1440 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15 



one of the latter into a queen-cell. But, strive 

 as they would, the bees were unable to bring 

 forth a single worker, much less a queen. 



Upon laying the foregoing state of affairs 

 before the breeder, he mailed me another, 

 which at this writing is going through the 

 process of "introduction " in another colony. 



Oakland, Cal. 



[This is certainly a very interesting exhib- 

 it of comb-building — one of the best of which 

 we have any photographic representation; 

 but the bees did nothing more than what we 

 would naturally expect and what practical 

 bee-keepers have seen time and again, where 

 there is a drone-layer. Nature in a case of 

 this kind seems to have skipped a cog, for 

 every thing seems to be out of balance; and 

 the bees— well, they hardly know what is the 

 matter. Apparently they are seeking to raise 

 a queen, not being satisfied with what they 

 have. Then they attempt to take care of the 

 drone-larvffi, which means larger cells. 

 Where there were no eggs they built worker 

 comb because that was easier off the founda- 

 tion. 



A rather interesting part of this comb- 

 building was the two queen-cells. It has 

 been stated that, where cells are built and 

 completed fromdrone-larvjw they will be very 

 smooth without any corrugations. This does 

 not appear to be true in this case at least. — 

 Ed.] 



CITY BEE KEEPING. 



Bees on a Tin Roof. 



BY A. KIRCH. 



The photo shows a view of my apiary. 

 Honey is not plentiful here in Brooklyn, 

 owing to the great distance bees have to tly 

 to find something. My crop amounts t ) 

 from one to three gallons a year from each 

 hive. I have kept bees since 1886. The 

 eight-frame Dovetailed hives are over 20 

 years old, and it seems they will last anoth- 

 er 20 years. 



It was owing to a lack of room on a small 

 city lot that I had to place the bees on a 

 roof. If there were any other way I would 

 not advise anybody to do so, because it is 

 very hard to go up or down the ladder or 

 stairs with large supers, bringing new col- 

 onies up, etc. On the other hand, they are 

 out of the way, and would not sting any- 

 body. I formerly kept bees on the outskirts 

 of the city, but it is troublesome to be away 

 from the bees in swarming season, so I had 

 to give it up. Clipping the queens' wings I 

 think is not advisable on a tin roof, because 

 in the summer time the queen is likely to be 

 hurt if she crawls out on the hot tin. My 

 wife catches all the swarms because I am 

 not home in daytime. I keep down increase 

 by uniting the weaker ones in fall. The 



KEEPING BEES ON A TIN ROOF IN THE CITY OF BROOKLYN. 



