1883 



glea:nings ik bee cui.ture. 



318 



operator as he goes from hive to hive. After a col- 

 ony is thoroughly smoked, the bees seem to be un- 

 able for some time to distinguish strange bees from 

 their own. Several times last summer I had to go to 

 the relief of colonies to whom I had Introduced new 

 queens ; and while there was great excitement about 

 the hive, I found the robbers coming and going 

 without molestation. But if the colonies arc smok- 

 ed, and the queens introduced in the evening there 

 will not be much time left for robbing; and by the 

 next morning the bees will be able to distinguish 

 their own, and be ready for battle. But after 

 smoking a colony, it is perhaps always best to con- 

 tract the entrance for a few days. 

 Milroy, Pa., Apr. 25, 1883. John W. White. 



Thank you, friend W. Your experience 

 with granulated sugar and grape sugar com- 

 bined seems to have been quite favorable ; 

 and although I am pretty well satisfied that 

 bees will often winter well on the mixture, I 

 hardly think I would advise it, inasmuch as 

 we have had some quite unfavorable reports 

 from those who did use it, as nearly as I can 

 remember, in just about the way you have 

 done. — In regard to introducing queens, I 

 really believe you have struck on something 

 valuable, although the plan you have given, 

 of using smoke, is not new. Your idea of 

 performing the operation just at dusk seems 

 to me as quite an important item. If I un- 

 derstand it, to sum it up in a few words, it 

 would be about this : Go to your hive any 

 time in the evening after the bees have 

 stopped flying. Remove the old queen, 

 smoke the colony until the bees have fllled 

 themselves with honey, let your new queen 

 run into the entrance. Smoke them again, 

 and it is done. From what experience I 

 have had in the matter, I am inclined to 

 think that queens lost by this method would 

 be so feAV that the time saved (in connection 

 with the fact of having a laying queen in the 

 hive again in a few hours) would amply pay 

 for all loss. If the operation were performed 

 when honey was coming in rapidly, perhaps 

 it would not be necessary to wait until just 

 before dusk, as rftentioned. 



^ ■•■ ^ 



FRIEND POND'S EXPERIMENTS ON 

 WINTER PROTECTION. 



\ 



FOKEST-LEAVES VERSUS CHAFF. 



SHAVE for a number of years been experiment- 

 ing with double and single Availed hives, using 

 the Lsngstroth frame almost wholly, yet having 

 the American also, in order to compare results with 

 a deep and shallow frame. So far as frames are 

 concerned, the American has been thrown aside, for 

 the reason that I have not had as good success with 

 it as with the L. I have used chaff, sawdust, and 

 cut straw for filling in double-walled hives, and also 

 used no filling whatever; and the opinion I have 

 now formed is, that a perfect dead-air space in a 

 double-walled hive is as safe as if the same space 

 wei-e fllled with chaflf, or any other substance. My 

 ttieory is, that there being no better non-conductor 

 of heat than dead air, any substance that we may 

 use to fill the space between the walls of the hive is 

 worse than useless. If I am correct in my premise, 

 viz., that there is no better uon-conductor than dead 

 air, then my conclusion is not only logically but 

 practically correct. When I say dearl-air space, I 



mean exactly that; and my plan of forming this 

 dead-air space is as follows: I take, in the first 

 place, a box, say 5 or 6 inches longer and wider in- 

 side than a Simplicity is outside in its dimensions, 

 and about 3 inches deeper than the Simplicity hive. 

 On this box I nail a tight double bottom, with 3-inch 

 space, with entrance as usual in front end. On the 

 inside of this bottom-board I nail cleats 1 inch 

 square, just long and wide enough to allow a Sim- 

 plicity hive to go inside of them, and down snug to 

 the bottom-board, leaving a bridge ^-j inch high in 

 front end for entrance. This fastens the inside hive 

 firmly enough to the outside one for all practical 

 purposes. I now fit pieces of J^-inch stuff tightly 

 between the outside of the inner hive and the in- 

 side of the outer, which serves to brace the inner 

 hive strongly in position. When I prepare my bees 

 for winter in this hive, I put on a half-story, cover 

 the frames with a fine burlap mat, and till over 

 it with a cushion filled with forest-leaves, say 7 

 or 8 inches thick. I also put cushions of the 

 same against the outside of the inner hive, thus 

 completely closing in the 4 sides and top with these 

 cushions of leaves. I rabbet the top of the outside 

 hive on the inside, and make a cover rabbeted on 

 the inside that will fit over all tightly, boring a lii- 

 inch hole in each end of this outer cover to allow 

 the moisture to escape. When this outer cover is 

 put on, I consider the hive as well fixed for winter 

 as it is possible to fix it, after giving about 4 inches 

 space for entrance. There is nothing to conduct 

 heat out from a hive, or frost into it, except bottom- 

 board and the pieces of J4-inch stuff, and these lat- 

 ter are so high up that there can be no damage done 

 by them as a conductor. 



I use inside the inner hive a IVa-inch air-tight un- 

 filled division-board on each side, for further pro- 

 tection. I may not be correct in my ideas; but 3 or 

 4 years of practice with the best of results has cer- 

 tainly convinced me that I am, and in the future I 

 shall adopt just this plan. A nucleus put up on 3 

 frames last fall came through all right (in fact, every 

 colony did also) this last winter; and when opened 

 for the first time, about April 1st, had plenty of 

 stores, and both sides of the middle frame nearly 

 fllled with brood, and some drone-cells capped with 

 all the rest. 



My bees, with the exception of one hive, have not 

 spotted the snow this winter, and I have had no 

 dwindling at all. The above speaks well, I think, 

 for dead air space, and espfecially for the much-de- 

 cried bad-wintering standard Langstroth frame. 



J. E. Pond, Jr. 



Foxboro, Norfolk Co., Mass., April 30, 1883. 



Why, friend Pond, is not that a little 

 queer, to lay so much stress on the dead-air 

 space, and then tell us that you filled the 

 space Avith forest-leaves :* I have been for 

 some time thinking that perhaps our chaff 

 packing was not sufficiently porous, and 

 that something like coarse shavings, or for- 

 est-leaves, or even empty sections in the up- 

 per story might give better results than our 

 too warm chaff cushions. Very likely, dry 

 forest-leaves will give just about the desired 

 quantity of air. This will be better than no 

 protection at all, and yet it would amount to 

 nearly the thing as the old box hives cracked 

 from top to bottom, that have been quoted 

 so constantly year after year. I have told 

 you of my experiment that satisfied myself, 



