IW, 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE, 



:Q3 



is no practical break iu brood-rearing. This 

 is a fact known by many of our best bee- 

 keepers who have carefully tried this plan." 



'• Wouldn't it be better for feeding back to 

 extract the honey before it was sealed over 

 than to allow the bees to seal it, uncap, and 

 then thin for feeding?" 



"It would, if you were sure it would not 

 sour before you had a chance to finish feed- 

 ing it. As soon as it began to sour it would 

 be spoiled for feeding to tinish up sections. 

 There are lots of things to be taken into con- 

 sideration when thinking of leaving many of 

 the old beaten paths." 



NOTL5^^ 



FROM 



■CANADAf 



F. HOLTERMANN 



THE HEDDON HIVE. 



On page 535 Dr. Miller, referring to the 

 Heddon hive, writes, ' ' A curious thing about 

 the Heddon hive is that more seems to be 

 said in its favor in Australia and Canada 

 than in this country." Without discussing 

 the merits or demerits of the Heddon hive, 

 let me whisper to Dr. Miller that, aside from 

 the apiary of F. J. Miller, London. Ont., I 

 have not seen in my travels a Heddon hive 

 for years. Doubtless there are more, but I 

 do not know of ten men in Canada who have 

 adopted the Heddon-hive system. I am quite 

 sure that not two per cent of the hives in 

 Canada are Heddon hives. I have no doubt 

 that the Heddon hive has its advantages; but 

 whether it has more advantages than other 

 hives is a question which I have not been 

 able to answer to myself in the affirmative. 

 ^^ 



BEE-KEEPING AT THE ONTARIO AGRICUL- 

 TURAL COLLEGE. 



The Ontario Agricultural College Report 

 for 1906 has just come to hand. The report 

 of the lecturer on apiculture is found on page 

 211. He states, "In producing comb honey 

 one of the chief labors of a colony is the mak- 

 ing of wax. To manufacture this, a high 

 temperature is required, and cool weather 

 quickly affects the work in the supers. ' ' The 

 experiment man relates how he packed ten 

 colonies "as if for winter. Comb-honey su- 

 pers were placed upon the brood-chambers 

 and covered up with six inches of shavings." 

 Later he states, "The honey-liow this year 

 was so scanty that little difference could be 

 discerned between the two lots of colonies; 

 but what there was, favored the protected 

 hives." How many of us would lind it prac- 

 tical to have to unpack G inches of shavings 

 from our supers, and from the sides in addi- 

 tion, every time we would manipulate the 

 hive? We probably find that, when the 

 weather is so cool that the bees are affected 



in the super, the flowers do not secrete nec- 

 tar. This is where the foundation of the 

 trouble lies. When the blossoms secrete, the 

 bees soon get back to the supers. 



But a still more astonishing experiment 

 and result is obtained in a wintering experi- 

 ment. "In September last year sixteen col- 

 onies were prepared for winter as follows: 

 The hives were eight-frame Langstroths, con- 

 tracted to seven frames and fed until the 

 combs were full, except where a few square 

 inches of comb were occupied with brood. 

 Inverted queen-excluders were placed over 

 the combs, and on top of them well-propo- 

 lized quilts. Four hives were then placed 

 together, side by side, as closely as possible, 

 first putting a double thickness of cotton bat- 

 ting between the hives, so that no air could 

 get between them. The covers of this row 

 of hives were removed and a layer of cotton 

 batting placed on top of them, and then up- 

 on that a sheet of mineral wool, and on top 

 of this another row of hives treated exactly 

 like the first. Then a thii'd row and a fourth. 

 But there was neither cotton batting nor min- 

 eral wool on top of the last row. Twelve 

 inches of shavings was placed on top of the 

 pile of hives, and on all sides except in front, 

 which was left exposed to the weather. The 

 shavings were kept in place and protected 

 from the weather by inch sheeting, and on 

 the roof by tar felt besides. The entrances 

 of all but the bottom row were contracted to 

 two inches in order that the bottom-board, 

 which was the cover of the hive beneath it, 

 might not become cold. The contracted en- 

 trances were cleared of dead bees by means 

 of a bent wire twice during the winter. 



"The object aimed at was to pack the hives 

 in the cheapest manner possible, to utilize 

 the animal heat from the hives, and to make 

 the bees fly during the winter. 



' ' The hives were protected by a high woods 

 on the northwest, and the hive entrances 

 faced the southeast. The winter was abnor- 

 mally mild, and the sun, warming up the 

 face of the hives which had no protection, 

 caused the bees to fly a great deal — perhaps 

 too much. The hives were opened and ex- 

 amined the first of May. There did not seem 

 to be any difference between the interior and 

 exterior ones, so far as the condition of the 

 stores and combs w^ent, there being no mold 

 on them. All the hives showed evidences of 

 winter laying, and two of the interior colo- 

 nies were dead from starvation from this 

 cause. This, however, occurred to a greater 

 or less extent in those wintered in the or- 

 dinary chaff' hives, and was attributed to the 

 very mild winter." 



It would be interesting to know how the 

 bees were placed in their position without 

 returning to the old stand upon their first 

 flight, and how the same difliculty was over- 

 come when unpacking. When the first ex- 

 amination of a colony is made May 1, it would 

 be highly interesting to know what are the 

 symptoms of winter laying. There is one 

 thing, however, about this experiment — it 

 would appear from it that an eight-frame 

 Langstroth hive can no longer be depended 



