2£0 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 15 



what may be called a poor year, when my 

 neighbors with more colonies have secured 

 little or none at all in single- walled hives. 



You will notice in that statement the fact 

 of the bees often being clustered around the 

 section case, inside of the space, surrounded 

 by the outside case. Now, the bees are 

 there for a purpose. It seems to me that it 

 is not difficult to determine the reason if one 

 will set himself to thinking a little. 



Wm. M. Whitney. 



Lake Geneva, Wis., Dec. 4. 



[Your experience is quite in line with ours. 

 We shall be glad to have other reports, 

 whether they agree with the position above 

 stated or not. It is my opinion that the bee- 

 keeper can well afford to pay for the pro- 

 tection around his supers. Winter cases 

 will pay for themselves in the spring and 

 fall and in many locaUties when producing 

 comb honey. The thing that has an earning 

 capacity the year round is usually a good in- 

 vestment. Now, if we are wrong in regard 

 to the value of this protection, let us have 

 facts to disprove it; but in any event let us 

 not lose sight of the factor of locality. —Ed.] 



CAN BEES PASS THROUGH A LONG PASSAGE 



LEADING TO THE ENTRANCE OF AN 



OBSERVATORY HIVE? 



Please -tell me whether it would be feasi- 

 ble to use and locate a full- sized observatory 

 bee-hive at a place in a building where the 

 bees could enter only through a skylight and 

 come down about 12 to 14 feet to where hive 

 is standing. Could some sort of funnel or tube 

 be used that distance to connect with hive, or 

 would it be so much obstruction to the access 

 to hive that they would do no good? I would 

 set them in the middle of a room which has 

 skylight immediately over the hive location, 

 about 15 feet above the floor. There is a 

 rotunda in the office building I occupy, and I 

 have talked bees and sold my honey to so 

 many of my friends in the building that they 

 suggested I put such a hive out in the public 

 rotunda, and I think it would pay me as an 

 advertisement to help sell my honey. The 

 office building has 100 rooms in it, occupied 

 by high-grade people. N. M. Janes. 



Paducah, Ky., Dec. 30. 



[I never tried to make bees go through a 

 long entrance such as you describe, and do 

 not know of any one else who has; but I 

 should doubt whether it could be made to 

 work. Perhaps some of our readers, how- 

 ever, can tell if this plan has ever been 

 tried, and, if so, whether the bees kept in 

 that way ever worked to any extent. At 

 two of our offices we have bees on shelves 

 outside the window. Whenever we wish to 

 show visitors our bees we raise the win- 

 dow, open the hive, and bring the combs 

 inside where the visitors can see them. If 

 any bees fly they will go to the light. It is 

 a well-known fact that bees will not usually 

 sting inside of a building; so that even the 

 most timid can watch them on the comb, 

 without fear of attack. — Ed.] 



LONG-TONGUED BEES AND SHORT- TUBED RED 

 CLOVER. 



We hear and read much about long-tongued 

 bees and bees that can work on red clover. 

 Now, for fear that some one will breed his 

 bees with too much tongue, wouldn't it be a 

 good idea, if, instead of breeding all tongue, 

 we breed our clover so all the bees could 

 work on it? It would be much better if the 

 heads of clover could be grown smaller than 

 to work too hard on the bee. 



Now, who will be the first to put clover seed 

 on the market that all honey-bees can work 

 on? This is no joke, and I should be glad 

 to hear from some one who is capable of 

 writing on the subject. W. G. Roberts. 



Panora, Iowa, Jan. 24. 



[Several years ago, when this long- tongue 

 discussion came up, there were several who 

 proposed developing a short-tubed red clo- 

 ver, but nothing was ever done. That there 

 are possibilities in this direction, as well as 

 in that of lengthening bees' tongues, can 

 scarcely be doubted, providing that time, 

 money, and skill can be devoted to it.— Ed.] 



AN ADJUSTABLE STORM-DOOR. 



I see on page 35 a storm-door over the en- 

 trances of bees wintered out of doors. I 

 made some last fall for my bees for the first 

 time, but not like those described. I took 

 a board J inch thick, 10 inches wide, 14 long, 

 and nailed 1^-inch strips around it so as to 

 give a good space outside the entrance. A 

 screw in the upper left-hand comer fastened 

 it to the winter case; and when there is 

 a warm day, all I have to do is to turn it up, 

 and the entrance is all clear. I am winter- 

 ing 28 on their summer stands. 



I have kept bees for twenty years. 



Hamlet, N. Y., Jan. 8. J. Richard. 



PORTLAND CEMENT AND OIL AS A PAINT FOR 

 COVERS. 



I saw in a newspaper that Portland ce- 

 ment and oil is an excellent paint for metal 

 roofs. I had some leaky covers for hives 

 that I wanted to make tight, so I thought I 

 would experiment some. After fitting to 

 the tops some cheap muslin I put on a coat 

 of this paint, and nailed down the muslin 

 with tacks, turning down the edge, and then 

 applied two coats more over the muslin, and 

 also a coat of white oil paint. It makes a 

 light and durable cover. 



Bellona, N. Y, W. W. Hull. 



ARE STINGLESS BEES LIABLE TO BE A COM- 

 MERCIAL POSSIBILITY IN THIS COUNTRY? 



I think the bee-keepers of the country 

 should sound a note of warning against the 

 general introduction of the stingless race of 

 bees. I believe that the general introduc- 

 tion of such bees would demorahze or ruin 

 the business of all bee-keepers who are in it 

 to make all or a part of their living. I don't 

 think the bee-keepers of this country want 



