December, 1917 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



923 



side of the inner case. The bees may form 

 propolis connections to the top-bars, if th?y 

 are left in the case nntil warm weatlier. 

 But no harm will be clone, as the bee-spaice 

 between the bottom-bars and the sides of 

 the case makes it possible to break the pro- 

 polis connections and remove the frames. 



As shown in the previous issue, we pro- 

 \ide two inches of space at the top and 

 one inch at th? bottom. The space above 



Fig. 5. — Metliod of inserting Langstroth frames 

 in the Demuth-Pritchard case. Fi-ames are put in 

 upside down, two at a time. When the case is full 

 of frames, just as they were in the summer hive, it 

 is stood on end as shown in Fis;s. 1 and 2. 



(see Figs. 1 and 2) is to receive a cake of 

 candy or a feeder of syrup. When the 

 Avinter nest is formed in the combs in their 

 hoi-izontal or summer position, it may be 

 necessary to feed either candy or syrup af- 

 ter the frames are stood on end. The bees 

 can then place the stores at what is now the 

 top, and, if fed early enough, form a new 

 winter nest. If it is too late, the cake of 

 candy will provide food at the top. 



Some of the best wintering we ever had 

 was when we wintered colonies on cakes of 

 hard candy with no other stores. 



To prevent the hive-bodies and supers 

 forming the outer case from getting out of 

 alignment or displaced during a high 

 wind it would, perhaps, be advisable to con- 

 nect them together at their two opposite 

 corners by means of a double-pointed tack 

 or crate staple. These would need to be 

 driven in only part way so they could be 

 easily removed in the spring. 



The amount of packing, material requir- 



ed in a seven-frame inner case, as here 

 shown, and a ten-frame width of hive will 

 be about 2^2 bushels of planer shavings. 

 If a throe-story ease is used, thi-ee bushels 

 will be needed. In any case, the packing 

 should not come higher than one inch from 

 the top ; and perhaps it would be well to 

 put a cleat under the cover on the south side 

 to allow for ventilation to carry away the 

 moisture rising thru the packing. 



Our whole editorial force looks upon this 

 method of packing as exceedingly promis- 

 ing, especially our Mr. A. T. Root, who 

 ti"ied it out years ago. Langstroth did the 

 same thing, and speaks of it approvingly in 

 his writings. He must have believed in the 

 principle or he would not have suggested 

 this plan of standing his shallow frames on 

 end in order to make them deep for winter- 

 ing. This may have been one of the reasons 

 that he adopted his shape of frame. At 

 all events, the seven-on-end-frame plan puts 

 the winter brood-nest in the form of a tall 

 or deep cavity, very nearly square, instead 

 of an oblong and flat space like the Lai^g- 

 stroth hive. 



It has been the general belief among ex- 

 pert beekeepers that a deep hive like the 

 cavity of a bee-tree forms a more natural 

 winter-clustering space. There is no use 

 in denjdng the fact that the old-fashioned 

 box hives, or the old log gums, practically 

 a foot across, and two or more feet deep, 

 would often winter bees exposed to outdoor 

 weather conditions when bees in double- 

 walled Langstroth hives would die. In the 

 arrangement here shown we are going back 

 to the deep-hive scheme for wintering, and 

 yet for summer we have all the advantages 

 of a shallow hive. 



Fig. 6. — Looking down into the top of a Demuth 

 inner case showing seven frames. The two-inch 

 space on top is to give room for a block of hard 

 candy, provided that the combs are a little short of 

 stores. 



