948 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 15 



Take a lot of brood- combs and spread them 

 out flat where the sun can't melt them. 

 Then spray them with feed. With combs 

 enough, you can spray often enough, light- 

 ly enough, and with syrup thin enough, so 

 the bees will gather no faster than on the 

 flowers. [The plan you speak of will help 

 to eliminate largely the scramble, providing 

 the syrup is made weak enough. On the 

 strength of the syrup hinges the whole 

 thing. I think our plan now is a little bet- 

 ter in that the bees are compelled to take 

 many down-and-up flights before they can 

 get a full load. For further particulars see 

 editorial department. —Ed.] 



That lot of schoolteachers, p. 914, looks 

 as if you were doing something to bring this 

 country up where Europe is in that respect, 

 especially Germany. There a much larger 

 proportion than here of the leading bee- 

 keepers are teachers and preachers. Edi- 

 tors of bee-papers are mostly from those 

 two classes. I've spent some tim^' studying 

 the faces of those Buckeye schoolteachers, 

 and it promises much for the next genera- 

 tion to have their training in such good 

 hands. Especially it does one good to see 

 such clean-looking faces among the young 

 men. I am sure some of those faces can't 

 very well belong to a young man who isn't 

 clean inside. [The A. I. Root Co. is mak- 

 ing a strong effort to interest schoolteachers 

 in bees; and now that nature-study is get- 

 ting to be a regular department of instruc- 

 tion, it is much easier to wedge in the par- 

 ticular subject of bees. —Ed.] 



Colonies in frame hives with combs 

 built crosswise, we are told, page 919, " are 



Eractically as though they were in box 

 ives, because the combs are immovable." 

 True; but in many cases, at least part of 

 the combs can be got apart in this way: 

 With a hand-saw, saw down at each side of 

 the hive, so as to sever the connections of 

 the combs with the side walls. Now turn 

 the hive upside down. If necessary, push 

 down a little on the frames to start them 

 out of the hive, then lift the hive off. That 

 gives you a chance to separate the frames at 

 any point where such separation is possible; 

 and often by a little cutting you can free a 

 comb so it can be shoved back entirely into 

 its own frame. Indeed, sometimes, if the 

 case is not a very bad one, all the frames 

 can thus be got into place; whereas, in the 

 first place not a single frame could be lifted 

 out. [Your plan would be perfectly feasible 

 with some hives of crosswise combs; but if 

 one wishes to avoid a messy job the Heddon 

 short plan would be preferable.— Ed.] 



Speaking of two nuclei wintering in one 

 hive, Mr. Editor, p. 902, you say, ' ' Perhaps 

 this remaining queen would have to be ' in- 

 troduced' to prevent the motherless bees 

 or those lately made motherless from at- 

 tacking the new mother." I hardly think 

 there would be trouble on that score. One 

 of my greatest troubles with these double 

 hives was to keep the bees from uniting. 

 If there was a spot under or over the divi- 



sion-board where a single bee could get 

 through, that invariably meant the peace- 

 ful uniting of the two sides if one was 

 queenless, and I had a number of such cases. 

 If you are thinking of wintering two or 

 three nuclei in one hive, it may be of inter- 

 est for you to read in Forty Years among 

 the Bees, pages 285-291, also 244—246. If 

 you want to have three nuclei in a hive, let 

 me emphasize the point that the middle 

 space must be not less than 2J inches. For 

 successful wintering, that middle compart- 

 ment should be crowded with bees. Years 

 ago I used successfully ten-frame hives with 

 six compartments of 2i inches each, and I 

 see no reason why these might not winter 

 well if crowded with bees. [We expect to 

 test this method this winter in our bee-cellar. 

 We are preparing to put some of our larger 

 baby nuclei in also. Even if they should die 

 the loss would be merely nominal, in bees at 

 least. — Ed.] 



SLEANiNCSFR^jHEMlFlCtOASI 



OIJUECE.'CaU' 



CARNEGIE RESEARCH FUND. 



Among the many beneficiaries from the 

 munificent gifts of Mr. Andrew Carnegie, 

 few, if any, will work more real benefit than 

 that granted for the promotion of research. 

 A large endowment has been created which 

 is to be permanent, and the entire proceeds 

 of this are given into the hands of an able 

 committee — men whose great ability and 

 philanthropic hearts have been already 

 proved by lives of rich endeavor and lofty 

 purpose, and these men are to decide who 

 shall spend this money, and where and in 

 what lines it shall be expfuded. The fact 

 that some thousands have been appropriated 

 that Luther Burbank, the great plant-breed- 

 er of California, may give his entire time, 

 patience, and energy to the grand work 

 which has already blessed the world in such 

 manifold ways and directions, shows clearly 

 that this committee are very wise in their 

 administration of the great trust handed over 

 to them, and makes it equally patent that 

 they have no prejudice against work along 

 practical directions. 



The other day I was looking through the 

 hives of bees with Dr. Phillips, of the De- 

 partment of Agriculture, and saw how wisely 

 he had commenced with his various queens, J 

 like the fine large shining black Caucasian. I 

 These bees are so quiet that, though the 

 weather was rainy, and provocative of idle- 

 ness, and ill temper was with the bees, and 

 though we used no smoke, and were rude 

 and rough in our handling, even pinching the 

 bees, we yet aroused no anger or resent- 

 ment. Then I learned that he had planned 



