570 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1 



"Thank you. Having the bees in the 

 box, what next?" 



"Take one of the queen-cells in which you 

 see a queen moving about; slip it into a 

 queen- cell protector, close the protector, 

 and by means of a wire hang this protector 

 down in the box so it will come just below 

 the top of the same, having the cell hang 

 point, downward. Now provide the little 

 colony with food in some way, and keep 

 them in the box for three days, setting the 

 box in some room which is dark, or nearly 

 so, and which keeps at a temperature of 

 from 60 to 75 degrees. ' ' 



" Shall I leave the excluder in the old hive 

 all this time? " 



"No. I am glad you called my attention 

 to this. When you take the cells out, take 

 out the excluder so the queen can have all 

 the combs again, for we wish her to lay as 

 fast as possible all the while, consistent with 

 our work. ' ' 



"When the three days are up with the 

 little colonies in the box, what then? " 



"A little before sundown go to your colo- 

 ny and select a comb having as little brood 

 in it as any you can find, and one that is in 

 the egg and larva state as far as possible. 

 Put this comb into one of your empty hives, 

 placed where you wish a colony to stand, 

 and put on each side of this comb of brood 

 one of your old combs, having honey in it, if 

 possible. If this is not possible, put in a 

 feeder and feed the little colony, using a 

 dummy or division-board to shut the combs 

 and colony next to one side of the hive. Fix 

 each of your two or three hives in this way, 

 and put combs in the old colony to take the 

 place of those you have taken out. If you 

 alternate these combs with combs of brood 

 you will coax the queen to lay faster." 



' ' Thanks for that suggestion. I might 

 not have thought of it. But what next? " 



"Go and get your boxes of bees, and hive 

 one in each hive by dumping them down on 

 the bottom-board of the hive, or any way to 

 get them on the combs you have placed 

 there. I generally arrange so as to dump 

 them next the side they are to occupy, and 

 then draw the combs along the rabbets till 

 they are over the bees. But others hive 

 them the same as they would a swarm. 

 You will have no trouble in this matter, as 

 the three days with their young queen has 

 taken all former notions of their old home 

 from them." 



"What next?" 



"As soon as the young queens become 

 fertile, coax them along the line of brood- 

 rearing as fast as possible by feeding when 

 no honey is coming in, and by giving combs 

 as needed; or by giving a frame of brood 

 from the old hive, if that can spare it with- 

 out materially weakening it. ' ' 



' ' Yes, but that makes me only four colo- 

 nies at the most." 



"I know; but there is nothing to hinder 

 your going over this same ground again in 

 two or three weeks, if you did not draw too 

 heavily from the old one at first." 



"Then you would do that?" 



' * Certainly. And probably y ou could make 

 four the next time; and if so, you would 

 have eight colonies in all in the fall, which 

 would use all your combs and some more." 



' ' That is so, and I thank you very much 

 for this talk." 



"You are entirely welcome; and should 

 you desire a still greater increase, the series 

 of articles on ' A Year's Work in an Out- 

 apiary, ' now running in Gleanings, will 

 tell you later on how you can profitably 

 make colonies even as late as September." 



THE COLOR QUESTION AND ITS RELATION TO 

 HEAT AND COLD ON HIVES. 



On pages 1212 and 1214 of Gleanings for 

 1905 is an exceedingly readable article by 

 Allen Latham on heat radiation of white 

 and black; and while I can not quite agree 

 with him in thinking that there is quite as 

 much virtue in black as he seems to think, I 

 have little doubt that, under proper condi- 

 tions, it has its uses. It seems quite reason- 

 able to suppose that the color of those ani- 

 mals that have a white coat in winter is 

 quite as much for the purpose of preventing 

 sudden changes of temperature as would re- 

 sult from wearing a dark coat when they 

 would get very warm during the day and 

 again cool down at night, which, continued 

 day after day, would be quite sure to do 

 them harm. While, on the other hand, it 

 might be very beneficial to have our bees 

 warmed up a httle in winter so as to dry 

 out the air and combs of the hives and give 

 the bees a chance to change their cluster. 



I believe, Mr. Editor, you are quite right 

 in calling attention, on page 85, that, if 

 black can do such good work in keeping a 

 hive cool in summer, it will also keep it cool- 

 er in winter when the sun fails to shine on 

 it, which, hereabout, is a good deal of the 

 time. But then, aren't you a little off when 

 you intimate that the color of the snow has 

 any thing to do with its keeping the earth 

 warm? Snow keeps the earth warm because 

 it is very porous and full of air (and air is a 

 poor conductor of heat or cold), the same as 

 leaves, sawdust, or straw, and not because 

 it is white. But it is a good thing the snow is 

 white; for if it were black it would absorb 

 the heat from the sun and soon melt, and 

 then the ground would freeze sure. 



Now about the color of hives. Twenty- 

 five years ago I could have told just how 

 they should be painted under any and all cir- 

 cumstances; but now I have somewhat dif- 

 ferent ideas; for did I not, even with hives 

 painted white, have combs melt down now 



