1438 



GLEANINGS IN^ BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15 



the start. It is also necessary for hiiu to re- 

 comb these bees aliout every two years, even 

 though the old eomli. three or four years old, 

 l)e perfect in every way. Why important".' 

 To get rid of any possible germs of disease 

 that may be lurking in the old comics. 



There" is sure to be a demand for bees in 

 colony and nucleus form; and I think the 

 time is fast coming when the government 

 will be called on to inspect the Ijees, hives, 

 and combs of every one in the country who 

 sells bees. The same thing is required from 

 those who furnish trees; and if we would 

 keep down the spread of disease, the apiary 

 or apiaries from which bees are sold should 

 have a clean bill of health, tested l)y inspec- 

 tions made from time to time. 



I also believe the government should re- 

 quire the recoml)ing of the yards every so 

 often. In our own practice the bees are rfe- 

 comljed automatically; for in the process of 

 dividing, putting in frames of foundation, 

 and feeding, in order to recoup the losses 

 due to sales, the recombing process neces- 

 sarily takes place. 



POSITION OF THE HIV E-ENTIJANCL. 



Ventilation, and the Kclation of Cluster to 

 Entrance; Consequence of Shifting the 

 Entrance fr<)ni One Side oi the Hive to 

 the Other after the Cluster has Formed. 



BY ALLEX LATHAM. 



Some time last spring the editor suggested 

 that I write an article this fall al)OUt the po- 

 siticju of the hive-entrance, especially its rel- 

 ative position with that of the brood-nest 

 center and the winter cluster. I was also 

 asked to exj^ress my views on the effect of 

 the position of the entrance upon successful 

 wintering. 



In undertaking a study of this sort one 

 must go to the bees themselves anil see what 

 their wishes are. If they are indifferent to 

 the piisition of the entrance, then we can be 

 indifferent; but if they are particular, then 

 it liehooves us to be particular. 



After a colony is well established in a hive 

 it almost invariably draws its brood-nest to- 

 ward the entrance, pushing the stores up- 

 ward and back. Exceptions to this rule can 

 almost always be accounteil for by some pe- 

 culiarity which the exception offers, in the 

 way of hive- form, character of comb, or size 

 of entrance. A large entrance with abun- 

 dant air supply will tend to keep the brood- 

 nest further back, while a small and insuffi- 

 cient entrance will cause the near appi'oach 

 of the brood-nest. 



If I am right in my conclusions, this move- 

 ment of the brood-nest comes about from the 

 necessity of controlling the temperature of 

 the air within the l^rood-uest itself. If the 

 entrance is small, the bees are forced to cut 

 tlown the distance to the entrance in order 

 to regulate the condition of the air in the 

 brooil-nest. If entrance is lai'ge, there is 

 ease of ventilation. Imt difficulty in pi'otect- 



ing the brood from the chill of a cold spell, 

 hence the remoter position of the l)rood-nest. 

 Character of combs will have material ef- 

 fect upon the position of the brood-center. 

 The brood-center is generally in or about a 

 good straight worker comb, and is generally 

 far removed from drone combs and crooked, 

 irregular combs. Thus we see two control- 

 ling factors which govern the position of the 

 brood-nest as respects the entrance; namely, 

 ventilation and good comb. 



The importance of this subject is as yet 

 scarcely apparent: and lest the reader begin 

 to wonder what I am aiming at I must hast- 

 en to speak of the mutual eff"ect upon win- 

 tering which the brood-center and the en- 

 trance have. When a colony ceases its • 

 bx'ood-rearing in the fall, it draws together 

 about the comb from which its youngest bees 

 are emerging, about those combs which, by 

 means of their empty cells, offer the possi- 

 bility for the most compact clustering. 

 There, surroundetl on most sides with honey, 

 the cluster of bees will stay, to survive tne 

 winter or to perish. Move slightlj^ for food 

 it must, but no distant move will be made 

 unless a forced one. 



If the apiarist practices contracting the en- 

 trance in late summer, then the clitster will 

 be found centered opposite that contracted 

 entrance. If tlie entrance be in the middle, 

 then the central combs will be occiipied; if 

 the entrance be to the right, then will the 

 cluster be at the right; if tlie entrance at the 

 left, then the bees are at the left. Not only 

 this, but thfe bees will have stored their win- 

 ter stores within easy range of this center, 

 having filled in the adjacent cells as the oees 

 emerged from the lessening brood-nest. 



Suppose the apiarist does not contrai-t the 

 entrance till late lall, after the bees have 

 ceased to breed. Then the brood-nest will 

 be well back, and chance alone will deter- 

 mine whether it will be at the right, in the 

 middle, or at the left. If the contracted en- 

 trance be in the middle, no harm may fol- 

 low: but if the entrance be at the left while 

 the cluster happens to be at the right, or 

 vice ro'sa, then disaster is almost sure to 

 follow. 



Another factor enters into the determina- 

 tion of the position of the brood-nest center. 

 If the hive faces east, then the cluster will be 

 on the right; if to the west, then the cluster 

 will be on the left: that is. the cluster will be 

 on the sunny side of the hive if combs and 

 entrance make that possible. 



As winter comes on, the clustered bees 

 next to the warm side of the hive, with the 

 hive-entrance just handily opposite, are in the 

 best possible position to winter. They are in 

 that part of the hive which keeps di-y and well 

 aired. Sitch is usually the case when bees are 

 left to themselves. But it so happens that 

 few colonies are left to themselves. Suppose 

 the indifferent apiarist blocks up the rigut of 

 the entrance while the winter-cluster has 

 been established at the right. This act of 

 the apiarist shuts the bees off" from fresh air 

 by several sheets of comb, and, more than 

 that, greatly lengthens their path to a safe 



