398 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15 



cost more than the honey is worth to get the 

 honey to mai'ket. 



Mangos, Cuba. 



[This was referred to Mr. W. K. Morrison, 

 who replies as follows:] 



Nearly all the points raised by this corre- 

 spondent have been answered already in the 

 pages of Gleanings, but it will do no harm 

 to go over the questions again. It was only 

 in the last issue of Gleanings Mr. Frank 

 Reiman, of Nueva Paz, Cuba, drew a picture 

 of wax-production in Cuba quite the oppo- 

 site of what Mr. Hochstein has given. For 

 its size, Cuba is an enormous producer of 

 beeswax, nearly all of which is produced in 

 what some may term "winter," but what 

 most Americans would be glad to call "sum- 

 mer." 



I suspect Mr. Hochstein is a Yankee who 

 likes to follow Yankee ways, even in the 

 tropics. My experience has been that, if it 

 was warm enough out of doors to secret nec- 

 tar, it was warm enough inside a hive for 

 wax-making. Mr. H. could possibly solve 

 some of his difficulties if he used an entrance 

 to the top story of his hives. He would 

 solve more problems if he used shallow 

 brood-chambers. Full sheets of foundation 

 in all brood-frames are also essential to suc- 

 cess. 



As to bags, three are quite enough for one 

 apiary — one in the press, one dripping, and 

 one being filled. As to the best material, 

 opinions differ. Some like cheese-cloth, 

 others use burlap. In Cuba one can pur- 

 chase a linen cloth used by women for fancy 

 work, which is strong and good. If too close 

 in a mesh, get one of the women who make 

 drawn work to pull some of the threads. 

 Don't apply the pressure too fast, or the bag 

 will burst. 



The honey expressed is fine, but it may be 

 used to feed back. But don't use any thing 

 but a very shallow brood-chamber for "feed- 

 ing back," and always add water before 

 feeding. You can do this in July and August. 



If Mr. Hochstein will examine the illustra- 

 tion by H. H. Root, on page 103, Jan. 15, 

 Fig. 8, he will see just how a bag is squeez- 

 ed. The plan is as old as the hills. I can't 

 say just how fast this method is, but it is cer- 

 tainly much faster than extracting, and much 

 cleaner, as thei'e is no uncapping. 



As to ants, the honey can be run right in- 

 to the barrels at once, and sealed up. By 

 the way, Mr. H., you have no ants in Cuba 

 worth talking about. You want to go to 

 South America for ants that really know their 

 business. — W. K. M. 



THE ASPINAVALL NON-SAVARMING 

 HIVE AS TESTED AT MEDINA. 



BY E. K. KOOT. 



On page 204 of Gleanings for 1906 I re- 

 ferred to a new non-swarming hive by Mr. 

 L. A. Aspinwall, of Jackson, Mich., a hive 

 that was exhibited at the Michigan State con- 

 vention that took place in that State a year 

 ago. It will be remembered I stated that, 



notwithstanding it was claimed to be a non- 

 swarmer, and of entirely new, and, I may 

 say, of odd construction, it attracted a good 

 deal of attention as well as favorable com- 

 ment on the part- of the old conservatives 

 present. 



A little later on, in the April 1st issue, we 

 gave a detailed description of it, together 

 with a series of illustrations. At the Mich- 

 igan convention referred to, Mr. Aspinwall 

 promised to send me a hive to test. This I 

 placed in the hands of our neighbor, Mr. 

 Vernon Burt, a specialist in the production 

 of comb honey in tall sections. I requested 

 him to put into it a rousing big colony — one 

 of the very best he had, and then force them 

 in every way possible up to a high state of 

 prosperity, so that, when the natural honey- 

 fiow should come on, its bees would swarm 

 unless the special construction of the hive 

 should remove entirely all desire for it. 



But, unfortunately, Mr. Burt had a rather 

 poor season. Very few if any of the colo- 

 nies in his regular hives swarmed; but in 

 order to make this one do so he gave it reg- 

 ular stimulative feeding. This he continued 

 until the honey-flow came on; and, even 

 after it began to lag, he commenced jam- 

 ming in the feed to determine whether or 

 not he could yet force the bees out. All his 

 efi'orts were unavailing, however. At no 

 time did they show any disposition to form 

 any swarming-cells, notwithstanding the 

 forcing I'eferred to. 



Mr. Burt requested me to come down and 

 see that colony. I arrived at the yard late 

 one summer afternoon; in fact, itwas getting 

 toward September. I took a couple of pho- 

 tographs, and the results are here shown. 

 No, that hive was so jammed full of bees 

 that they were actually crowded out of the 

 hive at the entrance. 1 might state that it 

 was very warm that afternoon. The honey- 

 flow had entirely ceased, and the bees were 

 loafing. We dissected the hive and then 

 took another view. 



To our newer readers I might explain that 

 this hive is no larger than any other hive, 

 although it has nearly twice the cubic capac- 

 ity of the regular hives with the same num- 

 ber of frames. 



The hive proper is a sort of skeleton on 

 which rest closed-end brood-frames. Two 

 side panels projecting a bee-space above the 

 frames close up the two outside combs, and 

 the closed ends of the frames shut out the 

 wind and weather at the ends. One cleat is 

 placed on top of each end of the frames to 

 close up the bee-space at the front and rear. 

 When the honey-board is set on top the 

 whole hive is enclosed. 



But the construction of the frame and the 

 slatted dividers are the two features that 

 constitute the peculiar construction of the 

 brood-nest. Between each brood-frame is 

 interposed what we may call a bee-spaced 

 dummy or slatted dummy, as called by the 

 inventor. These latter are made as follows: 



Perpendicular cleats | in. thick and g in. 

 apart, and one inch wide, edges toward the 

 combs, are secured to the top and bottom- 



