914 



GLEANINGS IN BEE C U li T U R E 



I 



c 



lur 



HAVE been 



incli n e d to 



look with en- 

 vy at the queen- 

 breedtersi, whom 

 I have thought 

 Avere indepenid- 

 ent of the sea- 

 sons, their busi- 

 ness continuing' whether tlie flowers flowed 

 with nectar or otherwise, while we poor 

 honey-producers were wholly dependent on 

 the flowers; but. alas! it would seem from 

 the recital of their woes in the November 

 number of Gleanings that they too must 

 depend upon the weather. 



A. W. Finley goes for me on page 849 

 because I remarked somewhat flippantly 

 that shallow extracting-frames were a first- 

 class nuisaneie. I am free to admit that 

 they have some advantages. A deep eight- 

 frame super is but little heavier when filled 

 with honey than a ten-frame shallow super. 

 This year Ave have had to feed quite heavilv 

 for winter, and are not able to buy enough 

 sugar to complete the feeding. How nice 

 to be able to take from our supers two or 

 three full-depth frames solid with honey 

 and drop them, into a hive that happens to 

 lack stores ! If they were all shallow 

 frames we should certainly be in trouble. 

 Again, extraeting-combs with us are apt to 

 become clogged with pollen after a few 

 years' use. How convenient to drop them 

 into the brood-chamber and use them for 

 brood-combs when we find them this way ! 

 As our surplus honey is usually all white 

 honey, we have little need for sorting it. 



Gleanings for November announces the 

 death of my friend 0. 0. Poppleton. I re- 

 ceived a letter from him not long ago, and 

 he was planning to go into a soldiers' home 

 in southern California for the coming win- 

 ter, liaAang no thought that he was so near 

 the end of his earthly life. 



He was a rather unusual man in many 

 ways. His business with its successes, 

 failures, and disapiDointments, and also his 

 constant ill health during his later years, 

 had not made him hard or sour, but always 

 cheerful and hopeful, ever ready to do an- 

 other a favor. He was a good man, thru 

 and thru, and we can hardly regret that he 

 has entered into a fuller, richer, freer life 

 than he kne^v here. 



* « * 



Tt is doubtless true, as Mr. P. C. Chad- 

 wick asserts, page 780, that a shell fired 

 from a gun will not travel as far in an 

 atmosphere heavily charged Avith moisture 



SIFTINGS 



J. E. Crane 



3 



W^^^^^^^^ 



%J 



December, 1917 



as in air with 

 vei-y little mois- 

 ture; but it does 

 not necessarily 

 follow that a 

 bird or bee can 

 fly more freely 

 in air Avitli little 

 moisture. A shell 

 is propelled by an explosion in the gun, 

 while birds or bees are propelled by their 

 wings. Heavier air gives their wings a 

 greater force than lighter air. 



* * •* 



There is no reason Avliy bees should nnt 

 A\'inter well by Demuth's method of packing 

 (see page 843). I should not hesitate to 

 put a hundred hiA^es into such shape if I 

 had the supers at liberty for this, purpose. 

 Indeed, the shape of such a hive 9 x 10 x 18 

 in. high on end would be ideal; and, given a 

 little upward ventilation, a good colony with 

 sufficient stores would M'inter A'ery Avell in 

 northern Vermont without any packing at 

 all, but would fare better Avith some, no 

 doubt. 



't; * * 



That is a capital idea that F. Greiner 

 offers on page 862 when he affirms that bee 

 . conventions are not for the purpose of in- 

 structing beginners, but for action. Tliere 

 are many practical questions of large finan- 

 cial importance" that can better be settled 

 in conventions than elseAvhere, wlule the 

 best method of introducing queens may safe- 

 ly be left to the directions sent out by the 



breeders of queens. 



«• «■ « 



By the Avay, Avhil? at the Agricultural 

 College at Amherst, Mass., recently, J. G. 

 Byard shoAved me the combs of a colony of 

 bees that had Avintered on the branch of a 

 tree in the cold bleak climate of eastern 

 New England Avithout any protection what- 

 ever. The colony, as I understood, came 

 thru in fair condition. 



* * * 



Some of our beekeepers who liave to feed 

 for Avinter, and Avho have failed to lay 

 in a store of sugar during the summer Avben 

 it was to be had, are now in trouble, for it 

 can be bought only iji ver^^ small amounts. 

 As a result, there Avill doubtless be some 

 loss of bees from starvation during the 



coming winter. 



" * * * 



I quite agree Avith Mr. Cliadwick that a 

 large hive Avill give us a larger Avorking 

 force than a small one. A few extra combs 

 in a hive seem to act like a balance-Avheel 

 on an engine — absorbing poAver Avhen there 

 is a surplus, and giving oflf power when 

 there is any lack — a very good thing. 



