get of her majesty, so it is not altogeth- 

 er a question of looks but one of saving 

 time when time is most valuable., 



How to Keep Bees Fresh and in a Nor- 

 mal Condition at Expositions 



In the initial article in this issue, by 

 Prof. George A. Coleman, an interesting 

 fact is brought out; namely, that an ob- 

 servatorj' hive can be placed inside of an 

 exposition building having an entranceway 

 thru an ascending tunnel 7 feet from the 

 hive itself to the outside wall of the build- 

 ing. When we were visiting Prof. Coleman 

 at the University last winter he raised the 

 question whether bees could be made to go 

 thru a long passageway. We told him we 

 knew it had been done; but when he stated 

 it was necessary to have a tunnel 7 feet 

 long and 10 feet above the ground we had 

 some misgivings. 



The fact that the bees used this long 

 runway as a means of exit and actually 

 swarmed out of it is interesting and valu- 

 able, as it will solve the problem of live 

 bees on exhibit at exiDositions and agTicul- 

 tural fairs. It also emphasizes the impor- 

 tance of making arrangements in advance 

 to have the exhibition of bees and bee-ap- 

 pliances next to the outside wall of the 

 building. When the exhibit is centrally lo- 

 cated, the observatory hive must have fresh 

 bees every four or five days ; and even then 

 they will be uneasy, crawling up and down 

 the glass, seeking a means of exit. This 

 nervousness or uneasiness causes an abnor- 



91 



mal condition, giving the public the idea 

 that bees are generally on a constant run 

 and excited, when the very reverse is true. 

 It is also interesting to note that the bees 

 fleAv over the heads of thousands upon 

 thousands of sightseers for months at a 

 time, and no one was stung. 



A Winter Case with Inner as well as 

 Outer Walls for Holding Four Regu- 

 lation Single-walled Hives 



One of our subscribers, Mr. S. K. Best, 

 of Youngstown, 0., writes that he has seen 

 nothing in Gleanings relative to a double- 

 walled winter case for holding four hives. 

 By this he means a case made up of match- 

 ed house-siding for the outer wall, and 

 cheap lumber for the inner wall, the space 

 between the two walls being packed with 

 straw or other material. In order to fa- 

 cilitate removal of the four hives set down 

 in the inner compartment he would have a 

 lV2-ineh space for clearance which would 

 really result in a dead-air space between 

 the hives proper and the inner walls of the 

 case. The four hives are each to be cover- 

 ed with an eight-inch cushion. Of course 

 suitable provision has to be made for pro- 

 viding entranceways thru the packing and 

 to the inner hives. 



The advantage of this arrangement, Mr. 

 Best thinks, would be that a given number 

 of colonies could be put into winter quar- 

 ters and taken out in less time than where 

 the packing material had to be shoveled 

 out of the cases until the hives could be un- 

 covei'ed so that they could be removed. 



There is no use in trying to dodge the 

 fact that the quadruple case of the Holter- 

 mann type involves a great amount of labor 

 in packing and unpacking. The packing 

 material must be handled over and over 

 again at each operation. 



One thing in favor of the plan proposed 

 by Mr. Best is that some labor will be sav- 

 ed, but not much. By the Holtermann plan, 

 from 300 to 400 colonies can be packed in 

 a day by two men. The labor of unpacking 

 and removing the packing would be about 

 the same. Perhaps Mr. Best's plan would 

 save half of that time. But suppose it saves 

 three-fourths: the relative difference in the 

 cost of packing and unpacking per colony 

 would not be large. On the other hand, the 

 double-walled cases would be considerably 

 more expensive because an extra wall would 

 have to be provided. Then there would be 

 an objection to the dead-air space between 

 the Inves and the inner walls of the case. 

 Cold air would be pretty sure to percolate 

 thru the entranceway into the dead-air 



