1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



685 



these insects would collect in great num- 

 bers. Frank Benton. 

 Washington, D. C, June 27. 



A CASE WHERE FORMALIN GAS DID NOT 

 KILL ALL OF THE MOTH-LARV.K. 



I have used formalin gas according to 

 the directions on page 537, for disinfecting 

 combs infected with foul brood, and find 

 that, in whatever way I use it, it does not 

 kill a/I the moth-larvae, but some of the new- 

 ly hatched bees. 



I do not use a cupboard, but stack up the 

 hives and paint the cracks up air-tight. I 

 have the generator connected with the hives 

 wiih a rubber hose about 18 inches long. 

 "Would it be possible for an^'^ of the gas to 

 escape through the rubber while heated by 

 the gas passing through it? Do you think 

 the combs would be thoroughly disinfected 

 if an}' moth- larvae are still alive? I do not 

 think the gas was weak, for I use lialf a tea- 

 cupful at a time, and have only four or five 

 hives treated at a time. 



Would it not be possible for the formalin 

 gas to destroy only germs, etc., and still 

 leave alive more highly organized forms of 

 life? Clyde Miller. 



Cranberry, Pa., June 30. 



[I should not suppose that j'our fumigat- 

 ing-box or hive was tight enough to do 

 very thorough work. A gas that would be 

 strong enough to kill the bacilli of foul 

 brood in sealed cells would, I should sup- 

 pose, be sure to kill any thing like a moth- 

 miller. Better look over your directions 

 more carefully, for I think you will find 

 you did not get your gas strong enough or 

 the box was not tight enough.— Ed.] 



LENGTH OF TIME A QUEEN CAN LIVE 

 caged; HOW TO GET AT THE DIMEN- 

 SIONS OF STANDARD HIVES. 



I have looked through Gleanings, -from 

 Januarj', 1901, to the present issue, and 

 also the ABC book, and I have been un- 

 able to find any statement as to the approx- 

 imate maximum limit of time that a queen 

 can be safely kept confined (with very few 

 bees) away from enough nurse bees and a 

 comb for her to lay in. I do remember 

 reading that one queen was on a trip to 

 Australia 37 days. Is that about the max- 

 imum? And for such a detention from a 

 comb may she be taken directly from her 

 hardest work at laying? Does it not harm 

 her to stop the egg-laying so suddenly? 



I have now only 11 colonies, but 25 hives, 

 all homemade. These hives are exactly in 

 dimension with standard hives, but are 

 made of soap-boxes and meat-boxes. The 

 information I wish is, where in the ABC 

 are exact dimensions of all standard hives 

 given? I think that the book ought to con- 

 tain, besides its working drawings, the in- 

 side details mentioned, so that bee-men may 

 have all their information in their bee-ency- 

 clopedia. Without having a ten-frame hive 

 to copy, I obtained the inside width with 



much difficulty; and I am even now not 

 sure I am right. The only hint I could get 

 was a statement by the editor that a half- 

 inch plus the width of ten frames for ten- 

 frame hives was allowed, and this was 

 found in answer to an inquirer last sum- 

 mer in Gleanings. How about those 

 twelve and sixteen frame hives? I keep 

 bees only for experiment and recreation, 

 and wish to try these larger sizes. 



Jos. G. Baier. 

 New Brunswick, N. J., July 9. 



[We do not give exact dimensions for mak- 

 ing hives in our A B C of Bee Culture, and 

 you will see the reason why if you read the 

 chapter and the article on Hive-making. 

 There are very few people who can work 

 from dimensions or drawings, and the bet- 

 ter way is for the average person to send 

 and get a sample of the hive in the flat, 

 such as he desires to copy, and then work 

 from the pieces of this. The dimensions of 

 the di^erent fratnes that are in use are giv- 

 en under head of Hives. You can get ap- 

 proximately the dimensions of a hive by 

 adding ^4 inch to the outside length of a 

 frame. Tliis will give the inside length of 

 a hive. If you add '4 inch to the depth of 

 the hive, that will give the depth of it. The 

 width depends upon the number of frames. 

 Frames are spaced l>'s inches from center 

 to center. Decide on the number of frames 

 you desire to use, then add ji inch to allow 

 for bee-space on each side, and this will 

 give 3'ou the width of the hive. But, as I 

 said before, your better way would be to 

 get a hive and then work from that; other- 

 wise you will come to grief. 



As to the length of time that a queen can 

 live in a cage without comb, all depends 

 upon the age of the queen and the kind of 

 usage to which she has been subjected dur- 

 ing the time. We have had queens confined 

 in our office as a matter of experiment, 

 with a dozen bees, for five or six weeks, and 

 a cage of bees and a queen may be put in 

 a hive, and sometimes live all winter. — 

 Ed.] 



soap-shaker for clipped queens; meth- 

 od of hiving swarms; number of bees . 



in a pound. 

 Instead of using a cage made out of a 

 section, like H. Piper's, page 535, I take a 

 soap-shaker (those little cages that are 

 used with a piece of soap in to make suds 

 for washing dishes and clothes). They 

 open and shut like clam-shells. The long 

 wire handle can be used to hang them up 

 by. 



In using, I cage the clipped queen (I 

 have my queens all clipped) by picking her 

 up in my hand and allowing her to run in- 

 to the side that is nearest to the flying bees, 

 turning the wire-cloth side toward them; 

 and when she is trying to get out through 

 the meshes I shut the cage up and fasten 

 the jaws together by adjusting the tin fas- 

 tener that holds them together. I like this 

 cage better then Mr. Piper's, because I can 



