518 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 15 



bloom. If it would be better, would that be 

 right to my fellow- man? 

 Mannington, W. Va. B. A. Ammons, 



[We are glad to get a statement from the 

 Stahl concern to the effect that they do not 

 advocate spraying except when the petals 

 of the blossoms are falling. While the let- 

 ter is not all that could be desired, it is very 

 much better than the statement in the cata- 

 log. We are a little surprised that a pro- 

 gressive firm should continue, as it has been 

 doing, to keep such advice in their circular 

 matter, when some of the leading experi- 

 ment stations, if not all of them, have con- 

 demned the practice of spraying while the 

 trees are in bloom, finding that nothing was 

 gained, but often much lost, on account of 

 the injury to the delicate flower-parts from 

 the poisonous mixtures. It is well known 

 that there are severe losses in bees where 

 trees are sprayed while in bloom. Mr. Am- 

 mons is not the only one who has refused to 

 buy spraying outfits from this concern be- 

 cause of the advice given in their catalog. 

 We hope the company will see that it is not 

 only to the advantage of the bee-keeper and 

 fruit-grower but also to its interests to 

 withdraw such advice from the next edition 

 of its catalog. —Ed. ] 



WEIGHTS OF SECTIONS DEPEND ON LOCALITY; 

 THE 4X5Xlf AVERAGE A PULL POUND. 



I notice on page 1072, 1905, your article in 

 regard to light-weight sections, claiming the 

 4X5 sections do not weigh a pound, but 

 which I have found to the contrary. I use 

 nearly all 4X5 sections; and as I had noticed 

 the fault found by some bee-keepers I made 

 a test of it. I took off a super of 32 sec- 

 tions and weighed them. Here are the re- 

 sults: 26 weighed 16^ oz. ; 3, 16 oz. ; 3, 15| 

 oz. each. I believe it is more in the loca- 

 tion. Here in the North the 4|X4J section 

 will weigh 16 to ITJ oz. ; but for my use I 

 prefer the 4X5, as I get a neater and nicer- 

 finished section of honey. I use the Dan- 

 zenbaker hive with an outer wall and chaff, 

 and am watching results. They have prov- 

 en to be very satisfactory up to date. 



E. J. McLaughlin. 



Timberland, Wis., Dec. 4, 1905. 



[You are quite right, that locality has 

 much to do with the weight of sections. 

 Management, as well as the particular strain 

 of bees themselves, also has a bearing on 

 the matter. —Ed. ] 



vaseline to pbevent propolis from 

 sticking to the hands. 



Tell Dr. Miller to use petrolatum or vase- 

 line, which are one and the same thing, in- 

 stead of butter, for anointing the fingers 

 for handling brcod-frames, etc. There is 

 no rancidity about petrolatum (petrolatum 

 jelly), and it is much cheaper and nicer than 

 butter. It effectually prevents the hands 

 from being all smeared up with propolis. 

 Stephen Davenport. 



Indian Fields, N. Y. 



wintering baby nuclei. 



On page 1235 of last year you state that 

 wintering baby nuclei in a cellar at Medina 

 was not a success, because of the small size 

 of the clusters. On Nov, 1, 1905, 1 made 

 up and placed in the cellar, the temperature 

 of which was 40 to 45, a nucleus of about 

 300 to 350 bees and a queen, on two 4jX4i 

 sections. They were set out for a number 

 of flights during November, December, and 

 early January. But on January 21, with a 

 temperature of 75, they had one flight too 

 many. When I came home from church, 

 Italian bees (those of the nucleus were 

 brown) held possession of the box, and the 

 browns with their queen were missing. I 

 think they might have wintered had they not 

 been robbed out, as scarcely a bee had flied 

 up to that time. Wm. C. Hunt. 



Clarkson, N. Y., Feb. 19. 



[There is a great difference in bees. One 

 cluster in a baby-nucleus hive will apparent- 

 ly get along very comfortably, while another 

 will succumb very shortly. The trouble with 

 wintering with baby nuclei in the center is 

 that the clusters are so very small they seem 

 to get discouraged, then demoralized, break- 

 ing up the cluster, and finally d> ing. Mr. 

 Allen Latham, one of onr correspundents, 

 reports good success, however, in wintering 

 quite a number of baby nuclei. His report 

 will appear later. —Ed.] 



TEMPERATURE OF BEE-CELLAR. 



' Would a cellar standing at 38 to 40 degrees 

 all winter be a safe place for bees '! This is 

 the condition of my cellar. 

 Roodhouse, 111., Feb. 3. W. H. Priest. 



[A temperature of 38 degrees is a little too 

 low to get good results for indoor wintering. 

 When it gels as low as 38 I would carry in 

 two or three square cans of hot water taken 

 off the stove. By "square cans" 1 mesan 

 the ordinary honey-cans holding 60 lbs. 

 Three of these placed in the cellar would in- 

 crease the temperature materially. But a 

 far better way would be to put m euough 

 more bees to bring up the temperature of 

 the cellar. If, for example, the normal 

 temperature was 38 or 40 with 15 or 20 colo- 

 nies, put in twice or three times the number 

 until the bodily heat of the bees will raise 

 the temperature to 42 or43. — Ed,] 



WANTS bees with HOT STINGERS. 



I for one am like Dr. Miller. I would not 

 have or keep bees if they could not sting. 

 Last August some thieves tried to rob an 

 out yard of mine. They carried off two full 

 supers of honey about fifty yards; then the 

 supers got so hot they set them down. They 

 finally got a piece of fence wire, fifty or 

 more feet long, and tried to drag them off. 

 The frames all dropped out; and when they 

 got to the brush they had only the supers. 

 It was so dark and hot around there that 

 they got only four out of sixteen full frames. 

 They were so mad they stole sixty chickens 



