1330 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct, 15 



THE VALUE OF A PROTECTED LOCATION ; 



PROVIDING FOOD AND WATER FOR 



BEES IN THE CELLAR. 



Regarding this important matter of win- 

 tering bees, Mr. Alexander says, on page 28, 

 that, when father Quinby used to meet with 

 them, the question of using well-packed 

 hives in cold cellars was discussed. Well, 

 this reminds me of what I did. In three of 

 my yards I placed large clamps, holding eight 

 hives, in the cellars, packed around the sides 

 and on top, the same as those left outside. 

 The results were rather disappointing. They 

 were all large, airy, light cellars; but I hung 

 cloths in front of the llight-holes, facing the 



light. 



In the cellar at the Noble yard, five out of 

 eight died on the average, as also those out- 

 side. In the Mitchell yard, four out of eight 

 died, both inside and out; but in the Glemy 

 yard none died, either inside or out. This 

 cellar was damper than the other two, and 

 had an open wooden cistern in one end. 

 Furthermore, in this yard the bees were un- 

 der a rise of ground to the northwest, and 

 the house sheltered them in that direction 

 also. In this yard the bees had been rapidly 

 increasing, while those of the two other 

 yards had been dwindling. The colonies in 

 these two yards first mentioned wei'e much 

 exposed, the clamps being either completely 

 buried with snow, and strong colonies over- 

 heated, or else all the snow was blown away 

 and biting winds whistled round the bleak 

 hives from day to day. 



The first year I kept bees I found water 

 recommended by Langstroth, so I placed 

 shallow pans of both honey and water on top 

 of some hives in the cellar, and the bees 

 would come up and eat the honey, but leave 

 the water entirely alone. If Mr. Alexander 

 had only happened to read this, and try it, 

 likely he would have been amazed at the 

 avidity with which the bees would have de- 

 voured it. R. F. Whiteside. 



Little Britain, Ont., Can., Jan. 12, 1907. 



with fine stuff like yellow flour or sawdust. 

 Before all this, and at once upon taking 

 from the hives, I packed this honey in hon- 

 ey-crates, and immediately wrapped the 

 whole case tight in newspaper and tied each 

 one securely. Imagine my disappointment, 

 when I untied this for sale, to find it devas- 

 tated by the moth-worms! I can find little 

 that is very definite in the ABC book, nor 

 a picture of any convenient device for brim- 

 stoning the sections, if, as it is intimated, 

 some believe the worms may be exterminat- 

 ed by that means. 



I think most apiarists presume that the 

 eggs of these worms are laid by moth-millers 

 flying after the honey is brought into the 

 honey-room or a honey-house. But no mil- 

 ler could get into my cases after such secure 

 wrapping. This looks as if the eggs were 

 on the combs before the sections were re- 

 moved from the colonies. If you have a cut 

 of some contrivance for effectually disinfect- 

 ing crates of completed sections, can you not 

 show it in Gleanings for the sake of those 

 who have this special plague to deal with? 

 T. Chalmers Potter. 



Glasgow, Del., Jan. 10. 



[The honey should have been fumigated 

 after taking it off the hive, as directed in 

 the ABC book, either with bisulphide of 

 carbon or sulphur, as directed in said book. 

 No special apparatus is needed except a lit- 

 tle room, tight box, or a set of supers con- 

 taining the sections piled one on top of the 

 other. If the bisulphide is used, a dish of 

 the liquid should be set on top in an empty 

 super, with the cover on, and the evaporat- 

 ing fumes allowed to settle down through 

 the sections. This should have been done in 

 the first place. This is where you made 

 your mistake. — Ed.] 





terrible effect of moths on finished 

 comb honey. 

 I had a good many sections of the hand- 

 somest honey I harvested vxtterly ruined, soon 

 after taking from the hives, by moth-worms. 

 I've had some trouble of this kind for eight 

 years, since living here, but never any thing 

 like this. When I found out it was so seri- 

 ous I stood my sections an inch apart on 

 shelves in a warm room. While this stopped 

 the matting of sections together with webs, 

 it made no other difference. The worms 

 were persistent, and the sections dusted over 



A record in TAKING OFF HONEY; SPACED 



FRAMES ALL RIGHT FOR A TEXAS 



EXTRACTING-YARD. 



We harvested a good crop this year, and I 

 made a record in taking off extracted honey. 

 I should like to see this surpassed by some 

 of the plain-frame men. In ten hours two 

 boys and myself took off extracted honey, 

 put all the combs back, and cased 350 gal- 

 lons of honey. I took off every comb and 

 wheeled them to the tent in a wheelbarrow, 

 four ten-frame bodies at a time. That talk 

 about its being so hard to get self-spaced 

 combs out of hives is all nonsense. The day 

 before we made this record we took our out- 

 fit 14 miles, and put the tent and everything 

 in working order, and extracted 300 gallons. 

 But we had to get up at 2 a.m.; but that 

 shows what can be done if one gets in a 

 rush. A. H. Knolle. 



Hondo, Texas, July 24. 



TWO LAYING QUEENS IN ONE HIVE. 



To get strong colonies for the first of March 

 I have kept two queens in a hive, using an 

 excluder between the supers of the smaller 

 hives, or a division-board excluder in the 



