186 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



ACG; 



soou almost desert the outside boxes. Is it 

 not because the woolen covering contiues the 

 animal heat? It this is the case is it not very 

 important that houej- boxes, sections, etc., be 

 weil protected from the changes of the vreath- 

 erV This experiment was made during quite 

 warm weather, and the hive was in the house 

 also. It seems that it is far more important 

 that the covering be close up against the glass, 

 or if for bets iu winter, close up to the cluster, 

 than that extra pains be taken with the out- 

 side 01 the hive, building, or whatever they 

 may be iu. The bees need protection precisely 

 as we would protect a child, or a baby, to get 

 at a fair illustration. How shall this protec- 

 tion be given? Candidly, to do it in tbe best 

 manner is to us an unsolved problem. If our 

 readers have as little time to fuss with bees as 

 we have, it had better be something that can 

 be left on the hive permanently ; especially if 

 the surplus arrangement needs about the same 

 protection as do the bees in winter. The hoop 

 hive, or any thin hive, succeeds so far as keep- 

 ing the bees dry is concerned ; if we could add 

 to it a thickness of 4 inches of chaff, and have 

 this both in winter and summer come close to 

 the bees, very likely we should get it about 

 right. Listen : 



By the way, friend Root, I aci compelled, to smile once 

 more at you and your exijerience with that Q. hive. Do 

 you not know the principle is just that of the Fmn hive r 

 Only that is a permanent fiiture, does not need tixins up 

 every fall, nor tearing down In the spring. The material 

 costs me but §1,00 and I can make one complete in a day ; 

 do it in winter when time is plenty And if I had one of 

 your saws I could do much better. There is no such 

 thiu^' as spring dwindling luiless it is starvation. Have 

 not lost a colony in any other way. 



J. J. KiSEE, Adelphi, Iowa, June 29th, '7C. 



Very true, but is it necessary that our sever- 

 al thousand bee-keepers should each pay for a 

 right to lix his hives just as he thinks best ? 

 If the very best plan is in possession of a "pat- 

 ent right, man," it will be the first instance of 

 the kind that has come under our notice in the 

 history of bee culture. Our Q. hive has sent 

 out four swarms, the first has two stories full 

 to the top and, cells capped, the second just 

 ready for the second story, and the third and 

 fourth — doing as well as could be expected. 

 Again, what would 100 colonies just like the 

 chsffhive do? 



Vitli — "Well we can raise comb honey after 

 ail, and to confess the truth, we feel consider- 

 able elated at our success. Our trouble in 

 former years has, we think, been mainly for 

 the want of gooil aized guide combs, and this 

 season, where we have attempted to get even 

 a single section tilled without the foundations, 

 it has been mostly a failure. "With the fdn., 

 the veriest novice may succted with comb 

 honey almost as surely as with the extractor, 

 although the amount obtaiufcel, will be con- 

 siderably less, ttntil we can manage to have 

 the fdn. raised into comb in advance of the 

 honey season. Again we have been repeated- 

 ly astonished at the amount uf rcom a colony 

 will occupy to advantage during the extreme 

 hot weather. A very heavy swarm was given 

 a full set of empty combs, yet on the second 

 day they persisted in hanging on the hive; a 

 set of section boxes was eiveu them, but thev 



were very soon out again, and just for an ex- 

 periment, we leaned a couple of empty combs 

 up against the hive just over the cluster. It 

 rained in the night, and lindiug the combs 

 tilled with what we supiwsed rain we struck 

 them against a post, to remove it ; to our as- 

 tonishment it was honey, and although these 

 bees would not work inside the hive, they had 

 very quickly filled these combs on the outside. 

 "We took the hint, and gave additional upper 

 stories of emptj- comb, more shade and vent- 

 ilation, and were much gratified to find we 

 could get the bees inside the hive and at work 

 without fail, if we only had the empty comb. 

 The fdn. does the same thing partialh*, and 

 perhaps entirely, if we can get the bees once 

 at work on it. or can give them a i)iece on 

 which bees have made a start. Probabh' 

 none of us have ever succeeded ia inducing a 

 colony of bees to do all they are capable of 

 doiug. In our apiar}* we feel satisfied that 

 fully one half the time of the bees has been 

 wasted, judging from the way in which new 

 swarms do business. Several hives are now* 

 filling their fu-nrth story, and from the wa}- 

 these stories "lift", we should estimate they 

 contained over 200 lbs. There has been no 

 cessation of work with these colonies, and 

 singular as it may seem, they fill a stor3- 

 placed on the top of the third story about as 

 readily as if it were directly over the first. 

 The long one story hives do not seem to be 

 filled out to the extreme ends, with near the 

 readiness ot' the one in which the surplus 

 room is above. The house apiary is now 

 working beautifully, as it did last year ; and 

 during the very hot weather, we find it quite 

 a convenience to be able to keep the room 

 cool, by opening the large trap door in the 

 centre of the floor, allowina: the air to mingle 

 with that in the cellar. The building seems 

 in many respecis adapted to comb honey par- 

 ticttlariy, and the facilit}- with which we can 

 pile up sections and boxes without auy solici- 

 tude in the matter of the covers going on, is 

 really quite an item. We have colonies that 

 can only be prevented Irom clustering out by 

 8 sets of section boxes, a.ud the ordinar}' L. 

 caps, or upper stories even, will not allow this 

 number at once. The hoops, iu such a case, 

 are very convenient, and the facility they oiler 

 for getting at the section boxes when remov- 

 ing them, is enough to rptain them in use, 

 even should they not prove desirable for hives. 

 The only objection we have fouud, and 

 we are not quite sure yet that it is an object- 

 ion, is that the bees get on the otitside of the 

 hive if the sun strikes it directly, during a 

 very hot day. "^^e have persuaded them to go 

 back, even then, by adding more stories, or 

 more section boxes. Honey has been coming 

 now, steadily, for more than a mouth, although 

 not with the great daily yields that we have 

 had some seasons. "We feel that we have er- 

 red greatly, in not giving new swarms upper 

 stories or boxes sooner. We at first thought 

 it best to make them fill the whole of the 

 combs in the lower story, before giving them 

 more room ; but our course now, is to give 

 them surplus room above, as soon as thej' 

 have filled and begun to cap the central combs ; 

 for if we examine we shall find they begin to 

 build little bits of comb at the tops and ends 



