1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



667 



"I have experimented along this line to a 

 considerable extent, and the result is that I 

 do not now make it a practice to supersede 

 my queens every two years, for I find that 

 the bees are quick to understand when their 

 mother is faihng, and will supersede their 

 own queen when she gets to be too old to be 

 of service to them. So I now trust the mat- 

 ter to the bees very largely, believing that 

 they know what is best for them in this 

 respect better than I do." 



[We shall soon publish an article by E. 

 W. Alexander on this subject. —Ed.] 



KILLING BEES WITH KINDNESS.) 



I have kept and studied bees for a num- 

 ber of years, and kept them in all kinds of 

 hives, but can not boast of any great suc- 

 cess with them; in fact, the more 1 study the 

 more I meet with peculiarities. Last year 

 was a good one for increase, but for some 

 reason most of the bees had but very little 

 honey. I had about 30 colonies, and now 

 have only 4 left. In the A B C of Bee Cul- 

 ture it says a swarm in May is worth a load 

 of hay, etc.; but 1 found it altogether differ- 

 ent last year. My early swarms didn't gath- 

 er enough to winter through, while my 

 daughter put a swarm, that evidently came 

 around, in a soap-box in August, and they 

 came out a strong colony this spring with 

 honey left over. 



My neighbor has a swarm in an old dwell- 

 irg-house, not occupied, on the west side 

 between the scantling — nothing but poor 

 plaster on the inside, and Cottonwood siding 

 on the outside, and there they winter through 

 ready for business on a warm winter day, 

 and gather honey to "beat the band, "while 

 those that are nicely accommodated in a 

 Danzenbaker hive with quilts and cushions 

 die off or starve, or are frozen to death. 

 Don't you think it is the same with bees as 

 it is with us? The more we baby ourselves 

 the more sensitive and tender we get; and 

 the warmer the quarters we occupy in win- 

 ter the easier we catch cold when forced to 

 be exposed. Louis Gottnla. 



Elk Creek, Nebraska. 



[Friend G., the very thing you have com- 

 mented on has come up more or less for 

 thirty or forty years past; and while I can 

 net think it true that intelligent care and 

 pains are wasted or thrown away, one thing 

 has come out very prominently in reports 

 for years past. Bees with abundant venti- 

 lation right up through the hive, and plenty 

 of fresh air so as to dry out the dampness, 

 will often winter all right season after sea- 

 son, while others in the same locality that 



are fixed up with what you call "tight 

 warm hives" become damp, freeze, or get 

 the dysentery or something else. Now, 

 while this is true, our old veterans have 

 learned the trade of wintering colonies by 

 the hundreds, season after season, with a 

 loss so small, say one or two per cent, that 

 it is hardly worth mentioning. When I com- 

 menced keeping bees we had so many losses 

 in winter from spring dwindling, etc., that 

 I thought seriously of giving up the busi- 

 ness; but for fifteen or twenty years past 

 we have had no losses worth mentioning. 

 This is because we have learned how to pre- 

 pare the bees for winter in the proper way. 

 If you follow the ABC book or other stan- 

 dard works I am sure you will have like 

 success. — A. I. R.] 



A FLAT HONEY-KNIFE HANDLE. 



It is important to have a flat honey-knife 

 handle. Put the knife in a vise and plane 

 the handle half oval or flat. Whittle it with 

 a jack-knife. It is the best thing I have 

 discovered lately. W. L, Coggshall. 



[Mr. Coggshall suggested that we try the 

 experiment shown under 3, and we found 

 that much more could be raised with the 

 square handle than with the round, and 

 with much less effort. We believe that this 

 new form of handle would meet with the 

 approval of the majority of bee-keepers. 

 -Ed.] 



MAKING SWARMS STAY IN DANZ. HIVES. 



I notice on page 490 the inquiry of Mr. 

 J. D. Barfield in regard to having bees stay 

 in the Danzenbaker hive when first hived. 

 I have been using the Danzenbaker hive for 

 the past five years, and at first I had the 

 same trouble that he mentions. I tried giv- 

 ing more room by adding supers above, but 

 that did not remove the trouble. Nearly 

 every swarm hived would swarm out once 

 or twice until I learned to put an empty su- 

 per or hive- body under the brood-nest, and 

 then I found the bees would stay every time. 

 I also put blocks | inch thick under the front 



