1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE (^ULTURE. 



1119 



bees will work mvieh sooner over the In'ood 

 than at one side. 



With this arrangement I have no difficulty 

 in removing the follower by simply remov- 

 ing the springs with a good screwdriver, and 

 loosening the follower with a one-ini'h chisel. 



I often wish the top-lmr of the frame were 

 not quite so thick: for. the nearer you can 

 get the section boxes to the brood-nest, the 

 easier it is to get the bees to occupy them. 

 However, there is little trouble in this re- 

 spect since the advent of Ijait combs. 



I find that ^^•armth is the great essential in 

 the production of com!) honey, and that, by 

 using a sheet of liurlap over the fi'ames or 

 super, and placing upou this a cushion some 

 three inches in thickness, tilled with dry 

 leaves and planer-shavings (as chaff contains 

 too much dust antl weed and gi'ass seed), I 

 retain in this way the warmth of the hive, 

 thus eual)ling the bees to lireed much faster 

 and draw more coml) than they otherwise 

 could. In fact, this cushion business is the 

 very best thing you can use when hiving a 

 swarm, as it protects the heated bees from 

 the hot sun. and at the same time prevents 

 any direct upward draft, which, I feel con- 

 fident, any swarm of bees detests. In fact, I 

 began keeping liees in 1879. and have kept 

 them a great part of the time since, and have 

 always followed this method, anil never had 

 a swarm come out until this last season, 

 when I tried a few swarms with a single cov- 

 er and shade-board, and they almost invari- 

 alily swarmed out. either within an hour or 

 two or the next day. when, upon using the 

 burlap and cushion, upon rehiving them I 

 had no further trouble. 



I have never used a frame of brood in hiv- 

 ing before: but without the cushion this sea- 

 son, even this would not always hold them. 



The one trouble with this arrangement is 

 that the bees can not seal the super-case to 

 the hive, so a driving rain sometimes beats 

 into the hive: luit this moisture seems to he 

 used at once for l)rceding purposes. Could 

 not the slats of the fence separator be placed 

 a tritie further apart to give freer access to 

 each section, without the surface of the combs 

 lieing built irregular, as I And many of the 

 spaces which they evidently consider too nar- 

 row completely tilled with propolis? Such 

 openings I shall rasp out a little wider than 

 the standard distance, and thus prove to my 

 satisfaction what the result will be. 



This free communication which the fence 

 separator allows is certainly a great improve- 

 ment. 



During the summer of 1902 I received an 

 Italian queen from The A. I.. Root Co.: and. 

 although not a warranted red-clover queen, 

 eight of the twenty-three colonies which I 

 now have of this stock were working tinely 

 on second-growth red clover this past sea- 

 son. This is the first time I have ever seen 

 a honey-bee on a red-clover blossom. 



Lewistou, Me. 



[We have tried tacking something on the 

 side of the hive to provide the necessary half 

 tee-space, which, in connection with the w iden- 



ed end of the frame furnishing the other' 

 half bee-space, makes a full bee-space. But 

 extended experience leads us to feel that we, 

 at least, do not want any thing of that kind. 

 The frames shoukl be tightly squeezed to- 

 gether — as tight as possible — then the follow- 

 er and the whole set of frames should be 

 placed exactly in the center of the hive. 

 This can be very readily done with a hive- 

 tool, leaving a full bee-space on each side of 

 each outside frame. 



I should like to place the strongest empha- 

 sis possible on the value of top protection 

 against both heat and cold. I verily believe 

 the time is coming when not only the top 

 but the sides of all comb-honey supers will 

 be protected by an extra shell or wall, antl 

 in addition some form of packing between. 



We know ourselves how it feels to be un- 

 der a low shed with a single thickness of 

 boards for a rooi. on a hot day — how there 

 will seem to Ije a pressure of heat on the 

 crown of the head: iKit if that roof is made 

 double, with an air-space, how much more 

 comfortable! 



It would not be practicable, as we have 

 learned by experience, to place the slats in 

 the fence further apart, as you suggest. Bet- 

 ter not increase the width of the opening or 

 you will be sure to regret it. Wide open- 

 ings cause a ridgy or washboardy effect on 

 the face of the coml) honey. " The slats 

 should be far enough apart to allow worker 

 bees to pass between and no more. If too 

 close the bees will gnaw at the openings; 

 and when they once get started to gnawing 

 they will ruin the fence. 



Your report in regard to the red-clover 

 bees is only a sample of many that we get. 

 I hesitated about giving it here in the read- 

 ing-columns, as it savors too much of advei"- 

 tising: but there are many who question 

 , whether the honey-bee. no matter what the 

 strain, ever gets any honey from red clover. 



A great deal depends on the locality, 

 much on the strain of bees, and every thing 

 on the character of the season, whether bees 

 will work on red clover or not. When we 

 are asked whether we will guarantee that 

 our strain will work on red clover, we al- 

 ways reply in the negative. All we can 

 honestly say is that they will work on red 

 clover if any strain will: and even then only 

 when conditions are favorable. — Ed.] 



THE SIZE OF SECTIONS. 

 Please the Public and your Fortune is Made. 



BY F. B. KICHAKDSON. 



Mr. E. R. Root wonders on page 377 why 

 there has not Ijeen more of a demand for 

 the If square plain section. One great rea- 

 son in Massachusetts, so far as I have been 

 able to learn, is the "eye deception:" that 

 is. people think they are getting more for 

 their money when they Iniy a 4X5 section, 

 because they .s^e a greater surface. You 

 know the demand of the times is "something 

 for nothing."' and Iniyers of honey think (I 



