1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



153 



SNOW AT ENTRANCES ; BEE-CELLARS. 



I am a reader of Gleanings, and would 

 like to ask 3'ou a few questions. 1. Does 

 the snow that blows and stops the entrances 

 of the hives do any harm? 



2. Do bees ever get any pollen from bass- 

 wood? 



I want to put a bee-cellar under the kitch- 

 en of my house. I am going- to dig it 7 

 feet deep, and put up another wall. This 

 will make two walls. Will the noise over 

 them disturb them, or would you ceil over- 

 head and pack with sawdust? How large 

 should it be for 75 or 80 colonies? How 

 large a ventilator would you have come out 

 through the wall at the door, if any? It 

 registered 10 above zero outdoors, and 29 

 under the house, with a hole two feet square 

 in the wall. R. H. Swartz. 



Naples, N. Y. 



[1. No, not generally. Snow does no 

 harm around the entrances unless it melts 

 and then freezes, making a hard crust over 

 the entrances, or, worse still, freezing them 

 up entirely. In our locality we never pay 

 any attention to snow. On the contrary we 

 like to have it banked around the hives. 



2. I am not sure, but I think they do. 



Make your cellar as large as possible. 

 There will be no danger of your getting it 

 too large for 75 or 80 colonies. The cubic 

 capacitj' of the cellar should be large in 

 proportion to the number of colonies it will 

 actuallj' hold so far as room is concerned. 

 I would not have any ventilator in the door. 

 Open and close the door at night when it is 

 warm outside. Nor would I have any 

 windows in the cellar if you desire to make 

 it suitable for bees. Windows cause too 

 much of a variation in temperature. — Ed.] 



hive-bodies; what depth is prefer- 

 able, JUMBO, LANOSTROTH, OR DAN- 

 ZEN BAKER? 



I wish you would tell us the result of 3'our 

 trial of Jumbo hives. The last I saw in re- 

 gard to them you said thej'^ were "boomers;" 

 but I believe you did not tell us how they 

 compare with the eight-frame hives in regard 

 to yield of honey. Unless I can run on to 

 some second-hand hives I shall have to get 

 some new ones for another summer, and I 

 am at a standstill to know what size to get. 

 I think I should like the Danzenbaker for 

 the first season; but when the bees come to 

 breed up the following spring I am afraid 

 the hives would be too small unless doubled 

 up. Could you tell us what is the practice 

 of Mr. Vernon Burt and others who are us- 

 ing this particular hive? Where one does 

 not wish to double up hive-bodies in the 

 spring, would not the regular ten-frame 

 Dovetail be preferable? E. B. Weston. 



Auburn, N. Y. 



[The answer to your question depends 

 much on locality. If j-ou lived in Cuba or 

 in Texas, I might advise j'ou to use Jumbo 

 hives. While personally I like such hives, 

 the frames are deeper than regular Lang- 



stroth, and can not be used with standard 

 hives. All things considered for your lo- 

 cality, I would advise the ten-frame Lang- 

 stroth hive, providing extracted honey were 

 the object. If you desire to produce comb 

 honey, I would recommend first the Dan- 

 zenbaker, then next the eight-frame Dove- 

 tailed Langstroth hive. If the Danzenbaker 

 brood-nest is too small part of the season, 

 it can be-easily doubled up in the breeding 

 season, and then, just before the honey- flow, 

 contracted to one brood-chamber. If 3^ou 

 do not like to double up, the ten-frame 

 would be better, perhaps; but it is not 

 nearlj' so good a hive for comb honey as 

 the Danzenbaker. Just what Mr. Vernon 

 Burt's practice is, I do not know. He dou- 

 bles up with some colonies, possibly; but 

 the Danzenbaker brood nest is no smaller 

 in cubic capacity than the eight-frame 

 Dovetailed hive, and it is not ordinarily the 

 practice to double up the Dovetailed. If 

 3'ou desire to produce comb honey, and your 

 market calls for deep sections, I would rec- 

 ommend to you the Danzenbaker system 

 throughout. — Ed. ] 



1. How soon, after making a forced swarm, 

 can I introduce a fertile queen to the parent 

 stock? 



2. Are your red-clover queens Italian? 



3. Does cotton-plant secrete much honey? 

 and what grade would you class it? 



Oenaville, Tex. J. W. Griffin. 



[1. You can do so immediatelj% but 3'ou 

 should make sure that all cells and virgin 

 queens, if any, are disposed of. In ordi- 

 nary practice there will probably be no 

 cells, and 3'ou could introduce a new queen 

 in the parent colony the same or the next 

 day; that is, the queen could be caged on 

 the same day that the colony received the 

 shaking. 



2. Our red-clover queens are reared from 

 Italian stock. The old original red-clover 

 mother came from Itah'. 



3. Yes, some honey, but just how much I 

 do not know. While it is regarded as a 

 white honey, the flavor is a little off for ta- 

 ble use. That we have handled had to go 

 to the manufacturers. Cotton honey has a 

 tendenc3' to foam — just wh3', no one knows; 

 and that makes it rather objectionable for 

 bottling or for any table use. — Ed.] 



Wh3' not advise adjusting a bic3'cle-pump 

 for testing honey-barrels before waxing, in 

 place of the lungs? Few men are such good 

 blowers, except when it comes to blowing 

 their own horn. C. F. Haeger. 



Hill City, Tenn., Dec. 17. 



[A bic3'cle-pump would tfo ver3' nicely; 

 but the rubber tubing should be mounted in 

 a cork just large enough to fit the bunghole 

 of the barrel ; then when the barrel is 

 pumped full of air — enough so that v'ou can 

 hear a hissing around an3' possible leak — 

 let the cork and pump stand in the bung, 

 then proceed to drive the hoops down until 



