410 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15 



as I wrote them in pencil, and they are not 

 very easy to read; but they are correct to 

 within a day or two. 



It may be well for me to explain what I 

 mean by sti'ong and weak. A colony mark- 

 ed V. s. would be overtlowing with bees; one 

 marked v. w. would have two frames covei*- 

 ed pretty thoroughly with bees. I have never 

 had one weaker than that. 



Cannington Manor, Saskatchewan, Can. 



WET BEE CELLARS. 



The Alexander Method for Weak Colonies. 



BY E. TARR. 



I have been interested lately in reading 

 the various ideas about wintering bees in 

 cellars. While I always try to get my bees 

 into the cellar as quietly as possible, I know 

 of two bee-keepers near here who load tbe 

 hives on to a two-horse sled and havil them 

 to the cellar door, and their bees winter 

 finely. 



I knew a man who had one colony, and 

 he put it on the bottom of a truck-wag- 

 on without springs, and hauled it nearly six 

 miles over the frozen ground to put it into a 

 cellar. It wintered finely, and the next sea- 

 son that colony with its increase produced 

 over 100 lbs. of comb honey. 



The first year that I used my present bee- 

 cellar the bottom was very wet and muddy* 

 when we put the bees in, for we did not get 

 it built until the last of November, and it 

 was a very wet fall. The following March 

 there was a heavy rainstorm; and as the 

 lower end of 'the drain was frozen up the 

 water came into the cellar over ]| feet deep, 

 close up to the bottom- boards of the hives. 

 The water stayed 34 hours before we got the 

 drain open and drew it off. The bees win- 

 tered finely. 



While not advocating these ways of win- 

 tering, I am merely stating facts. 



HEAVY COLONIES FOR COMB HONEY. 



I have been quite successful in producing 

 comb honey, and for years have been in the 

 habit of uniting all new swarms except those 

 that came out very early. We generally put 

 three or four into one hive and gave them 

 from three to five supers of sections. While 

 they would store honey very fast (in one 

 case 80 lbs. in 8 days), most of them would 

 swarm in about ten days and leave a lot of 

 unfinished sections. The last few years I 

 have been raising the hive up an inch from 

 the bottom-board all around, and it works to 

 a charm. The best one last summer made 

 150 finished sections. 



THE ALEXANDER 5IETHOI) OF BUILDING UP 

 W^EAK COLONIES IN THE SPRING. 



Last spring I tried Alexander's method 

 with weak colonies, putting them on top of 

 very strong colonies. It worked nicely, ex- 

 cept in two cases. On one sti'ong colony 

 there was a small hole in the side of the hive 

 so the queen-excluder did not fit well, and 



the queen in the upper hive came up miss- 

 ing. One weak colony I took off too soon. 

 I think the method is all right if we use com- 

 mon sense when we practice it. 

 Napleton, Me. 



A SYMPOSIUM OF OPINIONS ON 



THE ALEXANDER PLAN OP BUILD- 

 ING UP AVEAK COLONIES. 



[Few things that we have ever published have at- 

 tracted more widespread attention than the Alexan- 

 der method of uniting' weak colonies. Many have 

 succeeded, and some others have failed. Apparently 

 there is so much to be gained by the method that, if 

 one can make a success of it. it will pay him well to 

 see whether he can discover the cause of failure. 

 The subjoined reports, favorable and unfavorable, 

 winding- up with an editorial footnote, may serve to 

 point out the difficulty. — Ed.] 



AVill it AVork in Every Instance? More 

 Details Needed for Some Localities. 



BY F. A. BECKETT. 



I have noted several times in the last few 

 issues of Gleanings the success and failure 

 of various bee-keepers who have experiment- 

 ed with the Alexander jjlan of building up 

 weak colonies in spring. I set my bees out 

 of the cellar April 2 (4(3 colonies), and they 

 did not have a day warm enough for a fiight 

 until about the fifth or sixth of the month; 

 but when that time came we had several 

 nice warm days in succession. April 10 I 

 selected five of my weakest colonies, each 

 one having perhaps a pint of bees with one 

 frame containing sealed brood in the center, 

 a patch on both sides in the form of a cii'cle, 

 and about four inches across. These five 

 colonies were placed on top of five of my 

 strongest ones, which were rich in stores, 

 and had six of those ten frames containing 

 brood, and well covered with bees. All in- 

 structions were carefully carried out in each 

 and every detail; and after reading Mr. 

 Alexander's article in the Nov. 1st issue, p. 

 1357, I can see no place where I could have 

 done differently and made any improvement, 

 as I understood him perfectly in his first 

 article. Ten days after doubling them up I 

 made examination of all of them with fol- 

 lowing results. All five colonies above the 

 excluders had ceased operations — brood de- 

 serted, and queens missing or dead. All 

 stores had been carried below, and, so far as 

 as I could see they had simply united below 

 in one strong swarm. 



Now, Mr. Editor, to be fair in the matter, 

 let me state that I have gained considerable 

 knowledge by reading various articles writ- 

 ten by Mr. Alexander; and while I have no 

 doubt he succeeds in this operation in his 

 locality I can not be convinced that it will 

 work in (til localities. There are certain 

 conditions that vary. I. will give it another 

 trial this coming spi'ing, but on a smaller 

 scale, and I would advise others who wish 

 to ti-y it to be very cautious and not put too 

 many colonies into the experiment unless 

 they have them to spare. If this manipula- 



