GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Deceubir, 1917 



make it impossible or inadvisable to ship 

 at any precise ttftie. But the customer 

 should have the assurance that when he 

 places his order the stock will be sent with- 

 in a reasonable time of the day agreed on. 



A delayed sliipment is often a serious 

 matter to the honey-producer. When bees 

 or queens, or both, are promised by the mid- 

 dle of May and delivery is not made before 

 the middle of June, the customer has a good 

 right to complain. In that month, during 

 which he was awaiting the arrival of queens 

 or bees, the colony might have nearly dou- 

 bled in strength, and quite likely would have 

 been in fine condition to produce honey. 



In many cases of complaint recently made 

 to Gleanings the bees and queens were not 

 shipped at all; but all kinds of promises 

 were made by the rearer that shipment 

 would be made within a short period, and 

 this promise not kept. In some cases prom- 

 ises of shipment made even the year previ- 

 ous were broken. No one can think well of 

 doing business in tliis way, for the shipj^er 

 holds the money while the purchaser holds 

 the bag, and not only holds the bag but is 

 left to wonder whether he Avill ever get the 

 bees or queens at all, or his money back. 



Of course, last season's conditions were 

 so bad for queen and bee rearing that the 

 breeders positively could not make ship- 

 ments as promised and expected. This fact, 

 however, does not alter the rightfulness of 

 the proposition that the queen or bee rearer 

 owes it to his prospective customer to in- 

 form him precisely as to conditions and 

 when the delayed shipment can and will be 

 made, and give that prospective customer 

 the option of either accepting shipment at a 

 later date or the return of his money. 



In formulating new conditions for entei^- 

 ing into our advertising columns we propose 

 also to come to tlie defense of the bee and 

 queen rearer against the unfair or dishonest 

 customer by establishing this rule : That in 

 case a euetomer claims that a queen has ar- 

 rived at its destination dead, this dead queen 

 be returned at once to the shipper; and in 

 rase the claim is made that the bees ship^^ed 

 arrived at their destination dead, or in bad 

 condition, that the report of tbe express 

 agent or other carrier to that effect be se- 

 cured and sent to the shipper. 



It is certain that the time has come when 

 there should be definite terms and condi- 

 tions established between the queen or bee 

 rearer and his customers. These terras and 

 conditions should establish a definite under- 

 standing, and put an end to the shipper 

 and custonKH- each having his own interpre- 

 tation of right and wrong in this important 

 matter of buyuig and shipping bees. 



FOR COLONIES that are wintered out- 

 dooT's it is highly important to have the 

 summer brood-nest 

 CONSERVA- contracted down to 

 TION OF a space of two- 

 W INTER thirds or threci- 



S TORES fourths of the full 



hive capacity. It is 

 in line Avith the practice of our best bee- 

 keepers. In the case of a ten-frame hive 

 tlie reduction will make a winter nest of 

 seven or eight combs, and in an eight-frams 

 hive five or six combs. No matter whether 

 the frames are stood on end as shown on 

 page 921 of this issue or whether they hang- 

 as they do in summer, the brood-nest should 

 be contracted. 



Many beekeepers have for years, in the 

 milder climates, wintered successfully in 

 single-walled hives by mei'ely putting a 

 two-inch packed division-board one on each 

 side of the brood-nest. This makes three- 

 inch walls or packing for the sides, and 

 seven-eightlis for the ends. Some dry leaves 

 or other packing material in a super is then 

 put on top. 



It goes without saying, that ?. much better 

 arrangement is a double-walled hive having 

 packed spaces on the ends as well as on the 

 sides. Many beekeepers have made the 

 mistake of leaving for winter the full set 

 of combs in even a double-walled hive. It 

 is always possible and advisable, even in 

 such hives, to contract down the brood-nest 

 to two-thirds or three-fourths of the sum- 

 mer capacity by putting in two packed 

 division-boards on each side. In a double- 

 walled hive we increase the amount of pack- 

 ing space and protection. 



The new Demuth plan of wintering bees 

 on Langstroth frames on end, as illustrated 

 on page 921, calls for reducing the size of 

 the brood-nest in order to get sufficient 

 packing between the inner and outer walls. 



The smaller the actual size of the brood- 

 nest during winter, the less cubic capacity 

 the bees will have to warm up. In other 

 woi'ds, it will require fewer units of heat 

 and less drain on the bees to warm up a 

 brood-nest of seven-frame capacity (wheth- 

 er stood on end or left horizontal) than it 

 will take to warm a hive of ten-frame ca- 

 pacity; and wlien we make the room small- 

 er, and at the same time make the packing- 

 sp-ace greater, we are putting that much less 

 tax on the vitality of the bees. 



When the tempei'ature of the inside of 

 the cluster is below 57 Fahr., it is necessary 

 for the bees to generate heat by activity 

 that is a severe tax on their supply of 

 stores as well as on their vitality. We can 

 save much of these stores and this tax by 



