44 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



A FEW TTHOlTGH'rS WHICH PKESEN'IT 

 THEMSELVES OH* KEADINO JAN. NO. 



CITAFF AS A KEMEDT FOR SPEING DWINDLING. 



^^g^UT, friend Townley, in order to have the ".spring 

 J^m fussing" fairlj' tested we would make this amend- 



ment to your article on 5th page; after selecting 



three colonies to pack with chaff and the three to go with- 

 out chaff, select three more equal in all respects to the 

 first, and pack them with chaff the same as the first three, 

 only have it so that you can spread the brood, contract it 

 it with a division board if necessary, etc, try the ex- 

 periment fairly, and if the last three do not fo 

 ahead of any of the others and you do not decide that 

 !i judicious spreading of the brood does pay, "your ex- 

 perience will be different from what mine has been." 



DKONE COMB, HOW TO GET IT. 



Friend Stanhope, on page 13, talks to the point ; and 

 when we hear a person advising making new swarms by 

 taking a frame from several hives, thereby making a full 

 colony at once, and asserting that taking a full frame 

 from a populous stock and putting an empty frame in its 

 place does not injure th?m in the least, w e always set 

 them down as not being so familiar with the inside of a 

 bee hive as they are with writing theory for publication. 



If any one will guarentee ra of the combs built under 

 such circumstances to be worker comb, I will become a 

 convert to artificial swarming. In all my ( xperiments I 

 never got one square inch of worker comb built with such 

 conditions. Now friend Joiner, page 5, have you ever 

 tried the above for getting co nb for sections. In early 

 spring put a division board in place of one or two frames 

 and when apples and dandelions blossom take them out 

 and put empty frames in the brood nest and see it you 

 can't get all the starters you want, and if you get all 

 worker comb built in populous colonies. Friend Stanhope 

 and myself want to engage some queens of you. 



270,000 BEES IN S MONTHS. 



But, friend Novice, it is noi Doolittle's theory that 

 270,000 bees are raised in three months. We wanted you 

 to reconcile friend Cook's statement. We will give facts, 

 no theory about it. Our 9 Gallup frames give us about 

 800 square inches of comb kept full of brood in all stages 

 (not eggs) for two or more mouths. This gives us 40,000 

 workers every 21 dajs, and as they live 45 days the queen 

 sets 2 1-7 generations on the stage of action to where one 

 dies off. So we have 2 1-7 times 40,000 in a good colony 

 the middle of July, or about 86,000 providing they do not 

 swarm. 



BEOOD-EEARING AS EARLY AS CHRISTMAS. 



As regards queens' com mencing to lay about Christmas, 

 we will say that in the winters of 1872-.3 and 1873-4 we 

 had the last of .Jan. on an average, 75 square inches of 

 brood in all stages, with young bees just hatched quite 

 plenty, and we have found but few stocks since we kejit 

 bees that did not have brood by the middle of Jan. 



CLOSING ENTRANCES IN WINTER. 



Friend Hill, page 20. Wo have always made a practice 

 as soon as cold weather comes of shutting un the hives 

 tight at the bottom (just as tight as we could make them) 

 with no entrance anywhere, and we nc^er had any worry 

 ihemselves to death. Bees do not want an entrance un- 

 less they can fly, and in that case Ihey will go in and out 

 .•it any hole they can find, no matter where it is. Bees can 

 get all the air they want through the quilt and straw mat 

 or chalT packing and an cntrr\nce only causes a draught 

 through the hive. 



TrRNING THE C;0MIJ3, FOR WINTERING, IN BROAD HIVES. 



Novice has jr.^l jiut an idea in our heads, and for fear 

 he will tell it as his own wo will tell it now and .so got the 

 start of him. Wo never have fallen in love with this cliaff 

 jjacking as given by Towiiloy, Moore .and others, on ac- 

 count cf i'.s taking so much Uunber to make those L'.rge 



boxes which are nothing but a nuisance in summer. 

 But to the idea; 5 Gallup frames well filled with honey 

 will winter a swarm of bees just as well as 9. Now take 

 out 4, of the 9, that have the least honey in them and 

 turn the other 5 so they will run the other way of the 

 hive by laying 2M inch sticks on the rabbets to hang the 

 frames on. This will give you 3>2 inches at each end of 

 the frames and 2^4 at each side. Make cushions tj fill 

 these spaces, put your quilt over the frames, pack the cap 

 with straw or use a cushion, and all you have to store 

 away is just the cushions, and you have your bees put in 

 just ns warm a bed as you could ask for. We are speak* 

 ing of a Standard Gallup hive- 



STARTEUS OF DRONE COMB, IIOW TO GET THE 

 LARVAE OUT. 



We are asked how we get Larvae out of drone comb, as 

 we mention on page 123 Vol. II, that in order to get work- 

 er comb built we left drone comb in till larva; hatched. 

 Larva; that is not over three days old will do no harm as 

 the bees will clean it all out after it has been left out of 

 the hive until it dies, and we never calculate to let it get 

 older than that. Novice has made our advertisement in 

 the last two numbers, read Standard Gallup hive with 21 

 Vioxes and cases .all complete for 25c. Our usual price is 

 S3.25. As we have paid for advertising, please correct in 

 next. G. M. Doolittle, Borodino, N. Y. 



P. S. We make a practice when snow is deep and tliere 

 comes a day warm enough for bees to fly, of taking off the 

 cap and turning up one corner of the quilt thereby let- 

 ting them fly from the top of the hive instead of the en- 

 trance. G. M. D. 



If we are correct, Townley referred only to 

 chaft' packing before the first of May, and we 

 hardly think even you friend D., Avould advise 

 spreading the brood befoi'e that time. Per- 

 haps a good queen might produce 85,000 bees 

 in 8 mouths, but before basing our calcula- 

 tions on that number, had we not better see 

 how many of us have queens that v.'ill do it 

 during the coming season V 



Turning combs about, where the hive is 

 wider than the length of the frame, we think 

 can not fail to be an excellent idea, but with 

 the L. hives in general use, it can not be done. 

 With the Gallup and Am. frames, it is very 

 easy, but requires considerable time and fuss- 

 ing. Several have recently struck on the idea, 

 and one friend sends us a diagram of the plan. 

 When we can determine wliether the chatl* is 

 really objecuonable for summer, we can decide 

 whether a hive may not be built so the bees 

 will at all times be fixed for winter with no 

 other precaution than seeing that they have 

 ample stores. 



We like the idea of closing the entrances in 

 very severe weather, were it not that one 

 might neglect to open them, or be away when 

 a fine day came; then there would be mis- 

 chief, and we feel the same about taking otl' 

 the covers to let the bees fiy. If we can not 

 have a liive — and bees too — that will take care 

 of themselves at least a few days in the year 

 we think it is really too bad. Our chafl" hives 

 and the old Quinby hive, seem all right, tho' 

 they do not get a bit of cai'c, and we think will 

 need none before May. 



We have changed the reading of our address labels, ma- 

 king them show the last number you are to get. For in- 

 stnnc;>, Dec. '77 implies tiiat you have paid up to and in- 

 cludiu'jc that luunUer, and no farther. Please examinfi 

 tho l:il)i'l<. and sec if thoy tell correctly; if we sometimes 

 make a iiiistakc, please don't get cross, and tl'.ink we did 

 t on jnir; ose. 



