1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1153 



feet apart each way, the entrances all facing 

 the one direction, with the result that the 

 operator is always working in the flight of 

 the bees. Few of the bee-keepers there seem 

 to realize that, by placing the hives in double 

 rows, back to back, it would be mo: e con- 

 venient, and they would not begin to anger 

 the bees as much while working them. The 

 honey-houses also are generally of the incon- 

 venient type. Very few of them are so that 

 the wheelbarrow can be run into the extract- 

 ing-room and unloaded. Most of the build- 

 ings are so constructed that the supers of 

 honey had to be carried in one at a time by 

 hand or poked thx'ough a hole in the side of 

 the building. 



But where the greatest lack of system is 

 shown is in the working of the bees them- 

 selves. The hit-and-miss method was much 

 in evidence. Very few are the apiaries where 

 the apiarist can walk with you down a I'ow 

 of hives and tell you the exact condition of 

 each colony. But in this I do not know that 

 California bee keepers are any further be- 

 hind than those in other parts of the world. 

 The general idea among bee-men is that, to 

 keep records of the colonics, it must be done 

 in a book; and for the benefit of those I will 

 give some of the records as I keep them, 

 which were kept on pieces of section i tacked 

 on the covers of the hives. 



For queenless colonies it is generally a 

 good idea also to use stone signs. A small 

 stone on the front of the cover means abso- 

 lute queenlessness in the center cells; and 

 at the back end, for a virgin queen. The 

 stone makes such colonies easily found, and 

 attended to when you do not care to work 

 the entire apiary. 



Shreveport, La. 



MASSACHUSETTS AS A HONEY STATE, A FREE 

 COURSE IN BEE CULTURE AT THE AGRI- 

 CULTURAL COLLEGE 



Massachusetts is not what would be called 

 a honey State, for, while its consumption of 

 honey is very large, its production of it is 

 very scant. Nor should it be so; for, climate 

 aside, Massachusetts ought to be as good as 

 many of our Northern States, and certainly 

 as good as Canada for the prudent bee-keep- 

 er. That the State is doing something to 

 arouse an interest in bee-keeping is demon- 

 strated by the free course in "Bee Culture " 

 which has just closed at the Massachusetts 

 Agricultural College at Amherst. The course 

 occupied two weeks; but of all the students 

 only two were men, aside from such of the 

 seniors of the college who attended the lec- 



tures when there was nothing else to do. But 

 the women were earnest in their attention, 

 and no doubt the knowledge imparted will 

 be exemplified in the future. 



The course included lectures on "Honey 

 Cx'ops," by Prof. Brooks; "Practical Bee- 

 keeping," by Prof. Paige; "Botany," by 

 Prof. Stone; "The Entomology of the Bee," 

 by Prof. Fernald; and "Practical Demonstra- 

 tion," by Prof. Gates, of Clark University, 

 Worcester. Dr. Phillips, of the Bureau of 

 Apiculture at Washington, gave two lectures, 

 one on "Queen-rearing" and the other on 

 the "Diseases of Bees. Jas. Bayles. 



Lowell, Mass. 



A GAUGE FOR MEASURING THE SLOTS IN 

 QUEEN-EXCLUDING ZINC. 



As the name implies, the above drawing 

 represents a little tool to measure or com- 

 pare one space with another, such as the 

 slots in queen-excluding zinc. This tool is 

 not used very often; but when we do want 

 it, it is very convenient to have. It does not 



give dimensions to the thousandth of an 

 inch, for this would require expensive tools, 

 but it is very accurate in comparing. A 

 piece of galvanized iron is better for this 

 piT-pose than tin. On account of the bright 

 glii^tening surface of the latter it does not 

 show marks and figures as plainly as the 

 formar. G. C. Greiner. 



La Salle, N. Y. 



[We use something similar for measuring 

 our zinc; in fact, wc have u.«<ed it ever since 

 we made perforated zinc— Ed.] 



DRONE COMB IN SUPERS; SIZE OF EXTRCT- 

 ING-COMBS; how TO TELL PREPARA- 

 TIONS FOR SWARMING FROM THOSE 

 FOR SUPERSEDING. 



Please help me out with the following 

 questions: 



1. What is the efl'ect of clean drone comb 

 in upper stories on the working and swarm- 

 ing impulse? 



3. I am using a nine-frame hive, combs 

 10X12|. 1 find it too small for extracting. 

 Would you advise me to enlarge to a 12-frame 

 or adopt the Langstroth or some other 10 or 

 12 frame for making my increase? This 

 nine-frame hive is used almost entirely in 

 this locality. 



3 Is there any way of telling preparations 

 for swarming from preparations for super- 

 seding? This nine-frame hive is not made 

 as exact as it should be, and I am consider- 

 ing changing to a factory-made hive at about 

 twice the cost. G. H. Evans. 



Napanee, Canada, April 3. 



[1. The effect of drone comb in the upper 

 story is bad unless you use queen-excluders. 



2. In any event your brood-chamber is too 

 small. It would be very safe for you to select 



