1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



971 



get them filled easily with honey, and some 

 brood if I should want it. They hold more 

 honey than your little frames, which is my 

 main reason for using them. One full sec- 

 tion, one empty one, and J pint of bees, 

 make up a perfect combination for mating 

 queens. It makes a square box, or a little 

 taller than square, which gives them com- 

 fort on cool nights, and I find them out as 

 early on cool mornings as the standard-sized 

 colonies. 



You may say that the combs are too thick 

 for brood-combs, and spaced too far apart 

 (If inch, from center to center when sections 

 are spaced J apart) . It makes no difference 

 in these little boxes, for the bees shave the 

 combs down to the proper thickness for 

 brood-combs, except that part which con- 

 tains honey. This leaves a wide space be- 

 tween the combs, while the wood of the sec- 

 tion nearly closes around them, hence more 

 warmth. 



I fasten the sections on the lid similar to 

 those in your box; but instead of using sta- 

 ples I use little wire nails of the right size, 

 driven through from the outside of the lid, 

 and then bent over with pliers. I put two 

 in the center of the cover to hold the sec- 

 tion, and one at each end also, bent over so 

 you can turn it to or from the section, which 

 fastens or releases it. This works finely, 

 and gives permanency in handling, which 

 the staple does not give. Those who use 

 sections can make their own little boxes to 

 fit, and use their unfinished unsalable sec- 

 tions to mate queens, and thus save that 

 which might be lost. Sam King. 



Raleigh, N. C, June 30. 



[We can furnish Swarthmore's complete 

 outfits, as well as the books for the same. — 

 Ed.] 



is an early-blooming basswood-tree a 



rarity? and if so, would it be an 



acquisition? 



I am sending you some basswood-blossoms 

 which I picked from a perfectly healthy and 

 thrifty tree this evening, July 25. I also 

 enclose some seeds from another tree which 

 grows about three blocks from the one 

 which is in full bloom. This is to show the 

 difference in the time of bloom of the two 

 trees. All the basswoods, except this one, 

 in this section, so far as I have observed, 

 are entirely out of bloom, and have been for 

 at least a week or ten days. 



I should like to know if, in your opinion, 

 this late-blooming tree would be worth 

 propagation. I could probably receive the 

 seeds this fall; and as I have had some ex- 

 perience in grafting and budding I think 

 that, perhaps, I could get the real thing 

 with grafts and buds. 



The tree stands in my daughter's front 

 yard, and I can see nothing in its environ- 

 ment which would tend to make it blossom 

 later than other trees in its immediate 

 neighborhood. My daughter and her hus- 

 band say the tree has for the last three 

 years (the time which they have lived in 



this place) been the subject of remark by 

 themselves and neighbors on account of its 

 leaving out so late in the spring, some think- 

 ing it must be dead. 



I should be pleased to know if, in your 

 opinion, it would be of special value to bee- 

 keepers on account of its late blooming, and 

 also if it would be possible to sell budded or 

 grafted trees at a higher price than ordi- 

 nary basswoods sell for. The tree is located 

 in Albert Lea, Minn. G. W. Petrie. 



Fairmont, Minn. 



[The case you refer to is not an unusual 

 one. We have trees right in our own vicin- 

 ity that will blossom some three weeks 

 ahead of other trees. A good deal depends 

 upon location, the age of the tree, the soil, 

 and the watering, as to how early the tree 

 will blossom. It is, nevertheless, a fact that 

 some trees in the same location will bloom 

 earlier than others. —Ed.] 



A CHEAP AND STRONG HIVE-STAND; IS AN 



OPEN SHED A GOOD PLACE TO WINTER 



BEES? 



I give you plans of the hive-stands I use. 

 They are better, I think, and easier to set 

 than stakes. I use native black-oak boards 

 for end-pieces one inch thick, 8 wide, by 15 

 long. The middle piece is about 6 in. wide 

 by 15. These are nailed in this shape: H- 

 This makes a good cheap stand. The two 

 end-pieces fit under the entrance and back 

 of the hive. 



I have been a subscriber to Gleanings for 

 some time, and find it quite a help to me. I 

 wish some of the writers would give a little 

 more on natural swarming and comb honey, 

 and doubling small swarms. Last winter I 

 built an open shed 100 feet long and put my 

 bees under it after the first snow, but found 

 I had made a mistake after I had lost about 

 a third of my bees. I have about ten acres 

 of white and ten of alsike clover, and find 

 the alsike makes good hay as well as bee 

 pasturage. R. L. Webb. 



Waverly, Mo. 



[It is hardly probable that the shed was 

 the direct cause of the death of your bees. 

 If the back of the shed was closed up (as 

 most of such bee-sheds are), and faced the 

 direction of the prevailing winds, it would 

 really be a protection. Last winter was a 

 severe one for most localities, and the prob- 

 abilities are that the winter and not the 

 shed was responsible for the loss. The ex- 

 pense of a shed will generally buy a full set 

 of winter cases or chaff hives, and there is 

 no question but that either of the latter 

 would be far superior for outdoor winter- 

 ing.— Ed.] 



HOW MUCH honey DOES A COLONY OF BEES 

 CONSUME IN ONE YEAR ? 



Adrian Getaz, p. 531, puts the amount at 

 200 to 250 lbs. Now set over against this 

 the fact that Mr. Doolittle and others can 

 keep a colony about five months— Dec. 1 to 



