1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



825 



with perpendicular sides, with a flanged rim. 

 Then I take a compass and strike a circle | 

 inch smaller than the inside of the pan, on a 

 board, saw^ it out and bore it full of holes 

 with a i-inch bit. This is a follower-board. 



Next 1 compass outside of the pan, then 

 take the bottom-board and strike a circle a 

 little larger than the outside of the pan; 

 then go to the colonies I wish to feed, dig a 

 hole in the ground beside the hive that will 

 admit the pan; place my bottom- board over 

 this, and drop in the pan. 



After the bees are done flying for the day 

 I bring out my syrup a Uttle warm, fill my 

 pan, lay on the perforated follower- board, 

 and place the colony of bees over the pan of 

 syrup. In the morning very early I set them 

 back on the stand and remove the feeder. 

 If you wish you can feed two colonies at one 

 feeder. Take off the cover of the lower 

 hive; put on a queen-excluder, and set 

 another weak colony over the zinc queen ex- 

 cluder. When you once have these supplies 

 they last a lifetime. The bees will carry up 

 eight quarts in one night, and not lose a bee 

 by drowning. Calvin Grain. 



Sparta, Mich., Feb. 26. 



A DOUBLE - BOTTOM - BOARD - PLAN OF KEEP- 

 ING DOWN INCREASE, 



Mr. Root:—l am sending you a diagram of 

 a double hive-bottom that I have used for 

 some years. This bottom is large enough 

 for two hives side by side, and is used when 

 no increase is wanttd. It has given good 

 satisfaction in my yard. 



B 



A 



A colony is placed on bottom marked A. 

 When it casts a swarm, or when I brush a 

 swarm from it, the old hive is moved over 

 to the bottom marked B, and the swarm is 

 placed on A. The entrance from A to B is 

 closed, and the little runway between the 

 two hives is closed with wire cloth to give 

 the bees in the old hive a chance to ventilate 

 but not get out. 



As soon as the new swarm gets nicely 

 started, open the entrance between the two 

 hives, take the super off the old hive and 

 put it on the new one. Leave the wire cloth 

 on the runway between the hives, compel- 

 ling the bees of the old hive to go through 

 the new one to get out, since there is no 

 other entrance. 



When the young queen from the old hive 

 undertakes to make her wedding- flight she 

 is killed by the bees of the new swarm. 



If a second queen should halcn she is 

 treated in the same way. When the bees 

 in the old colony find themselves hopelessly 

 queenless they will join the new swarm. 

 When the honey flow ceases, the bees from 

 the new swarm will carry the honey out of 

 the old hive and put it in the super of the 

 new one. Now stack up the empty combs 

 in a suitable place for next season. 



Willamette, Ore. Joseph Egg (5. 



[From a hasty examination of your plan I 

 am inclined to believe it would work very 

 satisfactorily. If you say it does, of course 

 it would. Whether it would be better than 

 some of the other plans for keeping down 

 increase I leave each one to decide for him- 

 self. It is my impression that a young 

 queen, when she enters the other hive for 

 the purpose of getting out into the open air 

 to mate, would in many cases supplant the 

 old mother. I have seen so many instances 

 of this kind that I have almost come to the 

 conclusion that the young upstart is gener- 

 ally given the preference— that is, if the 

 bees take any hand in it. It has been my 

 belief that the young queen will go through 

 the hive, find her old mother, and proceed 

 to kill her, as she is usually stronger, and, 

 on the principle of the survival of the fit- 

 test, the weaker is displaced. Possibly the 

 bees may assist one or the other of the 

 combatants. —Ed.] 



A CURIOUS bee-tree. 



I should like to tell of a curious bee- tree 

 I found to-day. While searching for a 

 United States stone bench-mark in a woods 

 my attention was caught by a swarm of 

 bees working in a witness tree to this stone. 

 The stone was set in 1882, and two trees 

 blazed as witness trees. One of these, a 

 box- elder, had decayed at the blaze, forming 

 a cavity on the inside; but the outer wood 

 was alive, and had grown a thick fold around 

 the blaze, leaving an opening about 12 inches 

 high and 8 inches wide. Now, what caught 

 my eye at once was this : That the exposed 

 combs (and the opening was full of them) 

 were all edgewise to the outer air, just as in 

 a modern hive. I was at once reminded of 

 an article in a recent number of Gleanings 

 relative to the reasons for placing frames 

 lengthwise and not crosswise. The day had 

 been warm, and the bees were flying out- 

 doors; but although I was at work for some 

 time within five feet of them they did not 

 bother me. The opening was 4 feet from 

 the ground. The bees were rather small, 

 and tinged yellow nearly all over except on 

 the back. W. M. Andrews. 



Greenville, Miss. 



THE yellow spider. 



Last summer I had some experience. As 

 the goldenrod was in bloom I found that dead 

 bees hung thereon. By diligent search I 

 found the yellow spider spoken of on page 

 232. Rudolph Lichtwer. 



Milltown, N. J., May 7. 



