DKr;;.MP!:?., 191' 



GLEANINGS IN BEE C U I. T U R E 



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GLEANED 



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GM., Ontario. 

 — In shipping; 

 • pound pack- 

 ages of bee* 

 ten Canada the bees 

 mostly arrive in a 

 starving condition, 

 having in several 

 cases built comb in 

 tlie packages owing 

 to the bees eating 



t'le candy in a circle, thereby presenting a large 

 surface area for the bees to feed on. If a piece of 

 till the depth of the pie-plate used vrere pressed into 

 tlip candy in a spiral form, starting from the center, 

 and gradually spiraling to the edge, a hole bored in 

 the center of the end of the package, instead of a 

 slot, as used, this would alvrays allow the same sur- 

 face to be worked on by the bees and thus regulate 

 the consumption of the stores. 



A. While it is true that bees in pound 

 packages are sometimes short of stores, this 

 shortage would not be corrected by the plan 

 proposed — in fact, it would be made worse in 

 that the bees wonld get caught in the nar- 

 row passageway, and three or four of them 

 would be stuck in the candy so that the rest 

 of the bees would starve to death when a 

 plentiful supplj^ was furnished in the cage. 

 A long experience has shown that it is very 

 important to have the opening to the candy 

 large enough so that a few bees will not 

 plug up the opening. We therefore make 

 the opening in the form of a slot wide 

 enough so that if one or two bees are stuck 

 in the candy there will still be opportunity 

 for other bees to get at the food. 



F. E. W., B. C. — 1. Is comb for chunk honey 

 u.sunlly produced from foundation or starters ? 2. 

 If from full foundation, what weight is used, and 

 what depth of frame? 3. Is ordinary section foun- 

 dation manufactured in full Langstroth depth? 4. 

 If so, can this be used without wire or other sup- 

 port? 



A. 1. We are not sure, but we believe it is 

 the general practice to use starters only. 2. 

 If full slieets are used, the ordinary light 

 brood would be necessary. Super and extra- 

 thin-super foundation would stretch too 

 much, and possiblj' break down. You might 

 be able to use the ordinary thin-super foun- 

 dation width, which would reach down to 

 about half the depth of the frame. 3. No. 

 1. If the thin super for sections were made 

 full width it would have to have horizontal 

 wires to support it; and these wires would 

 be objectionable in that they would inter- 

 fere with cutting out the combs when they 

 were filled. 



"\V. G. M., Idaho. — In case a man in the North 

 orders, say, 15 lb. of bees from the South, and they 

 arrive in bad condition (over two-thirds dead from 

 starvation) and the northern man takes them out of 

 the depot in order to save the few remaining live 

 ones, who should stand the express on the dead bees 

 — the breeder or purchaser? 



A. The consignee of an ordinary commodi- 

 ty may refuse to accept a shipment that 

 reaches him in bad order. In this case, 

 legally he probably would not be required to 

 pay express charges. Cases similar to this 

 have come up in regard to the shipment of 

 fruit; but common fairness would suggest 



BY ASKING 



Root 



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that the con- 

 signee accept 

 shipment in case 

 of live bees, 

 provided a part 

 of them were 

 alive, and by the 

 same token the 

 shipment should 

 be replaced. 

 It is the rule, however, that the consignee 

 is expected to pay express charges on the 

 second shipment as well as on the first. But 

 if a shipper wants a jjleased customer he 

 would, perhaps, do well to pay the express 

 charges on the second shipment. But some- 

 times the express company is negligent or 

 careless, in which case the consignee should 

 collect from the carrier if he can. 



You have proposed a rather nice question 

 on exact legality and equity. It is hard to 

 lay down a general rule in view of the fact 

 that there are three parties in the transac- 

 tion — shipper, carrier, and consignee. The 

 second party is very often the one to blam", 

 and not the first. Sometimes the carrier 

 routes the package over its own lines in a 

 long roundabout way, when if it had been 

 shipped direct with a short haul the bees 

 would have gone thru in good order. 



Practically all cases of this kind must re- 

 ceive individual treatment; and in most 

 cases the shipper should stand between his 

 customer and loss as a matter of good busi- 

 ness sense in order that he may build up a 

 permanent trade in the future. 



F. C. J., Arizona. — I bought somei two-story hives 

 which had had but half sheet starters. The lower 

 half in the second storj' had been drawn out to drone- 

 cells. Will it be all right to raise these to a third 

 story and put in their place frames of full-sheet 

 starters? I have 100 other hives that wintere-l with 

 the second story half full of honey. After brood 

 starts would it be all right to raise it up and put a 

 story of empty starters between? 



A. It would be perfectly proper to raise 

 the story that contains the drone comb and 

 put under it supers containing full sheets hf 

 foundation. Full sheets are much more 

 satisfactory, and always better for begin- 

 ners. While the bees will build worker 

 comb from mere starters, the conditions have 

 to be favorable. If you hive the swarm on 

 starters it may or may not build all worker 

 comb. The main thing is to have a moder- 

 ate honey-flow, no faster than bees can take 

 care of when they will build worker combs 

 for the queen. If the flow is very rapid they 

 will build drone comb and neglect the queen. 



In answer to your second question we 

 would not advise you to put a super con- 

 taining mere starters over the brood. It 

 may work out all right, and it may not; a 

 good deal will depend on conditions. If you 

 scatter a few of these frames containing 

 starters in between frames of brood the bees 

 will draw them down and fill them out with 

 worker comb. You can spread the brood in 

 this way providing it is warm enough, and in 

 your part of the country we jti'esume there 

 will be no trouble on that score. 



