1244 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 1 



these little frames, showing that 200 bees 

 were not sufficient to keep up the body heat. 



Aside from these objections these little 

 mating-boxes were an unqualified success. 



We present a view showing one of our 

 baby-nucleus mating-yards out in the open. 

 The boxes are put up on little wooden 

 crosses secured to the same by means of 

 staples hooked over on nailheads, a la Pratt. 

 Through the top of the mating-box is a hole 

 just large enough to admit a circular queen- 

 cage or a little feed-bottle with a slot in the 

 cork. The purpose of these little bottle 

 feeders was to give these little clusters a 

 small amount of feed— just enough to tide 

 them over the dearth of honey. 



Those who are at all familiar with the 

 Pratt system will remember that six of 

 those little brood- frames are fitted inside of 

 a Langstroth standard frame. A set of 

 these large frames so filled are put into a 

 standard hive with a good force of bees and 

 a queen. As soon as they are filled with 

 capped honey and brood in all stages, the 

 miniature frames are pushed out of the 

 large ones with adhering bees, and hooked 

 on to the cover of a baby nucleus by means 

 of bent staples. This hatching brood with 

 a good supply of capped honey tends to make 

 the bees contented. They are put into the 

 box and shut up for two days. 



But the plan that we usually preferred 

 was to make up these baby nuclei at an out- 

 yard from sectional frames fitted into large 

 standard frames; then when these boxes of 

 bees were brought to the home yard they 

 would stay right where they were placed. 



The small engraving shows an enlarged 

 view of the baby-nucleus box with the cover 

 and its adhering frames lifted off for the 

 purpose of inspection. If the queen is not 

 found on the two outside surfaces, the Hd 

 will sit down on the top of the hive, bottom 

 side up. One of the frames will be un- 

 hooked, leaving all the surface of the little 

 combs exposed to view. 



While we do not condemn the Pratt baby 

 nuclei, yet the two or three defects already 

 enumerated call for som% shght changes. I 

 now believe it would be better to have these 

 nuclei a little larger, and made in pairs, so 

 that the combined heat of the two clusters 

 would be utiUzed, thus making practically 

 two forces of bees out of one cluster, each 

 rearing its own queen. Instead of making 

 the little frames, six to the L., we have 

 concluded that a size of three to the L. 

 frame, the divisions made on perpendicular 

 lines, will give better results. This is the 

 size that was adopted years ago by Mr. 

 Frank Benton in the government apiaries, 

 and found to be entirely satisfactory. De- 

 tachable metal projections, or ears, the 

 same as he uses, are secured to the top-bar 

 after the little frames are filled with comb 

 and brood in the large frames so that they 

 can be hung in a double baby nucleus like 

 ordinary loose unspaced frames. 



From some preliminary tests of these 

 double nuclei this fall we have concluded 

 that there will not need to be any renewing 



of bees, and that the brood can be reared 

 right through the season, and that mating 

 will go on the same as in the smaller nuclei. 

 As a queen will have just twice the egg- 

 laying room, or the exact equivalent of two- 

 thirds of a Langstroth frame, it will not be 

 necessary to get her out of the box the very 

 day she begins to lay. Then the force of 

 bees will be twice as strong, and this in 

 turn will be practically doubled, since one 

 cluster, separated from another by a very 

 thin board partition, will have all the heat 

 units of a cluster four times as large as 

 the original Pratt size. While these double 

 boxes will cost slightly more than the small 

 Pratt nuclei, they will be very much warmer 

 and more satisfactory in every way. 



THE BEES ON THE ROOF OF OUR OFFICE 

 BUILDING IN NEW YORK. 



A Brief History of the Celebrated Case between 



the Root Company and the Candy-man; 



Other Cities where Bees are 



Kept on the Roof. 



BY E. R. ROOT. 



Our readers have not forgotten the noto- 

 riety that The A. I. Root Co. received at the 

 hands of the general press concerning the 

 bees on the roof of our office building in the 

 city of New York. As is probably well 

 known, we have a branch oflSce in the 

 metropolis, where we keep carloads of 

 supplies for distribution to foreign ports as 

 well as for the local trade. We occupy the 

 second, third, and fourth floors, and, until a 

 month or so ago, occupied the roof with some 

 forty or more colonies. These were put 

 there as a reserve for filling orders for bees 

 and queens, and for the purpose of making 

 demonstrations to prospective customers. 

 But it so happened that there was a candy- 

 man in the city, by the name of Loft, hav- 

 ing something like 300 girls making candy 

 in a three-story building within a stone's 

 throw of the aforesaid roof. Unfortunately, 

 our bees were in the wake of the prevailing 

 wind; and whenever Mr. Candyman was 

 boilmg his big vats of sweetness the mellif- 

 luous odors would be wafted across our roof 

 apiary. Apparently the bees paid but little 

 attention to this until there came a dearth 

 of nectar, and then they made it apparent 

 that they liked candy as well as did those 

 sweet little lasses across the way who make 

 the stuff; but those aforesaid lasses did not 

 Hke the bees, and would strike at them. 

 Some of them were stung, so it was alleged. 

 Mr. Candyman complained to the Board of 

 Health that the bees were a nuisance— 

 that they were eating up his candy, sting- ' 

 ing his girls, and hindering his work. In- 

 stead of coming to us, he went straightway 

 to the Board of Health, which, unfortunate- 

 ly in this case, has more authority than the 

 Supreme Court. Indeed, I have been told it 

 could even order down the City Hall if it 

 saw fit to do so. 



