1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE; 



177 



I am not familiar with the practice of Dr. 

 Miller; but in spite of the fact that he is, 

 from his long experience, entitled to be con- 

 sidered an expert, I yet firmly believe his 

 practice to blame for the pollen trouble, for 

 I use a shallower hive than the Danzenbaker, 

 and my locality is one in which every impor- 

 tant honey-plant is a composite; but in spite 

 of this I am not troubled in the least. How- 

 ever, I once made some exhaustive experi- 

 ments to determine the conditions under 

 which bees are disposed to put pollen in sec- 

 tions, and here is the result: A swarm hived 

 on the old stand, and sheets of foundation 

 used in brood-chamber, with no empty comb, 

 and a super with drawn comb in which the 

 colony had been storing put back on the 

 swarm, always puts some pollen in the sec- 

 tions during the first day or two. A swarm, 

 either forced or natural, hived in a shallow 

 hive, on starters, with full sheets in the sec- 

 tions, sometimes stores pollen in the sections, 

 though not often. If a swarm of any kind 



as honey; but if the first work is begun be- 

 low, all will go right. 



Vigo, Texas. 



[My travels over the country have shown 

 me very conclusively that overstocking al- 

 most invariably cuts down the yield per 

 colony, and I have said so. There are many 

 locations in Colorado, Texas, Idaho, and 

 California where bee-keepers have rushed in 

 and put in more bees, with the result that 

 the yield per colony has been cut down in 

 many cases over a half. I have been in lo- 

 calities, however (but only a few), where 

 more than 200 colonies could be kept to ad- 

 vantage. I was in one place where I saw 

 500 all in one yard, giving a large annual 

 yield; but in all that I have written on this 

 question I have always cautioned against 

 the danger of getting too many bees in one 

 place; and in nearly every instance I have 

 said the localities were overstocked, and 

 that other bee-keepers going into these 

 places would be liable to get a cold reception. 



H. G. ACKLIN. 



ETHEL ACKLIN. 

 By courtesy of the American Bee Journal. 



MRS. H. ACKLIN. 



is hived on solid combs of brood or honey, 

 and a super containing some drawn comb is 

 put on top, pollen is often stored in the sec- 

 tions, with half or full sheets in the brood- 

 chamber, and starters in the sections. Bees 

 seldom put pollen in sections. My practice 

 now is to hive on foundation except the two 

 outside and one center comb. These are clean, 

 freshly built combs. Full sheets are always 

 used in the sections. Under such conditions 

 no pollen ever goes into the sections. I do 

 not believe there is a worse mistake in the 

 whole line of bee-keeping than this belief 

 that pollen-storing in sections is due solely 

 to the depth of the hive; for if that were 

 true my sections would have only pollen 

 stored in them, for I use a very shallow 

 hive. 



This whole question, I think, hinges on the 

 way in which a colony is started. If the 

 main force of bees rush above at once, the 

 queen is apt to follow, and the first work 

 will be storing in the sections, pollen as well 



I do not add a footnote to all communica- 

 tions that appear in Gleanings. Some of 

 them are sufficient unto themselves. Oth- 

 ers are on topics that are as new to me as 

 they are to our readers. But there is an- 

 other class of articles that I admit without 

 a footnote, even though they take a position 

 different from what I have frequently taken 

 in these columns. If I should attempt to 

 weaken or nullify by a footnote the state- 

 ment of every correspondent who differed 

 with me I should be wasting space and 

 make the journal reflect only the opinion of 

 the editor. I allow a good many statements 

 to go unchallenged, for I assume our read- 

 ers can think for themselves, and in this 

 case it is obviously better for some other 

 correspondent to challenge the statement in 

 question. Primarily this journal is a glean- 

 er. It gleans heads of grain from many 

 fields, and sometimes it gathers chaff and 

 screenings, although we endeavor to give 

 nothing but heads of grain.— Ed.] 



