1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



593 



to the four normal schools in the State of 

 Michigan. I spent a week at three of these 

 schools and a day at the fourth. When the 

 frame was not in use before public audiences, 

 the bees went out to view the country and 

 to gather material. The hive was placed on 

 the lawn, or by an open wmdow^ in school- 

 room or in my room at the hotel, and the 

 sliding wire net before the entrance at the 

 lower part of one end was drawn out. When 

 I arrived home the entire swarm was in bet- 

 ter condition than it was when I started. 



Magnijying Feeder. —This is regarded by 

 many persons as the most original, novel, 

 and interesting part of the hive. It is fully 

 described in the booklet previously men- 

 tioned. 



Flying- Cage.— Three sides of this are of 

 glass, the fourth being of wire netting. Or- 

 dinary frames may be plactd in it, but it is 

 made of special depth so that rustic sticks 

 may be placed on supports, so that the bees 

 may build natural combs, and not the shal- 

 low, square- cornered combs of the artificial 

 frames. When thus used separately with 

 the exit open into the free air (not into the 

 main portion of the hive) it becomes an ob- 

 servation box hive, or the interior of the 

 original bee-tree, with combs on any sort of 

 sticks, and of any length that the bees see 

 fit to build. By having a hole in the center 

 of the cover board, a super or any other ap- 

 paratus may be placed above it. But for 

 this purpose the writer prefers the original 

 straw hive, and thus in one complete struc- 

 ture would be shown the interior of the 

 original bee-tree, the first steps in hive- 

 making (the straw hive above it) and at the 

 left a complete modern hive with most im- 

 proved experimental apparatus and accesso- 

 ries. 



The use of a hand- lens five inches in di- 

 ameter makes any part of the hive, or of 

 any structure, or the movements of the bees 

 more readily and effectively seen, and is 

 strongly advised. 



I believe this hive to be worthy of the 

 subject. It is a great and unusual conven- 

 ience. Its facilities are unlimited, and it 

 will soon become a joy to the purchaser, es- 

 pecially if he will use it for the study of the 

 Apis viellifica. 



My best wish to you, my reader, is that 

 you may obtain as much instruction and 

 enjoyment in the use of this hive as I 

 have found. I own three complete with 

 about forty-five sides of frames under con- 

 stant observation. 



If you can't get the whole, start with the 

 one-frame traveling hive. Watch the two 

 sides, and be happy— and dream of getting 

 more hives and more happiness. 



Is sweet-clover honey very good to winter 

 bees on? A Subscriber. 



Brighton, Colo. 



[Sweet- clover honey will make an excel- 

 lent bee- feed for winter. — Ed.] 





TWO QUEENS IN A HIVE. 



During the season of 1905 I received four 

 queens from a breeder, two of them worth- 

 less. One of these was much deformed, and 

 laid very few eggs, so 1 paid little heed to 

 her small colony. I opened the hive on a 

 warm October day, expecting to find her 

 dead; but on withdrawing the middle comb 

 I found on the side next to me a well- form- 

 ed and good-sized queen, doubtless fertile. 

 A small patch of brood was present. Turn- 

 ing the comb about I saw the worthless 

 crooked one— no guesswork. I am sure of 

 it, for I was surprised, and looked times 

 enough to make certain. 



Sylvania, Pa. Richard Simmons. 



[The case you report is quite a common 

 one— so common, indeed, that usually in an 

 apiary of one or two hundred colonies there 

 is liable to be one or two cases of dual queens 

 in a hive in a season. The cases are most 

 common where the old queen begins to fail, 

 and a young queen comes on to take her 

 place. Though contrary to the general rule 

 that applies in all such cases, both queens 

 are permitted to do service at the same 

 time. The old queen very soon turns up 

 missing, as a rule.— Ed.} 



A plan for producing comb honey with- 

 out INCREASE. 



I should like to submit the following plan 

 for producing comb honey without increase : 

 When a colony swarms, set the old hive to 

 one side and put a new hive with full sheets 

 of foundation on the old stand. Take the 

 supers off the old hive and put them on the 

 new one. Over this put a bee- escape board. 

 Finally, set the old hive on the bee-escape 

 and put on the cover. As the young bees 

 hatch they will go below. In six days 

 cut out the queen- cells so as to prevent them 

 from raising a queen in the old hive. This 

 work should be done while the swarm is in 

 the air, and then hive them on the returning 

 plan. The queens should, of course, all be 

 clipped. 



Do you think this plan would work? I 

 have tried hiving swarms. I have tried this 

 method all but using the bee- escape board; 

 but by having the old combs above, the sec- 

 tions were capped over with pieces of the 

 old comb, making them quite dark or trav- 

 el-stained. By using the bee-escape the 

 coloring of the honey in the supers would be 

 prevented. G. 0. Evans. 



Fulton, Mich., Nov. 10, 1905. 



[Your plan, in connection with the Porter 

 bee escape, would be liable to result in the 



