1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



643 



production of comb honey, and have used it 

 successfully for the past four or five years. 

 I fully agree with him in regard to the bees 

 building up more rapidly in the spring in 

 this hive than in any other, but I beg to dif- 

 fer with him in his statement that they will 

 build all ivorker comb from starters only. 

 To me this has been a serious objection to 

 the hive. The frames not being piei'ced for 

 wiring I have not been able to use full sheets 

 of foundation; and every season, but more 

 especially the last one, I would find two or 

 three frames of worker comb, and the rest 

 all drone comb. If there is any way to rem- 

 edy this, other than using full sheets of 

 foundation, I should be glad to know it. A 

 hive and super that has hand-holes on the 

 sides as well as back and front would be 

 much easier for a woman to handle. 



When Mr E. R Root attended our Minne- 

 sota convention some two years ago he prom- 

 ised to bear this in mind, but we have not 

 seen it remedied yet. 



"I believe the Danzenbaker super to be 

 the ideal one for the production of perfect 

 sections of comb honey, and I shall certainly 

 try for one of the prizes otfered in a late is- 

 sue of Gleanings." 



If Mr. Stanley has tried to extract from 

 the Danzenbaker frames without their being 

 wired i hope he has had better success than 

 I have had; for, nine times out of ten, I tind 

 the frame minus the comb when taken from 

 the extractor. 



A woman who cares for 35 or 40 colonies 

 has not the time to pierce every frame for 

 wiring when making up her hives. So, 

 please tell us how to have all worker comb 

 from starters, or pierce the frames so we can 

 use full sheets. 



Minneapolis, Minn. 



[It is not true, according to general re- 

 ports, that the Danzenbaker frame would be 

 any more immune to the building of drone 

 comb from starters than any other style of 

 frame. This question of drone-comb build- 

 ing depends almost wholly on three factors, 

 namely: The age of the queen, the condition 

 of the colony at the time the comb is built, 

 and the season of the year. If the queen be 

 a virgin, and there is a How of honey on, 

 drone comb is almost sure to be built. If 

 the queen be a young layer, and there is a 

 scarcity of egg-laying rooui, the bees will 

 build worker comb as a rule. If honey is 

 coming in, and there is an intention to 

 swarm, then the building of the new comb 

 will be largely drone. 



The reason why the Danzenbaker frames 

 are not wired is because they are reversible; 

 and it is intended that all combs built in 

 such frames be reversed just long enough so 

 the bees will build clear up against the bot- 

 tom-bar, which, for temporary purposes, is on 

 top. When a comb of this kind is Imilt sol- 

 id all around, there is not much danger of 

 the comb being broken in extracting. But 

 there is nothing to prevent one from wiring 

 even Danzenbaker frames; but the wires 

 should not pierce the end-bars, because they 



are a close-fitting frame, and such wires 

 would intei'fere with the hanger-cleats. 



To wire Danzenbaker frames, use small 

 staples, driving them in about half their 

 depth along a center line on the inside of the 

 end-bars; tnen draw the wires through the 

 staples, and fasten. Two strands will prob- 

 ably be sufficient for a Danzenbaker frame. 

 Staples should be short enough so as not to 

 pierce the end-bars, of course. 



The writer remembers distinctly the re- 

 quest to have the hand-holes in the side of 

 the hive-bodies; but he could not get the 

 Company to agree to the change. He be- 

 lieves, however, that you are right, and will 

 endeavor to see that it is brought about. — 

 Ed.] ^ 



THE ALEXANDER PLAN OF BUILD- 

 ING UP WEAK COLONIES IN THE 

 SPRING. 



Why Sectional Hives are Better Adapted 

 for this 3Iethod than the Deep Bodies. 



BY J. E. HAND. 



Some time ago I received the following 

 letter with a request that it be answered in 

 the columns of this journal: 



Dear ;?*>.•— Will you please reconcile what you say 

 relative to the Alexander plan of putting- weak colo- 

 nies on top of strong ones, on page 565 for last year, 

 with what you say on page 180 for this year? In the 

 first you say, "I heartily endorse" the Alexander 

 plan; while in the second you say the plan " is of very 

 doubtful expediency." Albert G. Hann. 



Pittstown, N. J.. Feb. 20. 



I fail to see any discrepancy in my state- 

 ments on page 565, 1906, and page 180, 1907. 

 In both places I distinctly state that this 

 manipulation is one for which the sectional 

 hive is especially adapted, while in my arti- 

 cle on page 180 I go a little further and say 

 that the full-depth hive is not so well suited 

 for this manipulation, because it is too much 

 room to give at one time in early spring. If 

 Mr. H. were familiar with the workings of 

 the sectional hive he would readily see why 

 this is so. In the properly constructed sec- 

 tional hive the brood in early spring will all 

 be in the top section of the brood-chamber; 

 hence in uniting two colonies it is necessary 

 to give only one brood-section of the hive, 

 which is placed at the top of the strong col- 

 ony, thus placing the brood-nests of the two 

 united colonies as close together as though 

 they were both on one L. frame, while the 

 lower (or bottom) brood-section of the now 

 three-section hive being empty may be re- 

 moved. Howevex", this empty brood-section 

 is no hindrance to the rapid building-up of 

 the colony, as the bees will pay no attention 

 to these empty combs until the two top 

 brood-sections are solid fitll of brood, when 

 the lower brood- section should be placed at 

 the top, where it will be quickly tilled with 

 brood. With the sectional hives, although 

 we have united two colonies of bees and 

 brood, yet we have really not given any 

 more hive room than either of the colonies 

 had before, for empty combs below the 



