316 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 1 



til I read the article hj Dr. Lyon in the Jan. 

 15th issue. 



Those of you who have light colonies to 

 feed in cold weather, please try this method 

 of feeding; and if you are as successful as we 

 have always been you will never again try to 

 make any candy for winter feeding. 



We used to feed some sugar in this way 

 after they were taken from the cellar in the 

 spring, but we now prefer feeding a thin liq- 

 uid syrup in our feeders for stimulating 

 brood-rearing. 



The colonies we have fed with loaf sugar 

 as above described have always been in the 

 cellar. It might not work quite as well out- 

 doors in very cold weather. Still, if they 

 were well covered up I think it would be a 

 safe way to feed. 



Feeding in any way in cold weather is 

 rather poor bee-keeping; but it can be done 

 as above stated, with but little trouble and 

 seldom any loss. 



With due respect to friend Greiner I must 

 beg to differ with him as to the value of 

 queen-excluders in producing extracted hon- 

 ey. Years ago. previous to their invention, 

 we had much trouble with brood in the ex- 

 tracting-supers, and the large amount of un- 

 capped brood that was usually destroyed 

 when extracting was a serious obstacle in 

 the way of securing strong full colonies, 

 which are always necessary in order to ac- 

 quire a large surplus. We also lost many 

 valuable queens, as they were fi-equently 

 shaken or brvished so far from their hives 

 that many failed to return. But with good 

 excluders the brood is all kept out of the ex- 

 tracting-combs and allowed to mature. 

 Therefore we have much stronger colonies 

 to extract from, and, consequently, far more 

 surplus. 



Then our queens are safe from harm, which 

 is no small matter when you expect every 

 colony to produce its part of a large surplus. 



IS THE SIZE OF THE PERFORATIONS COR- 

 RECT? 



We use the wood slatted excluders with 

 metal strips, such as are now manufactured. 

 We have about 300 excluders with Dr. Tin- 

 ker's metal, also some 700 of the Root perfor- 

 ation of recent make, which contain holes 

 through the metal as near the proper size. I 

 think, as is possible to make them. I am 

 sure I should not want them a hair's breadth 

 larger or smaller; and, although we have 

 never noticed any trouble with the worker 

 bees passing through, it is very seldom the 

 queen goes through. - 



As to the different races of bees varying 

 in size, as Editor Root speaks of, I will say 

 our bees are Italians, and have been bred 

 from the best honey-gathering strains we 

 could procure for more than 20 years. I am 

 sure we would not care to produce extracted 

 honey again without excluders, even if they 

 cost live times as much as they do, for we 

 think we get enough more surplus by using 

 them than we could without — more than to 

 pay their cost every every season. As we 

 manage our bees they are worth a great deal 



to us; but I can see that, as some manage 

 theirs, excluders would be almost a nuisance. 

 The real value of all these things is in the 

 way they are used. 

 Delanson, N. Y. 



[This loaf-sugar method for winter feeding 

 is a very easy one to put into application. 

 With many of our subscribers it would not 

 be necessary to make this two-inch rim, but 

 use instead the ordinary comb-honey super. 

 If the space above were tilled up with a chaff 

 cushion, one would have an ideal ai'range- 

 ment. 



When the writer was in Canada he called 

 on Mr. F. J. Miller, of London, Ont. He had 

 tried the queen-cage candy made by mixing 

 powdered sugar and honey into a stiff dough, 

 and had the unpleasant experience of killing 

 a lot of colonies, for the candy absorbed the 

 moisture from the cluster, and softened and 

 ran down on to the frames, daubing the bees 

 and finally killing the colony. 



The only way that this kind of candy can 

 be given at all would be in shallow tin pans, 

 where, if it softened, it could not run over 

 and kill the bees. Even then it would be 

 better to use loaf sugar or dry hard candy. 



One bee-keeper in Canada said he had been 

 feeding liquid syrup, and he had no unpleas- 

 ant experience from such syrup stirring up 

 the bees. But in view of the reports we have 

 had, our bee-keeping friends should avoid 

 liquid feed, and use dry sugar or hard candy 

 as we described. 



On the subject of perforated zinc, our 

 readers are referred to an editorial elsewhere 

 on that subject. — Ed.] 



THE DEEP VS. THE SHALLOW HIVE. 



Calcium Chloride in a Bee-cellar not a Suc- 

 cess; the Spelling Reform. 



BY C. P. DADANT. 



I have read the article on "Horizontally 

 Divisible Brood-chambers," written by Mr. 

 J. A. Green, page 23, in reply to my article 

 to you published in the September 1st issue. 



I think neither Mr. Green nor others in- 

 terested in this matter realize the fact that 

 we are making our observations from a dif- 

 ferent standpoint. Those who are accustom- 

 ed to the use of the Langstroth size of frame 

 are comparing one shallow frame with anoth- 

 er shallow frame. That is to say, in our 

 comparisons Mr. Green and others are bas- 

 ing their views upon the difference in results 

 between a nine-inch frame and a seven-inch 

 frame, while mine are based upon the com- 

 parison between this same seven-inch frame 

 and an llj-inch frame. In other woi'ds, you 

 are comparing two shallow frames with one 

 another. I hold that the deep frame is the 

 only one which may fitly be used for com- 

 parison, beceuse the hive which contains this 

 frame is the only hive with which 07ily one 

 body is sufficient for all breeding purposes, 

 while it is well established that the average 

 ten-frame Langstroth hive itself is not sum- 



