i]ys 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 15 



water in the feeder, aud it seems to suit 

 them first rate. 



I wintered by Vernon Burt's method, mi- 

 nus the super, and wish to indorse it. No 

 cellars for me. Let them seal the cover down 

 — pile four or five inches of chaff directly on 

 top of it: then fold 15 or 20 thicknesses of 

 newspapers securely all about the hive: tie, 

 and slip over all a Quaker-oats box coveretl 

 with some water-tight material. I used tar- 

 I'ed paper. They came through strong. In 

 the spring the papers will have become fitted 

 to the inside of the box, where they can lie 

 tacked and left, making fine super-protectors 

 for cold nights, and all ready for the next 

 winter. 



Of course, I have only a few swarms, aud 

 so can't speak from much experience, as I 

 began only last July: but I am looking for 

 the simplest and most satisfac^tory devices, 

 and feel like indorsing them when fouiul. 



Mr. Alexander's articles have interested 

 me more than any thing else this spring. 

 They are practical, apparently. Now, can't 

 you have him give us his method — he must 

 have one — of securing a crop without in- 

 crease'.' His method of increase I consider 

 the most practical and the simplest of any 

 I have read. 



By the looks of my bottom-boards this 

 spring, somewhat warped, 1 think they would 

 lie much better if painted on l)oth sides, and 

 I am so doing, giving tliem as nearly as pos- 

 sible a water-tight coat all around. 



Albany, N. Y. C'has. B. Loomis. 



[The inodern fence super has an extra 

 fence between each outside row and the side 

 (}f the super. Perhaps it might be an advan- 

 tage to put in two or three more fences in 

 ortler to make a heavier wall of bees: but if 

 a super is properly protected by an outer 

 case, as it should be. in my opinion, the ex- 

 tra numl)er of fences will hardlv be necessa- 

 ry.— Ed.] 



DO BEES STING QUEENS? A CASE IN POINT. 



They do in Indiana. As proof of this I 

 mail to the editor of Gleanings a queen 

 which can speak for herself, even if she is 

 dead. In the thorax just under the left wing 

 will be found the sting still adhering, as it 

 was fountl after performing its tleadly mis- 

 sion. It happened after this fashion: Li look- 

 ing through a i-olony one day I found a 

 queen which had just mated, the drone or- 

 gans still attached. Four days after. I thought 

 to change position of two hives — this one and 

 another. I did so. and then thought I would 

 clip the queen, expecting she would l)e lay- 

 ing. I found the queen and set the frame 

 outside the hive while I looked for eggs be- 

 kn-e clipping. I found none: and when I 

 went to put the frame back, there was no 

 (pieen. I immediately guessed she had flown 

 liack to the old stand into the strange hive. 

 I opened that hive, and there fcnind as inter- 

 esting a l)all game as I ever saw. They were 

 in a scrimmage. It was the first down, and 

 the visitor seL'med to be defeated. Actintr 



as uiupire I called the players off and found 

 the (jueen knocked out as stated. The poi- 

 son-sac was still contracting; and after a few 

 convulsions the queen was dead. 

 Vincennes, Ind. Jay Smith. 



[The queen came duly to hand, and show- 

 ed unmistakably the sting in the side of her 

 ])ody. We have had other reports of the 

 same nature. But the matter has special 

 significance just now because Dr. C. C. Miller 

 raised the question whether or not a ball of 

 bees would ever sting a queen, giving it as 

 his belief that, if given time enough, they 

 would suffocate her. It is probable tha't 

 such a Ininch of l)ees will at times smother 

 and at other times sting the queen. — Ed.] 



CHAPTER XIII. 



closing WORDS; FUKTHER SUGGESTIONS TO 



THE PLANS GIVEN IN THE PRECEDING 



CHAPTERS. 



After using what has been given in the 

 previous visits, both in the home yard and 

 out-apiary (for the plan is equally good for 

 the home apiary) in its different stages of 

 growth, as it developed during the ten yeai'S 

 between 188'J and 1900, and pretty much en- 

 tirely for the past five years, I wish to say 

 that I believe it ahead of any and all other 

 plans used up to the present time, in that it 

 gives the largest possible number of bees at 

 the right time for the harvest, with little or 

 no disposition to swarm; controls swarming 

 perfectl,y, puts all honey not needed for the 

 rearing of bees or winter stores in the sec- 

 tions, and that with the least possible work 

 that can be used when working for section 

 honey. Doing this it is of great value in the 

 home apiary, ami an actual necessity for an 

 out-apiary worked for section honey. An 

 additional value that attaches itself to the 

 plan is that the sealing or cappings of the 

 honey in the sections are nearly or quite as 

 white as those where honey is built by new 

 swarms where they are hived in contracted 

 brood-chambers having rmly frames with 

 starters in them below, which all know is of 

 a whiteness heretofore secured in no other 

 way. This fact alone would be of sufficient 

 value to pay any bee-keeper for adopting it, 

 even if it were not '"head and shoulders" 

 above any thing else in securing a big crop 

 of secrtioii honey without any swarming. 



The cause for this white capping, as I 

 view it, comes from the bees fully cleaning, 

 perfecting, :ind partly or wholly filling the 

 combs along their tops, with honey, which, 



