428 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1 



bars, additional bee space is given, which is 

 correspondingly furnished by the super dum- 

 mies or separators. This construction nev- 

 er fails to make the supers acceptable to 

 our bees. With increased bee-space the 

 supers become, as it were, more a part of 

 the brood- chamber, inviting the storage of 

 honey where it will be accessible to the clus- 

 ter during winter. Bees 

 reluctantly place their 

 stores where it will fail to 

 meet their requirements 

 in cold weather. 



But with this free pass- 

 age to the supers, a cor- 

 responding evil presented 

 itself which had to be 

 overcome in order to gain 

 complete success. I refer 

 to the storage of pollen in 

 the sections. The addi- 

 tional bee- space invited 

 the storage of pollen as 

 well as honey. I found, 

 however, that, although 

 the bees ventured above 

 with pollen, the queens 

 confined themselves ex- 

 clusively to the brood- 

 nest. 



THE PART THAT DRONE- 

 CELL FOUNDATION 

 PLAYS IN THE 

 PROBLEM. 



The past season has been prolific in meth- 

 ods developing the non-swarmer. Knowing 

 that bees seldom deposit pollen in drone 

 comb I concluded to experiment with over 

 1000 sections containing drone-cell founda- 

 tion. Although fearing the queen might oc- 

 cupy them, I was agreeably surprised to 



find that but four sections out of the whole 

 number contained a few cells of brood, 

 which I could readily account for. If, how- 

 ever, sections containing drone- cell founda- 

 tion be placed on swarming hives, a crowd- 

 ed condition of the brood- chamber would be 

 likely to force the queen above and occupy 

 such cells in the laying of eggs. The slatted 



^^^^^^KX^^HSC^OClC^ee 



FRONT ELEVATION, SHOWING SLATTED DUMMIES ALTERNAT- 

 ING ONE ANOTHER. 



dummies of a non-swarmer prevent the 

 crowded condition, and overcome all tenden- 

 cy to crowd the queen, which is a factor in- 

 ducing the swarming impulse. 



In the field of invention the unexpected 

 invariably happens. It occurs in two ways. 

 In the development of a principle many of 

 the difficulties overcome are 

 attended with a correspond- 

 ing evil, which, upon being 

 eliminated, gives us more 

 than was anticipated. In 

 respect to the latter, drone- 

 cell foundation above the 

 brood- nest entirely elimi- 

 nates the storage of pollen; 

 and with sections contain- 

 ing worker-cell foundation 

 at each end of the section- 

 holders (where no pollen is 

 likely to be stored) , a won- 

 derful impetus is given to 

 the storage of honey. By 

 this arrangement we give 

 the bees just what they 

 build when left to instinct— 

 both kinds of comb. We 

 frequently find worker foun- 

 dation in sections largely 

 changed to drone size, thus 

 displaying their instinctive 

 demands relative to the con- 

 struction of comb. Using 

 three sections of drone 

 foundation, and but two 

 of worker size, which 



HIVE WITH COVER REMOVED, SHOWING SUPER WITH SLAT 

 TED DUMMIES BETWEEN THE SECTIONS. 



