276 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



August 



into the broodnest, but the air, on 

 striking the inner wall through the 

 1-inch hole in the outer wall is com- 

 pelled to go either upward between 

 the ends of frame or is forced down- 

 ward through the 1-inch opening near 

 the bottom-board into the hive. 



On chilly days in spring or fall I 

 close either one or both holes with 

 corks, according to the temperature 

 outside. 



Spring robbing can thus be pre- 

 vented by reducing the entrance so 

 that only two bees can pass, as one 

 can depend on the end ventilation. 



1 have had great loss in cellar 

 wintering with sealed covers with no 

 other ventilation than the entrance; 

 the hives being icy in frosty weather 

 and wet in milder weather, the re- 

 sult was many dead bees, moldy 

 combs and sour honey. Since 1 

 adopted the end ventilation, which I 

 can regulate with corks, I found that 

 my hives kept dry with no moldy 

 combs in spring. 1 had the entrance 

 opening reduced to J'gxl inch with no 

 detriment to the bees. 



If my system finds the approval of 

 Dr. Miller ai.d the editor of the 

 American Bee Journal, I intend to 

 build hives with inner walls and ven- 

 tilation holes on all four sides. Were 

 it not for the dying bees in cellar the 

 entrance could be blocked up en- 

 tirely on such hives and bees could 

 be kept in a lighted cellar. 



An idea is revolving in my mind 

 to build a square hive which will hold 

 13 Hoffman frames, 19Ms in. top-bar, 

 and in which the frames could be 

 placed either crosswise or lengthwise. 

 Such hive could be placed crosswise 

 on the bottom-board' in winter cellar- 

 ing to keep the bees from direct 

 striking of the cold air from the en- 

 trance. We find that bees usually 

 cluster in the front of hive and above 

 the entrance to avoid the direct 

 draught of cold air which first rushes 

 to the rear wall before it divides up- 

 ward; hence the rear part of the hive 

 must be colder- than the front. 



Of course, all my hive parts being 

 interchangeable, I transfer all my 

 bees in the spring to different hive- 

 bodies, that is, I take an extra hive- 

 body which was standing idle during 

 the winter, scour and clean it, take 

 comb alter comb with bees out, 

 crape off propolis, brace and burr- 

 comb, and set the frames and bees in 

 the cleansed hive. The bees which 

 On the old hive are brushed 

 off in front of the new hive. In do- 

 ing this performance one can find out 

 the condition of combs, bees, honey, 

 brood, and even see the queen by 

 chance. Then I clean the hive I took 

 ie first colony and proceed 

 with the second colony in the same 

 manner as with the first. On a sun- 

 ny and warm day a man can i li an 

 and transfer twenty colonies, and one 

 will be surprised to see and hear 

 es feel in the 

 cleansed hive. We are saving the 

 .reat deal of extra work, and, 

 besides, prolonging their lives, which 

 means more rearing of I, 



I must mention that one must be 

 on the alert that no disease is preva- 

 lent in his bee-yard in order to go 



into such procedure of spring cleans- 

 ing. 



Now I want Dr. Miller to make op- 

 posing suggestions to my ideas, as I 

 am a beginner in beekeeping and 

 would like to hear also from experi- 

 enced beekeepers, if they have any 

 criticism against my method of build- 

 ing hives. 



Minnesota. 



I would strongly advise that you 

 try your plan with only a few hives — 

 perhaps only a single hive — for some 

 time before making all your hives in 

 any new way. One reason is that if 

 you continue in the business many 

 years you may want to sell some of 

 your stock, and bees in odd hives do 

 not have a ready market. Another 

 reason is that only after a full trial 

 can you tell whether what looks like 

 an improvement is really so. 



You intend a kindness to the bees 

 by making the entrance indirect, so 

 that robbers cannot easily enter. I 

 fancy I hear the bees saying, "Please 

 don't do that. Anything of that kind 

 doesn't really make any difference to 

 the robbers, because a strong colony, 

 such as we are, can easily keep out 

 robbers, but it does make a difference 

 to us, giving us a little more trouble 

 to pass in and out, and if you figure 

 up how many times that happens you 

 will see it is quite important." 



The Langstroth hive was originally 

 made with a portico, but this was 

 later discarded because it made a nice 

 refuge for spiders. Your arrange- 

 ment may suit the spiders still better 

 than the portico. 



Opening and shutting of holes with 

 each change of weather will probably 

 be found too troublesome to be con- 

 tinued. 



If your hives are icy in the cellar, 

 no change in construction will rem- 

 edy the trouble, but some means 

 should be used to make the cellar 

 warmer. — C. C. M. 



(We used to close inch holes with 

 wire screen also, but found out that 

 the bees glue them up entirely with 

 propolis and that they usually do so 

 with any opening through which they 

 cannot pass. Examine the inch holes 

 that you have covered with screens, 

 and see whether they are not already 

 partly closed. — C. P. D.) 



Moths 



I see that Dr. Miller, in his reply 

 to "Missouri." iia.ee 202. is rather in- 

 clined to be a little skeptical as to 

 there being moth worms that will 

 withstand freezing. But I can assure 

 the Doctor that there is a species of 

 the bee-moth whose larva will sur- 

 vive even frost, whether they be 

 "right-minded" or not. 



The worm is small, being from one- 

 half to five-eighths in. long, and from 

 one-eighth to three- si steen t lis in. in 

 diameter, and it is a pinkish color. 



li ..as in the summer of 19 1-4 that 1 

 was infested with this plague. I had 

 a lot of supers that were not in use 

 that year, and those worms got into 

 them. They cover the face of the 

 comb with a web, which is quite 

 easily brushed off with a whisk 

 They did not do the combs 

 much damage that summer, but 



worked chiefly upon the pollen that 

 was stored in them. So I didn't pay 

 much attention to them that season. 

 1 was positive in my own mind that 1 

 would be rid of them the following 

 spring. So in the month of May the 

 next spring, when I wanted some su- 

 pers to put on some strong colonies, 

 I thought to put on some of the su- 

 pers with the worms in them, and 

 let the bees clean them up. 



Now those supers were stored in 

 the loft of the honey-house, where 

 the temperature goes to at least 20 

 degrees below zero. You can imag- 

 ine my surprise when I examined 

 those combs and found live worms. 

 I was at a loss to know whether 

 those worms were hatched from eggs 

 that spring, or did they survive the 

 frost? But I was rather inclined to 

 the latter opinion. I tried to get rid 

 of them by fumigating with sulphur 

 and disulphide carbon, but both failed 

 to destroy the worms. So I was at a 

 loss to know what to do with them. 

 However, I worked away with them 

 that summer, brushing them off occa- 

 sionally and re-opening them down 

 as best I could. But in spite of all I 

 did they destroyed quite a number of 

 my combs, as they ate up the comb 

 after the supply of pollen gave out. 

 As I was not positive that those 

 worms did lie in a dormant condition 

 during the winter, I decided to make 

 an early examination the next spring, 

 so as to be sure. So acordingly the 

 first week in April, after a few warm 

 days (while the snowbanks were yet 

 in the corners of the fences) 1 made 

 an examination, and I found the 

 worms were alive and ready for ac- 

 tion. 



Now, those worms were not in 

 cocoons, but on the face of the combs 

 right where they were when the cold 

 weather stopped them, but as soon as 

 they were thawed out they were 

 ready to go to work. 



So, when I failed to get rid of the 

 worms by freezing, and with sul- 

 phur and sulphide, I decided to try 

 starvation ; accordingly I rid my 

 honey-house of all combs and got 

 them all into use, and in this way I 

 got rid of the worms and have not 

 been troubled with them since; that 

 was in 1916. If I am ever troubled 

 with them again I will send Dr. Mil- 

 ler a sample of them for him to ex- 

 periment with. I might say that I 

 think had I used the disulphide car- 

 bon strong enough it would have 

 been effective. A. M. BRIDGE. 



Ontario. 



This seems to be something en- 

 tirely new. I have never seen but 

 two kinds of wax-moth, beside the 

 common one, the little fellow that 

 seems to stay at the septum. Of this 

 latter I have seen but a few exam- 

 ples. You will not see the worm on 

 the surface, but will see two or three 

 mature bees, in adjacent cells appar- 

 ently trying to get out of their cells 

 ami unable to do so. Then, when you 

 pull out the bees you will find the 

 little miscreant at the bottom of the 

 cells, bedding the bees there by its 

 web. 



I hope this non-freezable variety 

 will not become common. — C. C. Mil- 

 ler. 



