IJ THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



102 



suits of bis experiments on wintering 



bees. 



I believe bis conclusions are sound, 

 and important to all bee-keepers. It is 

 ti.e strong colony tbat will stand tbe 

 frosts of winter. 



But tbere is one otber conclusion, 

 drawn from bis experiments, wbicb he 

 does not mention, and wbicb. to me, is 

 very convincing. 



It seems it was the Bingham hive, 

 not so very strong of itself, which ex- 

 cited his admiration, and to which he 

 calls special attention. 



This hive had four sections in its di- 

 visable brood chamber, each one of 

 which, rising one above the other, had 

 frames 51/2 inches deep which is equiv- 

 alent to one set of frames 22 inches 

 deep. The fact that it bad four parts 

 does not change the condition. 



This hive then, which beat all the 

 rest, had frames 22 inches deep, which 

 proves my notion tbat the deep frame 

 is better for wintering bees than the 

 shallow. Yours truly, 



C. M. Herring. 



Haverhill. N. H., April 11, 1904. 

 Editor American Bee-Keeper: 



My brother and I have been together, 

 subscribers of the Bee-Keeper for tbe 

 last year and have read it with great 

 interest. This spring I find that I have 

 lost thirty per cent of my bees. In the 

 colonies that were dead, wherever the 

 bees were on the comb it molded it 

 quite badly. Now if the ends of the 

 cells where the mold is, is cut oi¥, will 

 it be all right to use again? I do not 

 want to do anything that will bring 

 disease among my bees. Please let 

 me know anything that Avill help to 

 keep bees in a healthy condition. I 

 want to use what old comb I can, but 

 not to tbe detriment of my bees. 



Tbanking you in advance for any 

 favor. I remain, your truly, 



P. .1. Burbeck. 



It will be all right to use tbe moldy 

 combs as indicated, or a hive-body full 

 of them might be set over a good strong 

 colony to clean up and care for until 

 needed. Tbe greater danger, in hand- 

 ling such stuff, arises from tbe prob- 

 ability of inducing robbing in tbe api- 

 ary, by unduly exposing tiie honey. If 

 due precaution is taken against this 

 menacing evil, no other bad results are 

 liable to follow. — Editor. 



May, 



Hegg, Wis., March 23, 1904. 

 Editor Bee-Keeper: 



I wish to ask a favor in regard to 

 honey: First, do you think it best to 

 extract or to sell the honey in the 

 comb, when the market is poor for 

 comb honey? Second, is it necessary 

 to have loose bottoms in tbe hives, for 

 desti'oying queen cells? If you can give 

 me a little advice upon these questions 

 in the Bee-Keeper, I will be very thank, 

 ful. Sincerely yours, 



Theodore Qualley. 

 If tbe object of the producer is cash, 

 it is, oliviously, tbe part of wisdom to 

 produce tbe kind of honey most readily 

 converted into cash. Tbe production 

 of merchantable extracted honey does 

 not require so much skill as does the 

 production of comb honey of a high 

 grade; and it is less expensive perhaps, 

 as well. We should say, "go in" for 

 tbat wbicb sells most I'eadily at a 

 profitable figure. 



As the writer is accustomed to han- 

 dle bees, it is very rare tbat we have 

 to manipulate a colony expressly for 

 tbe purpose of destroying queen cells; 

 and we fail to see tbat a loose bottom- 

 board woTild in anywise facilitate the 

 work when it is necessary. We prefer 

 a loose bottom, however, and to have 

 iipjter and lower stories alike, and in- 

 terchangeable. As a means of pre- 

 venting swarming, it is not safe to 

 depend upon the efficiency of removing 

 tbe queen cells tbat may be along tbe 

 bottom bar of tbe brood chamber. 

 Others may be located higher up, and 

 out of reach; and it is, therefore, nec- 

 essary to withdraw tbe frames for 

 examination; hence we think the mat- 

 ter of bottom boards, permanent or re- 

 movable, has no practical bearing up- 

 on tbe question. — Editor. 



Cornplanter, Pa., March 1, 1904. 

 Editor American Bee-Keeper: 



I am a beginner in bee-keeping, and 

 would like to ask you liow I may keep 

 my bees from sticking tbe super to the 

 bod.v of the hive. Last summer they 

 would stick them together so it was 

 very bard to get them apart at all. 

 The bees are in ordinary dove-tailed 

 hives and have wild feed. I tried 

 greasing the super but with poor suc- 

 cess. Yours ti-ul.v. 



Alice E. Holmes.. 



Though it is a habit common to 



