1130 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



secured last season 27 barrels of honey 

 from 72 Quinby-Dadant hives, using the 

 same principles. The number of swarms 

 he had was no larger proportionately in 

 spite of the fact that he did not cut out 

 any cells. His main business is the i^ro- 

 duction of fruit. Tliis was an unusual 

 season for both fruit and honey. Help 

 was scarce, and it was impossible for him 

 to give the bees much attention. All he 

 did was to give more room and shade, and 

 the bees did tlie rest. If he had been using 

 small hives he could not have done this he 

 argued. 



We have always felt that the large hives 

 used by the Dadants were ideal for the 

 production of extracted honey; and we 

 found years ago that by using two eight- 

 frame hive-bodies, letting the queens have 

 access to both stories, we pra.ctically elim- 

 inated all swarming in the production of 

 extracted, and reduced swarming in the pro- 

 duction of comb honey, by crowding the 

 bees into one story just at the time of put- 

 ting on sections. Dr. C. C. Miller follows 

 the same plan. 



CARBOLIC ACJD FOR RIDDING SUPERS OF BEES. 



The question-box called forth a lot of 

 lively discussion, as it always does. Among 

 'other questions was the use of carbolic acid 

 as suggested by J. A. Green in Gleanings 

 on page 351 for May 1, this year. Some 



had not succeeded in driving the bees out 

 of the supers by the use of carbolic acid. 

 Others had found it to be a great success. 

 The fact that some good beekeepers had suc- 

 ceeded rather leads one to believe that there 

 must be something in the method. Doubt- 

 less our readers can do well by following 

 out exactly the plan outlined by Mr. Green. 



BEES AND FRUIT. 



President Baxtei', in the course of the 

 discussion, gave some invaluable testimony 

 showing how indispensable bees are as pol- 

 linating agents. When the weather is bad, 

 so the bees cannot get to the trees at the 

 l)roper time, the quality and quantity of 

 the fruit are considerably cut down and 

 Mr. Baxter is mainly a fruit-grower. 



One of the active men in the association 

 is Dr. A. C Baxter, a physician and sur- 

 geon, but in no way related to President 

 E. eT. Baxter. He is an enthusiastic back- 

 lot beekeeper. He gave us some valuable 

 facts on the subject of honey as a food. 

 I/ater on we hope to present what he had to 

 say on the subject at the convention. Dr. 

 Baxter is a man who knows how to go after 

 legislatures and to get what he is after. 

 The National could well afford to send him 

 down to Wasliington to get an increased 

 appropriation on the one now granted to 

 the Bureau of Entomology for extension 

 work. 



NO MORE SECTIONAL HIVES FOR HIM 



BY ALFRED L. HARTL 



Five years ago I was persuaded by differ- 

 ent articles written on the subject of divis- 

 ible brood-chamber hives that the hive had 

 merits, so started to test them with a few 

 new swarms hived in them. The results 

 were very satisfactory, for that year was a 

 year of plenty. 



The next season, as I desired to increase 

 my apiaries considerably, I formed 250 new 

 colonies in the divisible hives. This has 

 proven to be the greatest mistake I ever 

 made. In a year when bees continue to work 

 thru the summer the divisible or sectional 

 hive does fairly well; but when a year comes 

 with a long dry summer they are down and 

 out. In such years the queens decline in 

 egg-laying, and sometimes discontinue alto- 

 gether during the dry summer, which conse- 

 quently weakens the colonies; and when the 

 fall honey-flow comes, which is usually fairly 

 heavy in my locality, the bees will start to 

 deposit the honey in the upper section and in 

 a short time the queen is crowded out of this 

 upper section altogether. As a result these 

 colonies will only hold their own, and the 

 following spring they are considerably weak- 

 er than those in the larger hives. 



Some advocates of the sectional hives will 

 advise inserting another section with empty 

 combs. This I tried but without good re- 

 sults. Apparently the bees do not hesitate 

 to store their honey above, but it is hard to 

 force the queen to cross the top and bottom 

 bars to deposit her eggs in the second story 

 in the fall when the nights begin to get cool. 



There are many other objections to the 

 sectional hives, such as the greater difficulty 

 of finding the queens and the nuisance of 

 bun- combs. Normal colonies will not, as a 

 rule, leave an empty space in the brood-nest; 

 but with the sectional hive in the spring 

 there is a bee-space in the middle of the 

 brood-nest where I usually find a row of 

 drone-cells with brood, which makes the 

 handling of sections or frames anything but 

 desirable. Especially do I find this trouble 

 with the narrow top-bars. 



I have tried the sectional hives alongside 

 the regular dovetail hives in my different 

 apiaries for a term of four years, and I have 

 come to the conclusion that in my locality 

 the sectional hive is anything but satisfac- 

 tory. 



Elmendorf, Tex., Oct. 2. 



