232 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 



with it many new swarms In condition for wintering, 

 that I otherwise could not. I have been using the 

 I'lln. in Irames, and find the queens lay in it very read- 

 ily. In one instance, I loiind the queen had laid a 

 considerable number or eggs on a Idn. comb intro- 

 duced into ihe hive 12 hours previously; and 1 had 

 another case in whlcli the queen commenced laying 

 on a foundation comb in preterence to a natural comb, 

 new and nice, by its side. And such sheets of brood 

 — I wish you could see Ihem ! But you have doubtless 

 seen just such in your owa apiary. 



Only in one particular can I find fault with them, for 

 brood. They will sag and stretch in a way that 1 do 

 not like ; and a comb 8 inches deep will oiien, if hon- 

 ey is plenty, stretch so as to measure nine inches or 

 more. At other times they will stretch Jrom % to >^ 

 inch, or m re. The cells that are stntchcd out of 

 shape are nearly all in the i;pper third of the comb, 

 and the brood, so lar, has been put in below ard hon- 

 ey stored in these [cells. Hovf tljey will answer for 

 brood 1 cannot yet tell. 1 have seen combs that were 

 all built by the bees, sag or stretch in places, near 

 their upper edge, just as nuich I think, and I have 

 seen the bees raise drones in iheni also. But natural 

 comb does not usually sag fis much as Ibe idu. 



Now can not a 9-inch macliine be constructed so 

 that the sheets ot Idu. coiuirg from it will have the 

 cells on one s-ide (the fide il at is to be placed at the 

 top of the irame) a little (lattened ? Enough so that 

 when it stretclies they will all be of a size? There 

 could be at least a gain of two rows of cells, or more, 

 and besides we should then have no fear of drones 

 being reared in them, and they would be perfect, or 

 sufliclently so lor all practical purposes. Perhaps 

 you think they are now, and wiih more experience 1 

 may think so, but I cannot help thinking it would be 

 a decided improvement. What say you i 



How maay stands will overstock a section ? Last 

 year I had over 130 colonic.^, and a hive that I placed 

 on scales gained nearly 9 lbs. ))er day for three weeks 

 during clover bloom, while tliis year the same stock in 

 an apiary of over 17(' lilves, gained during basswood 

 bloom from 10 to 14 lbs. on certain dajs. The best 

 day it gave 14 lbs. 



J am glad you are taking so kindly these days, to 

 chafi. 1 feel sure yeu will never go back on it. 1 have 

 used it for the past 5 or 6 winters with the best suc- 

 cess, although 1 have sometimes used sawdust, shav- 

 ■ Ings or dry leaves instead. Last winter I leJt 125 col- 

 onies on their summer stands, thus packed, and all 

 came through in good shape. One or two had lost 

 bees so as to injure Ihem somewhat, but all were 

 alive, nor did they dwindle out during the spring. 



J. E. Ckane, Brldport, Vt., July 27, 1877. 

 To be sure we have seen the sheets of brood 

 you speak of, not only in our apiary, but in 

 those of our neighbors all round us, and the 

 ease and cheapness with which a comb of 

 nice brood can be produced, even when no 

 honey is coming in, is in our opinion, at the 

 present time, not half realized or appreciated. 

 After one set of brood has been hatched, the 

 combs are tough, strong, and contain more 

 young bees by far, than any square foot of 

 natural comb we ever used. As they will 

 build out the fdn. and till it with brood when 

 no honey is coming in at all, we can rear bees 

 with a facility never before known ; and of all 

 the pleasures of working in the apiary, I know 

 none equal to raising bees and queens with 

 the aid of the fdn., and the Simplicity hives as 

 we have made them this season. When the 

 weather gets cool, we can lift the combs 

 and bees into chaft' hives and with their aid, 

 we may be able to raise queens into October. 



About the sagging or stretching : very much 

 depends on the kind of wax used. If we use 

 wax that is hard and firm, even in warm 

 weather there will be very iittle of it, and the 

 darkest colored wax frequently stretches the 

 least. We have had what we have reason to 

 think was pure bees-wax brought us that was 

 so soft that the finger could be pushed 

 into a cake, during warm weather. By care- 

 fully throwing out all that is soft, we can get 

 fdn. that sags so sliglitly as to be practically 



perfect, at least for the L. frame, and this is 

 another good reason for discarding deep 

 frames. Put the sheets, such as we make now, 

 into the L. frames as we direct, and there is 

 practically no sagging, as hundreds can testi- 

 fy. It should be remembered that this work 

 has, like other new inventions, been a sort of 

 groping in the dark, and scarcely a month has 

 passed in which we have not made some im- 

 provement. There would be no difticulty at 

 all, in making rolls, that would produce small- 

 er cells at the upper edge, but we think it en- 

 tirely unnecessary. At first we thought all 

 fdn. must, be built out between old combs, and 

 that it would only be used by the bees while 

 they were gathering honey; but now we rejoice 

 in being able to use the fdn. precisely as we 

 would new empty comb. We get perfect 

 worker brood and no other, through the en- 

 tire hive. 



I have never been able to discover that 100 

 stocks in one place, did any less per colony, 

 than a smaller number, but it is quite likely 

 that in poor localities, it might make a difler- 

 ence. There seems now, scarcely a dissenting 

 voice, in regard to chaft'. 



IN THE "BIG WOODS" OF OTINNESOTA. 



BY A WOMAN. 



E are in this region liaving a poor harvest for 

 bees, for several reasons. TLe basswood 



^^ which ilie woin.s lelt, was £0 badly scorched 

 by die hot sun duiiiig our drouth, that there was not 

 half a crop in many places. Our summer has been 

 unusually warm siLce the Hist of July, and relieved 

 by one light show er only. Early in the season, there 

 was a nice flow of honey Irom what is here called 

 ".'quaw cabbage" or "wild lettuce." which grows in 

 abundance among the timber in this state. The hon- 

 ey I thought as white, and peihaps as pleasant fla- 

 vored as that gaiherid from linden. We wish to ask 

 if tlie snowberry, whicli is plentiful in this state, 

 growing wild, lurniehes much honey ; and if the hon- 

 ey is of good quality. 1 have thus far failed to dis- 

 cover much sweet about it, although I was taught to 

 believe it was valuable lor bees. 



1 have never known the molli to be as trouble- 

 some as during the present season, yet we have no 

 weak swarms. The very strongest swarms have suf- 

 fered quite as much as any. it is quite a m) stery to 

 me. as i have always heard it said, and seen it stated 

 in Bee Journals, that moths would not trouble strong 

 swarms. Have only black bees, and there are but 

 few chickens around to hunt the millers which wait 

 until half an hour alter the sun is down, and then 

 v\ith a swiftness and dexterity astonishing to see, 

 they fly in the hive, in epite of myselt and ilie bees, 

 whicli latter are constantly watching for them irom 

 soon after sundown till I leave tnem. In lormer 

 years, the bees were not troubled with moths alter 

 the flrst part of July. 1 still And that tapping on the 

 Irames, will cause the moth to leave, and it is then 

 easy for one to assist them in leaving. Tliis was dis- 

 covered some Ave years since by two apiarians who 

 were tacking light strips on seme irames with brood 

 in them. 



1 am highly pleased with Gleanings, and am sure 

 that I get many new and good ideas from every num- 

 ber, much of which 1 read over several times. 



My bees have the body of each hive very nearly full 

 of honey and brood but do little in the boxes as yet. 

 Have made two swarms from three which I had In 

 the spring. 1 always divide mine as I see so many 

 lote their natural swarms. Could extract honey now, 

 but feel alraid to do it when there is so little prospect 

 ot late honey. It is generally thought that the great 

 (nearly half) loss of bees in this (Wright) Co., last 

 winter was from extracting too closely and having 

 but little fall honey, in some cases persons extracted 

 Irom boxes only, concluding (without looking to see,) 

 tliat, of course, their Dees had plenty of honey in the 

 main body of one story hives ; but afterwards finding 

 that the bees carried the honey irom below, as fast as 

 the frames above were made emi)ty. A. M. 



August 4th, 1877. 



