December, 1917 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



941 



the bees in them, blowing smoke from a 

 smoker under them, jind tlio bees didn't seL'm 

 in any big hurry about coming out, and at 

 that there was danger of liurting the honey 

 with smoke. You take all the bees with 

 the combs, pile five stories on an empty 

 story in which is some smoldering burlap, 

 and in a few moments all the bees are out. 

 What's the secret of success ? Do the bees 

 stampede more rapidly when a big lot are 

 present? Or is the secret in having a big 

 lot of smoke ever so much more than can 

 be given with a smoker? How much is 

 your some burlap, and just how do you light 

 and burn it? [We have never had any 

 luck in getting all the bees out of a set of 

 supers by smoking; and we have used 

 enough smolce at times to make us the ob- 

 jects of criticism if not of arrest for cruel- 

 ty to animals. — Ed.] 



Demuth's wintering plan, p. 842, is in- 

 teresting. You suggest, Mr. Editor, if 

 combs of honey are vei'y full, to have a 

 clustering - space above. Wouldn't it be 

 better to have it below? Don't bees, left 

 to themselves, cluster below rather than 

 above their combs? Possibly, however, you 

 want space for candy above. [It may be a 

 question whether the clustering-space should 

 be above or below. Our idea of putting 

 it above was, as you surmis^e, to provide for 

 a cake of candy. Tf the bees make up a 

 winter nest when Langstroth frames are 

 still in a natural position, tJiat winter 

 nest is put out of place; hence Ave thought 

 it advisable to lay on a cake of candy to 

 provide for a possible deficiency of stores 

 toward sjiring. A cake of candy put at 

 the bottom next to the entrance would be 

 out of reach of the bees on account of the 

 cold entrance current. — Ed.] 



Uniting by newspaper method being my 

 baby, I was greatly interested in your re- 

 marks, p. 829, Mr. Editor. You are right 

 that it is necessary to^ punch a hole thru 

 the paper, but not always. When it is 

 warm enough, and the colonies strong 

 enough, so that there is any danger cf 

 smothering, the bees are so lively about 

 tearing the paper that a hole is hardly 

 necessary. It seems rather more neeassary 

 in a cool time with weak colonies. Once 

 I had a strong queenless colony which I 

 newspapered with a weak queenright colony 

 over it. I don't remember whether I made 

 a hole or not, but the queen was killed. In 

 such a case two sheets of paper are needed 

 without any hole, rather than a single sheet 

 with a hole. 



W. J. BouGHEN, you do well to disturb 

 a colony in cellar by laying on top a comb 

 of honey when it's really needed ; but I be- 



lieve you'd like it much better to give the 

 comb below, which you can easily do with 

 a two-inch space in your bottom - board. 

 The disturbance is very much less, and you 

 can feed a colony at the bnttom of a pile 

 as well as on (op. [The disturbance in the 

 cellar does far less harm than outdoors; but 

 even outdoors, merely giving bees a comb 

 of honey, if done quietly and quickly, on a 

 modei'ate day, will do little or no harm, and 

 might save the colony from starvation. In 

 the case of an outdoor colony the combs 

 would have to lie flatwise on top or be 

 put down on the brood-nest. The latter, 

 undoubtedly, would disturb the colony and 

 should therefore be avoided. — Ed.] 



My sympathies are with the queen-breed- 

 ers who tell their mournful tales, p. 833. 

 I tided rearing queens for the trade one 

 season, and never again for me. If every 

 beekeeper were obliged to try it for one 

 year each, the bi'eeders would have a hap- 

 pier time. [The queen-breeder certainly 

 doas have his troubles; but if he could con- 

 trol weather conditions, especially early in 

 the season, he Ciould depend on getting a 

 certain output of queens or bees. But, as 

 dearly bought experience has shown, par- 

 ticularly la,st spring, the queen-breeders of 

 the world were clearly np against it. — Ed.] 



" Apiaries where practicable should be 

 utilized for extracted-honey production, as, 

 colony for colony, at least double the num- 

 ber of pounds of honey could thus be turned 

 out," p. 555. I wonder, now, I wonder, if 

 those Massachusetts fellows haven't set that 

 a peg too high. Some say no more extract- 

 ed than comb can be produced. Generally 

 50 per cent more has been claimed, and 

 recently that has been advanced to 100 per 

 cent. Is there in any of this anything more 

 than loose guessing? What proof is there 

 for any of the statements? 



The death of O. 0. Poppleton makes 

 me feel lonesone. He was one of the veter- 

 ans you couldn't know without liking. 

 [He certainly was a lovable man. He had 

 friends everywhere; but not only that, he 

 was a prince among beekeepers. The bee- 

 keeping world has lost a most valuable 

 man. — Ed.] 



J. L. Byer, you say, p. 872, " Honey 

 prices are ruling high, higher, and highest 

 ever — at least the highest for our tim.e." 

 If you had said " for my time " it would be 

 all right; but some of us remember when 

 honey was higher than now, tlie rule being 

 that it kept even with the price of butter. 



"SiMOKE makes bees run ; so when hunting 

 for a queen don't smoke but spray with 

 sweetened water." — Schweiz. Bztg., 252. 



