416 



GLEA"NINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



could be thinned down with water and fed 

 back to the bees. 



It has been definitely proven that colonies 

 wintered in the cellar do not have to be put 

 back on their former stands. After so long 

 a time in the cellar the bees mark the new 

 location very thoroly, and there will be no 

 more mixing up than if they had been locat- 

 ed where they had been the previous season. 

 —Ed.] 



They Just Ate 'Em Up. 



A year ago last April I put on three supers 

 of sections — one on each of three hives. Two 

 of the colonies were strong, while the third 

 was not so strong. Each super contained 

 full combs (not foundation) that each colony 

 had made the year before. The bees put 

 nothing in them that year, and so last May 

 I put the combs on again. When I looked 

 thru them in June there was not a vestige of 

 comb in either of the supers — not even 

 propolis. What did they do with it? Work 

 it over, down in the brood-nest? I never 

 heard of nor read of the like before. 



Colchester, 111. J. C. Schaufele, M.D. 



[There is just a bare possibility that mice 

 may have gnawed these combs down, altho 

 we think it is more likely by far that, being 

 kept as long as this, the wax had become 

 very dry and fragile, difficult for the bees to 

 work. This would be especially true if the 

 wax had been kept in a cold place during 

 the winter. Under such conditions the su- 

 pers, being put on in May, when the bees 

 probably did not need the extra room, they 

 amused themselves by gnawing out the 

 combs. We know that bees will sometimes 

 gnaw combs and gnaw foundation if it is 

 given them at a time when they do not need 

 it; but we do not remember to have seen a 

 report of whole supers of combs gnawed 

 away. — Ed.] 



If at First You Don't Succeed — 



Five years ago I cut a bee-tree; and as I 

 did not know how to take the bees out I 

 sawed the tree off at both sides of the clus- 

 ter, nailed a board on both ends, stopped up 

 the hole that the bees went in and out of, 

 and then loaded it in a wagon and hauled 

 it home to put in the orchard. They did not 

 do well, however. I was young, and kept 

 fooling with them till they left the stump 

 and went to the timber. 



I was determined to keep bees. The fol- 

 lowing year I got four or five more stumps 

 of bees, and, of course, they did not make 

 much honey that year, but they wintered all 

 right in those stumps. The following spring 

 an uncle of mine who was a beekeeper, 

 and knew more than I did, helped me trans- 

 fer one colony to a hive, and I transferred 

 the rest. 



I had better luck that year. The bees 

 made considerable honey and increased to 

 seven. Then I rented nineteen more for the 

 next year for half the honey and half the 



increase, but did not make anything. My 

 share of the honey just paid for the supplies 

 that I bought. I had only about (575 lbs. of 

 honey that year with which to buy so much, 

 as I was just starting out. My share of the 

 increase, with my old colonies, made nine- 

 teen in all. 



About that time I subscribed for Glean- 

 ings, bought books, and secured all the in- 

 formation I could. I did not keep the rent- 

 ed bees any longer, but kept my own bees. 

 Last season my bees increased to thirty- 

 three colonies and averaged fifty pounds of 

 honey each, spring count. 



I am going to build an extracting-room 

 next fall if my bees do well. I have an 

 extractor, and use a steam uncapping-knife, 

 and run for both comb and extracted 

 honey. 



Willow Creek, Mont. Jay E. HuUer. 



"No Division-board for Me. 



If I were going to use ten frames I would 

 dispense with the division-board and use two 

 springs, one on each end of the frames, 

 against the wood or metal spacers. There 

 would be nothing glued fast then when the 

 two springs were removed. 



On the other side, there is no bee-space 

 between the wall and frame so the bees 

 would put in some bee-glue here, which 

 would be a nuisance to overcome. Cut one 

 m.etal spacer in two, and push the metal 

 spacing-frame against it, and tack it fast. 

 If using the Hoffman wooden spacer, then 

 tack fast a thin piece of wood against the 

 inside of the hive so a bee will have plenty 

 of room to get thru. 



Highland, N. Y. Victor G. Berrian. 



Cats Have Nothing on Bees in the Matter of 

 Lives. 



A few days ago I was walking around in 

 my apiary, and found one of my colonies 

 dead, and most of the bees were on the bot- 

 tom-board. I took off the cover to make an 

 examination to see what caused them to die, 

 and found that they had starved out. The 

 temperature was 10 below freezing. I re- 

 moved some of the frames and searched 

 around for the dead queen, and brought her 

 to the house to show her to a friend. T was 

 grieved over the loss of my queen, but T laid 

 her on the table, and the first thing I knew 

 she was crawling up the window. I thought 

 I would see what I could do with the rest 

 of them, so I brought the hive into the house 

 by the stove, and in a few minutes the bees 

 began to move. I sprinkled some warm 

 syrup on them, and in a few minutes they 

 crawled up on the frames. I filled two 

 frames full of syrup and kept them in the 

 house two days, and in five days the queen 

 had laid three frames of eggs. How long 

 can a bee live after starving to death? I 

 will never dump any more dead bees out on 

 the ground in the winter until I know they 

 are dead for good. 



Eoanoke, Va. Henry S. Bohon. 



