November, 1917 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



tion it is a wonder that the entire contents 

 of the mail-bag which held it were not 

 smeared with honey. 



A single section of honey can be put into 

 a small market basket and packed in ex- 

 celsior. The package ought to b-e such thai 

 it may be thrown clear across the street 

 without damage to the comb; but a section 

 of honey would be broken sometimes. It is 

 not advisable to ship comb honey in the sec- 

 tion by mail unless the comb is thoroly at- 

 tached to all four sides, and the cells nexl 

 to the wood containing honey are sealed. 

 The average eoinb should be cut out of the 

 section, wrapped in several folds of paraf- 

 tine pai>er, then in several folds of other 

 l^aper, and the whole inserted in a ball of 

 excelsior, and the exceLsioa' put into a small 

 market basket with a handle. 



Tlie reason why we recommisnd cutting 

 the comb out of the section is to get it away 

 from its slender attachments. A very slight 

 jar will break the comb loose from the sec- 

 tion ; and when the package is bumped 

 around in the mails there is so much room 

 in the section box that the comb will be 

 battered to pieces. On the other hand, if 

 the comb is cut out and w"a.shed to remove 

 the drip and then carefully wrapped as ex- 

 plained, there is no chance for the comb to 

 rattle around in a loose space as there 

 w-Qiild be if broken from a section box. 



When one goes to this trouble he had 

 better send the honey b}' express. It would 

 cost but a trifle more. 



Some day some onie may devise a scheme 

 for sending comb honey by mail. At pres- 

 ent there is nothing to prevent its going into 

 a mail-sack where it will be smashed as sure 

 as fate. If there is anytliing that can make 

 a general mess among a lot of paper it is a 

 section of comb honey broken to bits; and if 

 there is anything that would make a postal 

 clerk madder we don't kurow what it is. 



THE DeIMUTH method of wintering, re- 

 ferred to on page 842 of this issue, calls 

 for a reduction in 



WINTER 



XESTS FOR 



OUTSIDE 



COLONIES 



the size of the win- 

 ter nest from a ten- 

 frame colony down 

 to a six-frame or 

 less. It has been 

 the practice among the best beekeepers wlio 

 winter outdoors to contract the summer ca- 

 pacity of the hive down to not more than 

 eight frames, and verj" often down to 

 seven. Tlie question wliether a good colony 

 can be squeezed down to six frames may be 

 debatable. In our own localitj' it has been 

 our practice to reduce a ten-frame down 



to an eight -frame or less. These .seven 

 frames filled with stores will give all the 

 room a good colony needs for winter, as a 

 rule. The extra space in the hive can be 

 better taken up by means of dummies or 

 two-inch chaff division-boards. If two of 

 these are used on the outside in an ordi- 

 nary double-walled hive, the cluster within 

 on the six combs will be much more able 

 to keep warm. The packing on the sides 

 will be increased by two inches, giving the 

 colony a much better chance to winter, and 

 at the same time consei^ve stores. We are 

 satisfied, in the light of the experiments 

 conducted by the Bureau of Entomology, 

 Washington, D. C, that the ordinary com- 

 mercial double-Avalled hive Avith the ayer- 

 age colony sliould have more packing on the 

 sides than is provided by the hive. This 

 can be done veij' effectively by putting in 

 division-boards and filling the space back 

 of them Avith leaves, straw, or other pack- 

 ing. If the combs on which the bees are 

 clustered are well filled with stores almost 

 down to the bottom-bar, the colony ought 

 to winter well on six combs. The aver- 

 age L. frame with old stores will weigh in 

 the neighborhood of 6 lbs. After the win- 

 ter nest has been formed, there should be 

 left to each six-framje colony 30 lbs. of 

 stoies, or 36 if the combs are filled solid. 



If colonies are to be wintered in the cellar, 

 the cellar well dried and ventilated, the 

 amount and disposition of the stores in the 

 combs is not so important. In a cellar 

 where the conditions are right, 10 lbs. may 

 be enough for a colony for wintering; but 

 in that case the colony would have to be 

 fed as soon as put out in the spring, and 

 spring feeding is not advocated. 



An inside-wintered colony ought not to 

 have less than 15 lbs., and 20 would be 

 bettei'. An outside colony, according to 

 some of our authorities, should have from 30 

 to 40 lbs. We have found from 25 to 30. 

 provided the colony has a large amount of 

 packing, is quite ample. But we always 

 cany over some extra combs containing 

 sealed stores to give the colonics in the 

 spring if they need it. 



IN THE OLDEN days it was regarded as 

 quite important to have a, clustering-space 

 between the to[) 

 CLUSTER- packins- and the 

 ING-SPACE tops of the brood- 

 ABO VE THE frames. The pur- 

 COMBS pose of this was to 



allow the bees to 

 mo\ e from one comb to another without be- 

 ing compelled to go around the enda of the 



