Vol. XXXIV. 



FEB. 15, J 906. 



No. 4 



A GOOD DEAL was said in European jour- 

 nals, some time ago, about increased surplus 

 from having entrances at top of brood-cham- 

 ber. Adrian Getaz speaks rather favorably 

 of it in Aynerican Bee Journal. He says not a 

 crack must be left below, and the entrance 

 above must be smaller than if below. 



A. I. Root's conundrum, page 161, is a 

 tough one. Very hard to get away from the 

 supposition that two virgins were in the 

 hive at the same time. Ready to grasp at 

 anv other solution that may be offered. 

 * ' There was very little brood in any hive. ' ' 

 Possibly at such times of inactivity sisterly 

 rancor is not quite so rancorous, 



Louis H. Scroll, in American Bee Jour- 

 nal, says he made cakes of candy by pouring 

 the hot syrup into pasteboard boxes of the 

 right dimensions for a single cake, the boxes 

 first being lined with a sheet of butter-paper. 

 The paper was easily peeled off after the 

 cakes had hardened sufficiently. The boxes 

 can be used over again several times, relin- 

 ing them with paper by simply placing a 

 sheet over them and roughly pressing it 

 down with the fingers. 



W. Z, Hutchinson, in his new book, 

 speaks of the Heddon honey-board as indis- 

 pensable for the production of comb honey. 

 But he holds to | as the proper space over 

 top-bars. If he reduces that to | he may 

 find, as I found, that, although burr- combs 

 will still be built, they will be so greatly re- 

 duced that honey-boards may be discarded. 



He also gives § as the distance bees leave 

 between two faces of sealed honey. In this 

 locahty it's i. [In 1886 or '7 I made some 

 quite elaborate experiments in testing J and 

 I spaces over frames in connection with 

 thick top-bars. To me the results were very 

 convincing: viz., that the i inch allowed 

 very much less burr-comb, and was just as 

 good in every other way. Then I discover- 

 ed that the space that the bees seemed to 

 prefer between sealed combs was i inch. — 

 Ed.] 



This winter there are likely to be some 

 bee-keepers south of the 40th parallel sur- 

 prised to find colonies starved that they 

 thought well supplied with stores, because 

 of the unusual consumption caused by the 

 unprecedentedly warm weather. On the other 

 hand, further north the consumption should 

 be less than usual, owing to the same warm- 

 er brand of weather. [Yes, indeed, these 

 rnild winters are liable to leave many colo- 

 nies short of stores in the spring, with the 

 result that some of them will starve unless 

 taken care of. I know of nothing better 

 than a good comb laid on top of the frames. 

 When this is not obtainable a chunk of Good 

 candy as big as the fist is a very good substi- 

 tute. But, say — our mild winter changed 

 about a week ago, and we have been having 

 almost zero weather ever since. I fear now 

 that a good deal of the brood that was start- 

 ed by the outdoor bees during the warm days 

 of January will be chilled; and, in addition, 

 the bees that try to hover over it. Score a 

 point for cellar wintering, even for mild 

 winters.— Ed.] 



A three-compartment mating-box " de- 

 parts from the shape of a cube, and is liable 

 to result in one of the clusters being left 

 without the advantage of the combined heat 

 of the cluster on the side next to it," p. 140. 

 The departure from the form of a cube does 

 not count in this case. Take two rooms, 

 side by side, a stove in each, the two rooms 



