81 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 15 



who are not familiar with either bees or 

 poultry," be sure you know what you are 

 talking about or you may make a woeful 

 mistake. 



This article is already too long, but I could 

 say three times as much and not do the hen 

 half justice. 



In conclusion I want to rap the editor a 

 little for his knocks at the hen. Don't do 

 it. In the first place, she does not deserve 

 any knocks; in the second place, if you must 

 have something to point to as a "horrible 

 example," take, say. cows, and let the hen 

 alone. Hoard's Dairyman says there are 

 more robber cows than good ones in the U. 

 S., and that, if half of the ordinary farm 

 cows were sent to the butcher, their owners 

 would make more money, and Hoard's ought 

 to know, as it is their business. Then, again, 

 I fail to see why it is necessary to run down 

 one thing in order to boost another. Why 

 not keep both bees and poultry? On a ranch 

 they ought to be a winning pair, neither in- 

 terfering with the other. 



Oakland, Cal., Dec. 28. 



[See editorials.— Ed.] 



HOW TO USE SHALLOW HIVES. 



The Prevention of Pollen in Supers over Shal- 

 low Hives. 



BYW. K. MORRISON. 



Dr. Miller's objection to the shallow hive 

 calls up some of my own experience, and 

 shows that, even after one seems to have 

 about exhausted a subject, one little remark 

 sets the whole thing a-flame with the fire of 

 lively interest. I think the doctor will see 

 that, where one is using a very shallow hive 

 (say 6 inches), a zinc queen-excluder is nec- 

 essary, and also that an excluder lessens the 

 amount of pollen in the sections. If a shal- 

 low hive is used in the same way as the 

 standard Langstroth, then the chances of 

 getting pollenized sections are much increas- 

 ed, without a doubt. But where does the 

 right depth come in ? Is it 7 inches or 10 ? 

 I incline to the seven- inch depth. I admit, 

 however, as one goes north a deeper frame 

 will seem better; though if I were keeping 

 bees up north, particularly if comb honey 

 were my aim and the seasons none too good, 

 I would select a hive no deeper than the 

 Danzenbaker. As Mr. J. E. Hand states 

 (and he lives in Illinois), the shallow hive 

 puts the honey in sections— yes, all the hon- 

 ey, and that, too, without trouble or fuss. 

 It is a labor-saving device. But, as I have 

 repeatedly pointed out, it is wholly unneces- 

 sary to use starters in a shallow hive with 

 the object of compelling the bees to go into 

 the sections. There is no need to resort to 

 such strategy. If, however, starters are 

 used, the chances are some pollen will get 

 into the sections, more particularly if full 

 sheets are used in the latter. 



Some months ago, when on a visit to the 



province of Berbice, in British Guiana, in 

 the nice little city of New Amsterdam I no- 

 ticed a sign reading, ' ' Comb honey for sale, ' ' 

 and, walking into the store, I asked the pro- 

 prietor to show me the honey, and, sure 

 enough, he showed me 2000 4X5 sections 

 that were practically perfect. Then he took 

 me behind the store to show me 50 colonies 

 in Danzenbaker hives at work on as many 

 more. I can assure the doctor there was no 

 pollen in these sections, and that, too, in a 

 country where flowers bloom all the year 

 round, and pollen is plentiful. The owner 

 of the apiary was a beginner. 



But this is not all. I have been told over 

 and over again in all parts of the American 

 tropics that comb honey was a failure, as 

 the bees refused to work in the sections. In 

 such cases I have recommended the parties 

 to use some very shallow hives to get the 

 sections well started, then transfer them to 

 the deep hives. Even where extracted hon- 

 ey is run for in the orthodox manner, there 

 is too much honey in the brood- nest and too 

 much swarming; and, needless to say, the 

 conditions are worse when comb honey is 

 sought for. The bees keep piling honey in 

 the brood- combs till actually the colony 

 dwindles to a mere handful of bees. The 

 wax they secrete, but have no use for, they 

 utilize in closing up the connections between 

 the upper and lower stories of the hives. In 

 this case I prefer to cut out the upper combs 

 so as to attract them away from the brood- 

 chamber. 



It seems to me, also, in using shallow hives 

 the sections are better filled, as they are ac- 

 tually better fastened to the bottom-bar of 

 the section, but that may be mere imagina- 

 tion on my part. 



My experience with the Danzenbaker hive 

 is limited; but I have used several hundred 

 hives of a smaller depth, some no deeper 

 than four inches, and spaced 1| inches from 

 center to center. The very shallow hives I 

 used for "feeding back," and these were a 

 success when all else were failures. I used 

 to buy very cheap extracted Haytian honey, 

 and convert it into first-class section hone v. 

 The Ideal shallow extracting- super makes a 

 very good hive for "feeding back;" in fact, 

 one can not very well use any thing deeper. 



If any one has any difficulties v;ith pollen 

 in sections of the Danzenbaker hive, I should 

 like to suggest the use of a spare empty 

 comb on one side of the hive to catch the 

 pollen; in fact, I think Mr. Danzenbaker rec- 

 ommends this plan. If one aspires to be a 

 comb-honey specialist I think it is a good 

 idea to have always a spare comb on one side 

 to catch the pollen, no matter what hive one 

 may use. The bees certainly require such a 

 comb. 



Dr. Miller seems to think a super contain- 

 ing 45 1-lb. sections as too much of a good 

 thing; and if I were using the same hive as 

 he does I would say so too. But where a 

 shallower hive is used, the conditions are 

 changed; and my hive plus one 45-lb. super 

 is about 14 inches high, and one of his hives 



