1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1013 



sheets of foundation near) on the hive of a 

 strong colony; and upon examination of the 

 colony a few weeks later I found that the 

 bees had nearly completed the fourth frame, 

 and some on the fifth. None of the frames 

 had starters, and there were the grooves to 

 contend with. If the bees could engage the 

 wire and septum without a starter, it look 3 

 reasonable, to a beginner, that they would 

 do so with a starter. David S. Hurst. 

 Davenport, Ala. 



[The wire will be in the septum of the 

 naturally built comb, provided the comb- 

 guide, or narrow strip of foundation, even 

 though only g inch wide, is placed directly on 

 the central Ime on the under side of the top- 

 bar. But when naturally built combs are 

 put on the under side of a double groove 

 wide-top frame, the bees are liable, unless 

 there be a narrow strip of foundation, to 

 build from the central strip of wood between 

 the grooves, thus bringing the septum of the 

 comb out of the center and out of alignment 

 with the wires. It is very poor policy to 

 give bees empty frames without a comb- 

 guide, or, better still, a narrow strip of 

 foundation centrally placed, even though 

 that strip be no wider than J inch. No bee- 

 keeper can afford not to use narrow starters 

 of foundation; and a good many think they 

 can not do with less than full sheets because 

 of the difficulty in getting irregular or a lot 

 of drone combs.— Ed.] 



PERPENDICULAR WIRING PREFERRED. 



I have a number of frames wired, some 

 horizontally and some perpendicularly. All 

 of these I had came in hives I bought, and, 

 without exception, those wired from top to 

 bottom are filled clear to the bottom, while 

 there is quite a space between the bottom 

 of the comb and the rail in the others. 



Boston, Mass. C. H. Howard. 



[There can be no question that perpendic- 

 ular wiring will give better results than 

 horizontal. By the latter method a number 

 of the cells near the top- bar elongate in such 

 a way that the bees use them for storing 

 purposes However, it should not be under- 

 stood that the perpendicular wiring alone 

 will result in solid cards of comb without 

 any honey below the top-bar, for much will 

 depend on the queen and kind of season. 

 But I think we may safely say this: That 



Perpendicular wiring will result in more 

 rood being reared in a Langstroth frame 

 than by the horizontal plan. 



The only difficulty in the way is, it is not 

 practicable to use the perpendicular plan 

 with the modern thick-top frame as now 

 made. Dr. Miller gets around the diflSculty 

 by using splints in place of wires. The 

 question might arise why we never advocat- 

 ed these splints. Chiefly because of the dif- 

 ficulty of making them in a wholesale way; 

 and, secondly, because we doubt if the aver- 

 age bee keeper will so imbed his splints as 

 to get good results.— Ed.] 



THE ALEXANDER TREATMENT, AND POLLEN 

 IN THE COMBS. 



In thinking over the principles of the 

 Alexander treatment for black brood, one 

 question arises: Will not the bees during the 

 quite long interval in which they are queen- 

 less and broodless plug up the brood- combs 

 with pollen? I had this happen late last 

 summer when one of my colonies became 

 queenless, and this spring these same combs 

 were still full of the hard dried- up pollen, 

 and were in a very moldy condition. 



West Lafayette, Ind. Will A. Horst. 



[A good deal will depend on the season as 

 to the amount of pollen that might be put in 

 the combs; but a queenless colony will leave 

 the cells in the center of the brood-nest clean 

 and polished. The presence of the pollen in 

 the surrounding cells would do no particular 

 harm unless it might be the means of cover- 

 ing old diseased germs in the comb. 



This reminds me that perhaps I ought to 

 state that the foul-brood inspectors of New 

 York do not believe that the Alexander 

 treatment for black brood will prove to be 

 entirely satisfactory. While they admit 

 that the general effect of the treatment is 

 repressive in that it checks or keeps back, 

 and in many cases effects a cure, they do 

 not advise any one to rely on it. They think 

 that nothing short of shaking the bees on 

 foundation, and compelling them to draw it 

 out into comb, will prove effective. When I 

 asked why it was that Mr. Alexander had 

 by his plan been able to clear his yard of the 

 disease, when it was present in other yards 

 in the locality, I was told that black brood 

 in New York has practically run its course; 

 that a repressive treatment might and prob- 

 ably would prove effective under those con- 

 ditions. 



It is well known in science that a disease 

 after it has run its course through a section 

 for a time seems to lose its virulence; or, 

 perhaps, to put it more exactly, the survi- 

 vors are more able to resist the onslaughts 

 of diseases that are just as poisonous as 

 ever; but when such disease starts in a new 

 locality, the foul-brood inspectors of New 

 York believe that nothing short of the Mc- 

 Evoy treatment should be used.— Ed.] 



A letter from a ten year-old BEE-KEEP- 

 ER CONCERNING HIS FIRST COL- 

 ONY OF BEES. 



I am only ten years old, but ever since I 

 can remember I h ive been very much inter- 

 ested in bees. Last spring I bought a colo- 

 ny of mixed black and Italian bees. I got 

 about one pound of honey from them They 

 came through the winter all right. I expect 

 to get an Italian queen. My bees are rather 

 cross, but I don't mind a few stings now 

 and then. I hope to get a good swarm this 

 spring. Wendell T. Card. 



Kingston, R. I. 



[We congratulate our young friend on his 

 success for one so young.— Ed.] 



