1935 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1141 



from the pleasure derived from the pursuit, the remu- 

 nerati-n is satisfactory. Bee-keeping is fascinating: to 

 one whose heart is in the avocation, and one must love 

 his bees to make a success of the business; and every 

 progressive bee-keeper realizes the benefits to be de- 

 rived from taking at least two bee- journals and reading 

 the standard bee-books. There is no place more de- 

 lightful for bee-keeping than the coast country of 

 South Alabama. We not only have the bee pa=turage, 

 but. besides, we have fish and oysters in abundance, a 

 lovely climate all the year round, where the winters are 

 mild and the summer heat is tempered by the refresh- 

 ing sea breeze that is so pleasant and invigorating "in 

 the good old summer time." Oscar S. Rush. 



I 



COMB HONEY ATTACHED TO FENCES IN 

 SUPER. 



Would you be so kind as to p:ive me a little 

 advice on the following? On the 1st of June 

 I put into a Danzenbaker hive a g-ood sized 

 swarm. I examined it to-day. The bees 

 have almost the 32 sections capped over ex- 

 cept the two outer rows of cells; but they 

 have connected the sections and the fences 

 with lumps of comb so that, when I take 

 out a section, that lump of comb tears off, 

 leaving: a bad scar on the section of honey, 

 which starts to ooze out. The lump of comb 

 sticks to the fence. I gave them another 

 super with sections, and put it between the 

 brood- chamber and the filled super. Was 

 that correct? How can I remedy the other 

 sections that are glued to the fences? 

 Would it be a good idea to take all the sec- 

 tion ^ out that are glued to the fence, clean 

 the fence, put it all back on the hive, and 

 let the bees repair the scars on the sections? 

 Would the bees glue them back again, even 

 now, while they got more room to build comb 

 in the other super? H. Stock. 



Augusta, Mo., Aug. 12. 



[In rare instances we have had reports 

 something as you describe, and I can only 

 lay it to a tendency in the particular strain 

 of bees to make such comb attachments. 

 Such bees will build brace and burr combs in 

 the brood- nest in profusion. A year or so 

 ago a correspondent reported that there was 

 just one colony in a hundred that he had 

 that would do this. Thinking the difficulty 

 came from that strain of bees he requeened, 

 and the following year he had no further 

 trouble. But there are other conditions that 

 may cause the bees to build these combs— 

 that is. a crowding of the super unnecessa- 

 rily. When they have jammed every thing 

 full, and still lack room, they will be pretty 

 sure to chink in wax in any old place. We 

 can bardlv say the fence separator is more 

 inviting for these comb attachments than 

 the old-style separator, for comb attach- 

 ments have been made on the latter just the 

 same. — Ed.] 



THE LAST VIRGINS WILL SOMETIMES GO OUT 

 WITH THE SWARM. 



In regard to last virgin queens leaving 

 hives with swarms, page 775. I will give 

 some experience. Three years ago I killed 

 the queens in about 75 colonies to prevent 

 swarming. After the brood was sealed I 

 cut out every queen-cell but one in each col- 

 ony. From the time the queens hatched till 



they began to lay, about a third swarmed 

 and had to be rehived. In no case could I 

 ever find anv siarns of a queen in the hive 

 they left. To be quite sure, I did not re- 

 turn the swarm to several hives, and inva- 

 riably they were found to be queenless. I 

 have had experience other seasons to con- 

 firm the conclusion that last virgin queens 

 will sometimes swarm. While the season 

 was abnormal for swarms, there was nothing 

 abnormal about the hives. There was an 

 eight-frame brood-story with an excluder, 

 and from one to three eight-f-ame L. ex- 

 tracting-supers above it, all m >stly in the 

 shade. C. G. LUFT. 



Forest, Ohio. 



HIVE TOOL MADE FROM A SKIMMER-HANDLE. 

 I send you a tool which is of great useful- 

 ness to me in the removal of propolis from 

 edges of end-bars, tops of frames, and al- 

 most all places about a hive. It is just 

 right to 1 losen the frames and draw them 

 to you. I can very easily clean the frames 



SHARP 



as they hang in the hive, or when I have 

 them out. I can do the work quicker, bet- 

 ter, and easier than with any thing else I 

 have ever seen or heard of. I made this 

 from the handle of an old skimmer; and the 

 more I use it the more I am convinced that 

 it is as near right in size, weight, and 

 length, as I want. Frank McGlade.. 



Pataskala, Ohio, Aug. 2. 



PRIORITY EIGHTS TO LOCATION. 



One of my neighbors wishes to make a 

 start with bees, and I have agreed to g've 

 him bees and queens to start five hives. The 

 fact that he is near my bees makes no differ- 

 ence with nie. I di.^agree with Dr. Miller. 

 I do not believe that I have more right ta 

 the flowers of the surrounding country than 

 has my neighbor, even if I have got the 

 first start. H. J, IsMON. 



Trinidad, Cuba, June 19. 



If a strong colony should be shaken on 

 starters, and a super with full sheets of 

 foundation in sections be given, would the 

 queen lav in the sections? 



Rushville, Ind. H. B. Wilson. 



[Not unless the foundation in sections had 

 been drawn out. and probably not then. It 

 takes a good deal of forcing to get a queen 

 under any circumstances to lay in sections. 

 -Ed.] 



Try outdoor feeding in as large a recepta- 

 cle as a hive, using a float and one or sev- 

 eral entrances connected to a bee entrance, 

 and several with the entrance the same as 

 to a hive. I have used this more or less for 

 several years. G. .F. Ayres. 



Atherton, Ind. 



