854 



T 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



November, 1917 



HE wealth 

 of in forma- 



c 



tioii in .Oe- 

 t b e r Glean- 

 ings about win- 

 tering e n d i- 

 tions helps to 

 bring out the 

 l^oint that many 



things must be considered, and that no one 

 rule can apply to all localities. Speaking 

 of Mr. Doolittle's locality, Mr. Byer says, 

 p. 756, " he lives considerably south of us, 

 and should at least have a climate no colder 

 than ours." But it isn't altogether a matter 

 of latitude, nor, indeed, of coldness. As 

 emphasized by Editor Root, the matter of 

 surrounding shelter is of great importance. 

 Bees may winter perfectly in a protected 

 apiary, and poorly in one unprotected in 

 the same neighborhood, altho one is just as 

 cold as the other. I'm still further south 

 than Doolittle, and likely the thermometer 

 registers higher here than at Markham ; but 

 the probability is that if Byer lived here 

 lie'd winter in cellar, and if I lived at Mark- 

 ham I'm pretty sure I'd winter out. Altho 

 colder at Markham than here, I don't sup- 

 pose Markham has the long -continued chill- 

 ing Avinds we have here, and those winds are 

 the things that drive my bees into the cellar. 

 [After having been in both localities we ar ?• 

 inclined to believe that your locality is cold- 

 er than Byer's. You are about 45 miles 

 from the lake, and Mr. Byer is only 10. 

 You are right. You cannot lay too mucli 

 emphasis on the importance of windbreaks. 

 Gleanings expects to keep urging it until 

 beekeepers evei-ywhere recognize that a 

 screen to protect bees is necessary if not 

 essential in winter in the South as well as 

 in the North. — Ed.] 



Mr. Editor, you say, p. 591, that Avhen 

 swarming threatened "we put on an upper 

 stoi-y with an excluder between. All sealed 

 or hatching brood was placed above, and all 

 unsealed brood with the queen was placed 

 below." Please tell us why that was better 

 than putting sealed brood below and un- 

 sealed above. Also why it was better to put 

 up only part of the brood instead of tlie 

 regular Demaree plan of putting up all the 

 brood, with the possible exception of one. 

 [The reason is partly given in the refer- 

 ence. The object of putting the hatching 

 brood above is to relieve the brood-nest of 

 too much brood and at the same time supply 

 room in the supers when the brood hatches 

 out, Avhich it will do within a week. In this 

 way the super capacity will continue to be 

 ahead of the bees as they begin storing 

 above. If, for example, there are six frames 



STRAY STRAWS 



Dr. C. C. Miller 



1 



of sealed or 

 hatching brood 

 put above, there 

 will be in about 

 a week six 

 frames of empty 

 cells available 

 for honey with- 

 out any action 

 on the part of the beekeeper. The purpose 

 of putting unsealed brood below is to keep 

 the bees more contented. If we put the un- 

 sealed brood above it would be two or three 

 weeks before the cells would be vacated for 

 the honey, which, in our locality, might be 

 too late. We do not claim that this pro- 

 cedure is better than the Demaree plan, but 

 as it is used by some good extracted-honey 

 producers v.'e decided to give it a trial, with 

 the result that we are much pleased with it. 

 There was practically no swarming where it 

 was tried. To answer your question direct- 

 ly, putting all the brood above is too much 

 of a good thing, as it is quite liable to re- 

 sult in the building of cells upstairs. If 

 we could put all the hatching brood above 

 with no unsealed there would not be any 

 material for building cells. Understand, 

 we are not advocating this as the best prac- 

 tice for all localities, but as one of several 

 good plans for the production of extracted 

 honey. — Ed.] 



C. G. G. is advised, p. 789, to take out 

 combs that contain American foul brood 

 and substitute combs of honey from other 

 hives, and then treat by the shake plan next 

 sjiring. If after there is no longer unsealed 

 brood in the hive, he takes away all combs, 

 replacing witli healthy combs of honey, 

 tliere will be no need of further treatment, 

 iV)r that's just the treatment given by the 

 late W. E. McEvoy in his latest years, and 

 it has much to commend it. There is no 

 interference Avhatever with bees or brood, 

 only the loss of the diseased combs. The 

 plan deserves more publicity. I've tried 

 it. [You probably left an interval of 24 

 hours between giving the combs of honey. 

 If 3'ou took away the diseased combs and 

 gave combs of honey at the same operation 

 we see no reason why the bees might not 

 store some of the diseased honey in their 

 sacs in the combs given. Anyhow, is it 

 not safer to advise the beginner to be on 

 the safe side?— Ed.] 



Raising the hive-cover hinders rather 

 than helps ventilation, some think, says P. 

 C. Chadwick, p. 700. I think Doolittle 

 holds tliat view. P. C. says, '' I am rather 

 of the opinion that this may be correct when 

 the temperature reaches 120 degrees in the 

 shade." If thei'e were no bees in the case, 



