434 



gj.e^vj^ings in bee culture. 



Sept. 



in the L. frame the bost p;>ssil>le form that can bo 

 devised or used? 



Let me give a bit of my own personal experience. 



In the year LSTl, I put a new swarm of bees into a 

 Standard L. hive, with the simple triangular guides 

 on which to start the comb. In the fall of that year 

 this hive was prepai-ed for winter, by cutting winter 

 passages through the combs, putting on a hone.\- 

 board with six I'l-inch holes through it over the 

 frames, with wire cloth over these holes, and 4 or 5 

 thicknesses of old carpet over that, then putting on 

 the cap and contracting the entrance blocks to 

 about 1 inch. From that time until the fall of 1880, 

 nothing was done to this hive, except to take off the 

 wire cloth and put on surplus boxes, and in the fall 

 of 1880 the surplus boxes even were not taken off, 

 nor entrance contracted. This last spring I opened 

 this hive for the first time in 10 years, and found the 

 comb dry and in good shape — this same hive having 

 given out a swarm every year, and j-ielded from '10 

 to 30 lbs. of surplus honey per year. Now, it strikes 

 me that a hive made of 7s -inch lumber, that will go 

 through the seasons that the above hive has, and 

 come out in goo<l shape, !•-< Jit for out-door wintering, 

 and I must be excused for not accepting the say-so 

 to the contrary of Chas. Dadant & Son. 



In the same article they say further: "The ques- 

 tion is not, ' Is the Langstroth frame good?' but, ' Is 

 it the best?'" Now, in answer to that, I will say 

 that I have kept bees more or less for fifteen years, 

 using both deep and shallow frames, and as far as 

 my e.vperience goes, the L. frame is the best, and 

 tor the reason, that it is the most convenient form 

 to handle, and its wintering qualities, as shown in 

 this article, speak for themselves. 



Foxboro, Mass., Aug. 10, '81. J. E. Pond, Jr. 



CANDY FOR QUEEN-CAGES. 



W SENT you two hybrid queens Saturday, and sup- 

 Ji|[ pose you have them now. I sent them, not be- 

 — cause you wanted them, but for the following 

 reason: Those cages were made 13 or H months ago, 

 and provided with candy made by dampening coffee 

 A sugar with a little cold water, and put into the 

 cages to harden. I studied up that tin bottle, and, 

 as you see, it serves the purpose of a water-bottle, 

 and also closes the hole and can be taken out and re- 

 lilled. I notice of late much said about candy to 

 supply queen-cages. I wondered at this, because I 

 had an idea that on candy, made of pure standard A 

 sugar and water (I never boil or heat it) there could 

 be no improvement made. All the queens I sold this 

 season were put up in such cages as I sent you, can- 

 dy over a year old, and the tin bottle tilled with 

 water. Up to this writing, not a single one has been 

 reported dead. Now, if those I sent you came 

 through alive, there would not be a single loss. I 

 shipped them on Saturday, so they would lay over 

 Sunday. I did not send these queens to sell them 

 for money; I only wanted to show that now fresh 

 candy is not an absolute necessity. Old cages need 

 not be refilled if the old candy be pure. In regard 

 to honey, I would say, it is the worst food that ever 

 came under my observation in queen-cages, because 

 all the queens and bees I received, soiled the cage 

 and themselves when provided with it. If there is 

 any thing in the simple way of providing bees with 

 water in my cages, I shall be much pleased to have 

 you make use of it. I told you of them a year ago, 



but thovight it not worth the trouble to send j-ou a 

 sample while there were so many excellent cages in 

 use. K. Stehlk. 



Marietta, Ohio, Aug. 8, 1881. 



It does seem to me, friend S., since you 

 spealv of it, that somebody lias mentioned 

 maliiiifi,' candy of notliing but sugar and 

 water, without boiling. The candy in the 

 cages you send us is almost as hard as Hint. 

 I could not cut or pry a piece out with my 

 knife, just to taste it. As you say, the cage 

 could surely be used just as long as there 

 was any candy left, by simi)ly rei)lenishing 

 the bottle with water. I will explain to the 

 friends, that this cage is simply a block of 

 wood 2ixo inches, and 1^ inches'thick. A 2- 

 in. hole is bored nearly through, and covered 

 with wii'B cloth as usual. In one side is the 

 hole to put the bees in, ll-K; in. in diameter, 

 and to be closed by the water-bottle. This 

 water-bottle is simply a tin tube tlie size of 

 the liole, and U in. long. One end is closed 

 by a round cap, U in. in diameter. The 

 other end is simply corked up, with the 

 usual notch in the cork. Tlie large cap 

 makes it easy to pull the water-bottle out, 

 and it can't slip in too far. If it were not for 

 the feature of the Peet cage for getting the 

 bees on the comb, I really believe I would 

 adopt this. AVhere we use water-bottles, we 

 can, of course, adopt this candy ; and, by the 

 way, what a very clieap way this is for mak- 

 ing candy to feed bees! Just wet up sugar 

 and water, and pour it into a frame, tray, 

 box, or whatever else you choose, and set it 

 away to dry, and you have the nicest and 

 purest candy that can be made, at an expense 

 for making — whew! I wonder if there is 

 anybody present who remembers what was 

 written in tlie first volume and first No. of 

 Gleanings in 1873. See : — 



PROBLEMS FOB THE GENIUS OF OUR YANKEE DEE- 

 KEEPERS. 



1. Some plan by which coffee sugar can be made 

 inio solid candy, as cheaply as we can make it into 

 syrup; so that we can have it in cakes or bars to be 

 laid on top of the frames under the quilt. The most 

 careless bee-keeper could then supply destitute col- 

 onies with a more wholesome food than honey, and 

 see when they were out by simply raising the quilt. 

 Perhaps our Southern friends could make us some 

 such sugar, if dampened up with water, and dried, 

 the " little chaps lug it off" out of the hive, when it 

 crumbles down, one grain at a time. 



Now, the sugar in the cages of friend 

 Stehle will not crumble dovvn,i can tell you. 

 Do you see how near I was to the discovery 

 eight years agoy Will friend Stehle tell us 

 just how lie wet up the sugar? Was it 

 stirred any length of time? Can not blocks 

 of it be made in a paper box? It don't seem 

 to me anybody need to buy candy any more. 



DARK-BANDED ITALIANS. 



Some bees are sent us, said to be from an import- 

 ed queen bought of Dadant, with the darkest leath- 

 er-colored bands of any I have seen. Almost any 

 one would pronounce them black bees, by the looks; 

 but when filled with honey, and placed on the win- 

 dow, they are plainly Italians. I presume that, in 

 working qualities and gentleness, they will be like 

 any imported stock, and are likely just as good for 

 all practical purposes. I would not be surprised if 

 the second generation were just as yellow ae any 

 Italians. 



