February, 1917 



GLEANINGS 



BEE CULTURE 



141 



ITEAMIOF GR AINl I?pi|ii rPIFFERENT FIELDS 



are no holes in the four brood-combs that 

 they built. 



This queer work has been very interesting, 

 and a great puzzle to me. As it was in the 

 cool part of the season the holes were not 

 for the purpose of ventilation. 



Wichita, Kan. O. J. Jones. 



Do Bees Dump 

 Granulated Honey 

 in Front of the 

 Entrances? 



I notice in S. H. B,ur- 

 ton's article, "A Good 

 Showing for Combless 

 Bees from the South, ' ' 

 page 1121 of the De- 

 cember number, that he says, "It is pure 

 waste to try to carry this honey over in un- 

 capped sections, as it soon granulates; and 

 if put back on the hives next spring the 

 bees carry it out and dump it in front of 

 the hive." Is it always true that granulat- 

 ed honey is carried out in front of the hives? 

 or is this true only when uncapped as Mr. 

 Burton states? For the winter of 1915 I 

 used three or four hundred pounds of cap- 

 ped granulated honey for winter stores, 

 using two to four frames in each hive. Al- 

 tho each colony had at least fifteen pounds 

 of this granulated honey, I did not notice 

 any honey carried out in the spring. I was 

 told by a prominent beekeeper of this local- 

 ity that granulated honey would be reliq- 

 uefied by the bees in the spring as fast as 

 they needed it for food, provided they 

 could get water at the time. Is this not 

 true? or is it carried out in front of the 

 hives as Mr. Burton states? or do factors 

 enter in so that either may be expected? 



I think Mr. Burton refers to comb-honey 

 sections; but would there be any difference 

 between comb honey and extracted frames 

 under the same conditions? Wells Eose. 

 Sunnyside, Wash. 



[It is not always true that granulated 

 honey is carried out in front of the entrance 

 in the manner stated. A good deal depends 

 upon the kind of honey, how solid and dry 

 it granulates. If it granulates moist, and 

 stays so thruout the winter, particularly if 

 it is capped over, the bees are not likely to 

 carry it out; but if the honey granulates 

 solid so that it is in a dry granular condi- 

 tion the bees may or may not carry it out. 

 If there is plenty of moisture in the hive so 

 that the honey is softened up a little they 

 will let it remain. 



As to whether the bees reliquefy granulat- 

 ed honey we have our doubts. They may 

 add water to it and soften it down, but it 

 would not be the same as honey that has 

 been heated to a temperature of 125 or 

 160 degrees until it is brought back to its 

 original liquid condition. Any granulated 

 honey can be made soft and liquefied to a 

 certain extent by adding water to it, and 

 this the bees undoybtedlv do, or, rather, they 



add their saliva, and it is possible they may 

 at times add water to it, softening it down so 

 they can use it. 



Honey in uncapped sections is much more 

 likely to granulate than when the cells were 

 sealed over. 



There would be no difference between 

 comb honey in sections and that in regular 

 brood-frames. — Ed.] 



The Distance Bees 

 Fly Depends 

 Upon the Bees 



I have been experi- 

 menting with different 

 strains of bees for 

 several seasons in the 

 effort to find out the distance they fly and 

 gather honey. I have found some of my 

 bees over four miles away, while those 

 from other strains are not found over a mile 

 from the hives. I think the difference is in 

 the strain of the bees more than in anything 

 else. The hives containing the bees that 

 fly a long distance are very heavy in stores, 

 while those with the short-distance bees are 

 light. 



Central City, Ky. E. C. Frazier. 



Djgering 'em Out. — Photo by F. J. Lillie, Cory, Pa. 



