734 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1 



EXCLUDING HONEY BOARDS. 



Every hive composed of two or more parts 

 to the brood- chamber should have an exclud- 

 ing honey- board. When a queen is put be- 

 low she must stay put. Again, when brood 

 is above a super, sometimes cells will be 

 started there, the further removed from 

 where the queen is the more likely to have 

 cells built. With a large and properly ar- 

 ranged brood-chamber below, and brood 

 away up over two or three extracting-cham- 

 bers, often one may have young queens mat- 

 ed, though I do not recommend this. There 

 is too much bother lifting these chambers off 

 and on with the other necessary work. I 

 call attention to the fact more to show what 

 may be done, which gives us a clue to a bet- 

 ter understanding of what is necessary in 

 management to obtain control and get re- 

 sults. 



APPLYING TO REGULAR HIVES. 



These principles may be used in the manip- 

 ulation of the regular eight-frame Lang- 

 stroth hives by using them two-story. A 

 two-story eight- frame hive in which the col- 

 ony was given the second story underneath 

 at or before the removal of the last super, 

 and so left that way until the opening of the 

 next honey-flow the next summer, will get 

 enough more bees to store enough more hon- 

 ey to pay the cost of that extra chamber in 

 just one fairly good season. And while this 

 is being done the apiarist has had less labor 

 and attention to bestow upon them. 



When the flow does start, the extra cham- 

 ber may be used to make a new colony, as 

 with the regular sectional hive. 



But so large a chamber as an eight-frame 

 Langstroth is too large to put over a super; 

 but we can take one chamber away, and the 

 queen with it, to a new stand, leaving her 

 main force on the old stand; and if the flow 

 is strong enough, or if bait combs are used, 

 the colony can be made to work the super 

 while cells are maturing. Before the cells 

 are ripe, all but one must be removed. 

 Ripe cells and piping queens will demoralize 

 a colony and stop honey- gathering almost 

 beyond any other condition. 



A large sectional brood- chamber with the 

 individual sections small; the horizontal 

 measure of the hive, both its width and 

 length— no more than is necessary to get a 

 24-section super on it nicely— these are the 

 main features in the most easily managed 

 hive. By a system of alternating, etc., as 

 described herein, lies the road to control of 

 swarming and best results in honey. 



Loveland, Col. 



BEE-KEEPING IN PENNSYLVANIA. 

 BY PROF. H. A. SURFACE. 



Pennsylvania is an empire in her extent 

 and resources. Few States in the Union 

 have greater diversity of soil, elevation, cli- 

 mate, and drainage systems. This means 

 that her productions, both natural and cul- 

 tivated, are various; and as the plants differ 

 widely, so are the possibilities tor success- 



ful bee- keeping varied. In the northern part 

 of this State is the great buckwheat region 

 where the bee-keepers have the opportunity 

 to market all of the white-clover flow, and 

 also get an abundance of honey from the 

 later buckwheat-fields for the cheaper trade, 

 domestic purposes, and winter stores. In 

 the southeastern portion of the State the 

 great fall flower, producing an abundance 

 of honey and pollen, is the Spanish needle 

 (Bidens), locally called "yellow flower," 

 wild chrysanthemum, and fall flower Along 

 certain streams of the State the basswood 

 is to be found in abundance, yielding first- 

 class honey, and in some portions of the 

 commonwealth the black locust or yellow 

 locust is planted in large groves, especially 

 along the lines of the Pennsylvania Rail- 

 road, and these trees are now large enough 

 to yield considerable honey in their season. 

 Pennsylvania was rapidly becoming known 

 as a fruit- producing State before the San 

 Jose scale cast a temporary blight over her 

 prospects in this direction; but, thanks to 

 successful use of boiled lime-sulphur wash, 

 the scale is held in good control, and the 

 fruit-blooms will again have their due in- 

 fluence in building up colonies preparatory to 

 the white- clover yield, which is practically 

 to be found all over the State. 



The chief plants for the bees are (in order 

 of blooming), the elm, soft maple, poplars, 

 alder, willows, peach, plum, cherry, pear, 

 and apple; raspberry, blackberry, locust, 

 basswood, the mints, white clover, alsike; 

 alfalfa where grown; buckwheat, the Span- 

 ish needle, goldenrod, and the asters. In 

 the southern portion of the State, and in the 

 mountain regions, a fine- flowered aster is 

 the most important late-blooming plant, 

 providing winter stores. 



This State has many prominent bee-keep- 

 ers, such as E. L. Pratt, the famous queen- 

 breeder, of Swarthmore; F. G. Fox, who 

 has made famous records in his yields of ex- 

 tracted honey; W. A. Selser, of Philadel- 

 phia, who has charge of the famous exhibi- 

 tion apiary of the A. I. Root Co. at Jenkin- 

 town. Mr. Selser is the largest individual 

 bottler of extracted honey in the United 

 States, having five wagons, and driving as 

 far as Boston, selling his bottles in five of 

 the principal eastern cities — New York, 

 Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, and Wash- 

 ington, putting it up in the small sizes, 

 principally 10 and 15 cent size, and a small 

 percentage of the 25- cent size. In this way 

 he puts up an aggregate of 50,000 lbs. of 

 honey, using two carloads of glass bottles. 

 Besides these persons mentioned, there are 

 many others. 



Among the active local bee-keepers' so- 

 cieties in this State is the Philadelphia Bee- 

 keepers' Association, which is one of the 

 largest and most active and successful known 

 in any country; the Potter County Bee-keep- 

 ers' Association, and the Harrison Valley 

 Society, which are in the northern part of 

 this State, and are doing good work there 

 for the man who cultivates the acquaintance 

 of the little ' ' busy bee. ' ' 



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