1907 



GLEANINGSIIN BEE CULTURE. 



1509 



stores are actually consumed by the bees. It 

 appears that, during a period of plenty, bees 

 will consume more than at other times; and 

 it is possible that, in feeding bees in the fall, 

 there is considerable loss; but we hardly 

 think it is as large as your figures show, as 

 there must have been other conditions to ac- 

 count for so great a waste. We should be 

 glad to get reports from those who have con- 

 ducted experiments along this line. — Ed.] 



ing directly into the entrance. This should 

 be especially used in the case of all hives 

 with the entrani^es facing the north, or to- 

 ward any direction where there is likely to 

 be a strong, cold, piercing wind.— Eu.] 



COLONIES WINTERED OUT OF DOORS WITH 

 THE ENTRANCES ENTIRELY CLOSED. 



I have noted with interest what J. E. Hand 

 and others have said about the effect of 

 moisture, small entrances, and ventilation 

 upon colonies wintered upon the summer 

 stands. 



I wintered two colonies outdoors with en- 

 trances iXf. The brood-nest was smaller 

 than in an eight frame Dovetailed hive, and 

 was especially prepared to keep out cold. 

 The covers and bottom-boards were double 

 and packed. These colonies came through 

 the winter in perfect condition. 



Wishing to test the matter still further, 

 last winter I entirely closed the entrance to 

 two colonies in the same quarters and kept 

 them closed except when weather moderated 

 to a point above freezing in the shade, which 

 happened once in about three weeks. These 

 colonies were all right through the winter, 

 and in the spring swarmed two weeks before 

 my other colonies that were wintered in or- 

 dinary ways. Even with the entrances closed 

 there was no injurious moisture at any time 

 last winter or the winter before, and I ques- 

 tion whether there ever would be if the hives 

 were packed so that no moisture could con- 

 dense on the cover, and little or none on the 

 sides and ends. O. S. Rexford. 



Umsted, Conn., Sept. 20. 



[It is important to have the entrances to 

 outdoor-wintered colonies contracted down 

 to a small space; but JXI is too small unless 

 it be kept clear, for dead bees would accu- 

 mulate, closing it entirely. While you were 

 successful in wintering two colonies with en- 

 trances entirely closed, we would advise you 

 not to repeat the experiment again on too 

 large a scale. Reports have shown that an 

 entirely closed entrance is pretty sure to re- 

 sult in the death of the colony. There are 

 exceptions, of course. Better leave the en- 

 trance i to 3 or 4 inches, and then put a sort 

 of storm-door up against it, or a lean-to 

 board, a la Doolittle, to shut out the light, 

 and at the same time keep th r from blow- 



THE CHAPMAN HONEY-PLANT OF TWENTY 

 YEARS AGO. 



Dear Sir: — 1 have just been reading Glean- 

 ings of 1886, and find many references to the 

 Chapman honey-plant. Can you spare space 

 in Gleanings to tell us about it now? Was 

 it a success? Does Mr. C. raise it now? Did 

 many bee-men take it up? Did it succeed in 

 Ohio? Does it have to be cut back in order 

 to bloom the third year? I have raised it for 

 several years in my flower-garden, but mine 

 rarely bloom the third year. W. S. 



Springville, N. Y., July 1. 



[Friend S., the Chapman honey-plant, like 

 many other plants that bear honey in large 

 quantities, was a success— that is, to this ex- 

 tent: If we could afford to raise any honey- 

 plant for honey alone this would probably be 

 one of the best; but it would take as much 

 land, labor, and manure to raise an acre of 

 the Chapman plant as it would to raise an 

 acre of corn; and the corn, especially at the 

 present price, would be worth much more 

 money. A good many bee-men raise small 

 patches of the Chapman plant, and, so far 

 as I know, it succeeds everywhere. I do 

 not think it would be profitable more than 

 two years. It might yield some the third 

 year as you suggest. In endeavoring to im- 

 prove a honey locality by growing plants we 

 shall have to confine our labox's to plants 

 like buckwheat, rape, and the clovers, that 

 have a market value aside from honey — 

 A. I. R] 



BEE-TREE HUNTING GREAT SPORT. 



When I read the article in the March 1st 

 issue, page 323, by Mr. John R. Lockard, 

 entitled "Bee-tree Hunting," it made me 

 want to write to Gleanings. Though I have 

 fished and hunted and had all other kinds of 

 sport, yet to me there is no pleasure more 

 interesting than bee-hunting. There is some- 

 thing in it which induces me to try again 

 and again, although I do not have success 

 the first time. When one can get away 

 from work, with a bee-box under his arm, 

 he ought to feel thankful then, if at no other 

 time, that he is alive and can enjoy life and 

 its pleasures. M. L. Mitchell. 



Granby, Quebec. 



TWO queens in one hive. 

 Dr. C. C. Miller should not be too enthusi- 

 astic about his two queens in one hive, nor 

 so sure that laying queens will not fight. I 

 have known a good many instances where 

 there were two thrifty young queens in the 

 hive with excluder between the two stories; 

 and although every thing went well for a 

 while until the hive became well filled with 

 brood, or until the honey-flow ceased, one of 

 the queens would then be missing. It is not 



