1882 



glea:nings in bee cultuke. 



129 



IMPROVED BEE, 



and I believe, too, we have been iuiproving them for 

 the last ten years; and so I say, let them advertise 

 and give us the good points they claim. No^one ex- 

 pects they would advertise that they had got the 

 old ' black boss bee ' of 10 or 15 years ago. They 

 would be looked upon as about on a par with the 

 fish-monger who went on the street to sell fish, cry- 

 ing, ' Stinking codfish for sale! who'll buy?' So Isay, 

 cry up the good points you think you have devel- 

 oped, and in this way stimulate others to greater 

 efforts in the good work." 



I saw that Mr. Duster was in right-down earnest 

 in his belief in this matter, so I suggested that per- 

 haps he had got an improved strain of bees. As he 

 did not respond at once, we looked at him and saw 

 that he was regarding us in a kind of a quizzical, 

 doubtful way, with one eye partly closed, and the 

 other drawing a bead on us across the bridge of his 

 nose. 



"Yes, yes!" he broke out, "I've just that. My 

 bees strain every winter to get through, and they 

 make it, too, by jim-i-ny!" 



"Tut, tut!" interposed his wife, across the table. 



"Well, well; leave off the two last words if you 

 like," said Mr. D. ; " but it is the truth, all the same. 

 Some of these fellows who winter their bees out- 

 doors will tumble to my racket in the way of winter- 

 ing, one of these days, and don't you forget it!" 



After going thus far out of the way to give his 

 friends on outdoor wintering a " whack," as he 

 called it, he returned to the improvement question 

 again. 



"You don't suppose that, after improving the 

 short-horns that we bought of Johnny Bull until he, 

 Johnny, is glad to come over and pay us a good 

 round price for oui- improved short-horns; you don't 

 suppose, after improving our breed of horses " (and 

 here Mr. Duster arose and struck an attitude) "until 

 we have been able to send across the waters such 

 samples as Foxhall and Iroquois, that cleaned out 

 the whole ' caboodle ' of 'em; you don't suppose that 

 we have improved the little Jersej's until they are a 

 far better breed in most respects than those first im- 

 ported, and we, after doing all this, can't improve 

 our bees!" 



Here Mr. Duster dropped into his chair with a long- 

 drawn-out "pish," that seemed to let out all the 

 wind there was in him. He, however, soon rallied, 

 by saying, in conclusion,— 



"Look at what has been done in the improvement 

 of ourpoultry. Breeds that we imported thirty years 

 ago can now hardly be recognized as the same, so 

 great has been the change for the better. The hen- 

 fever and bee-fever, I wish to remark, are very much 

 alike. I will not diagnose them to prove it, but will 

 simply say, that I have had both, and am myself a 

 living monument of thirty years' standing to the 

 fact! It will take time, some money, and a good 

 deal of patience, to bring this matter about; but it's 

 as sure to come as that the future is before us." 



R. H. Mellen. 

 Amboy-on-Inlet, 111., Feb. 4, 1882. 



Friend M., please tell Mr. Duster, next 

 time you see him, that our friend Merry- 

 banks has several projects in hand that he 

 would like his opinion on, and one is, wheth- 

 er he don't think the " improved bee " would 

 get along faster if bred in his pail bee-hive, 

 rhey are so much more comfortable, clus- 



tered together in a round ball, as it were, and 

 then in the springtime the sun warms up the 

 pail so readily, and dries out all dampness. 



FRIE:ND DEAIVE'S SYSTEM OF WORK- 

 ING SECTIONS FOR COlttB HONEY. 



A SUBSTITUTE FOR WIDE FRAMES AND CRATES, FOR 

 SECTIONS. 



1 



i?T does not usually take a bee-man very 

 I'lt long to learn the advantages of simplici- 



ty and fewness of parts in his appliances 

 for the ai)iary ; and the great favor wlilch 

 the Simplicity hive has obtained is probably 

 owing to its being composed of just two 

 simple parts, bodies and covers. Almost 

 every beginner suggests that a flat board, 

 cleated, would do just as well as a bottom- 

 board made just like a cover; but he soon 

 learns that the advantage of having bottoms 

 and covers exactly alike, and always inter- 

 changeable, more than pays for the extra ex- 

 pense. Since our system of gauges, so that 

 Simplicity hives made by one man always fit 

 exactly those made by any other man, have 

 become known, it is now quite common to 

 have single orders for a hundred or more 

 hives. Well, the one-piece section did a 

 great deal in the same way toward simplify- 

 ing. When there were two or more separate 

 pieces to form a section, somebody was eve- 

 ry little while getting too many tops and 

 bottoms, or too few sides, or, as often hap- 

 pened when we had sent them all right, he 

 counted wrongly, and imagined he had not 

 got what he should have, which made more 

 trouble, if possible, than the other. Well, 

 not only are all such troubles over, but the 

 one-piece section can be put up ever so much 

 faster than the other ; even if a nailed sec- 

 tion is wanted, they can be put up faster, for 

 it is a very much easier job to nail it nicely, 

 when every part is held firmly in place while 

 the nails are driven. 



Well, the wide frames to hold sections are 

 still made of three different pieces, and the 

 crate that sets over the frames, even the 

 simplest in form, is made of quite a number 

 of pieces. Now, friend Deane proposes to 

 make two simple pieces of wood make pret- 

 ty nearly the whole of both. Below I give 

 you a cut of the pieces as he uses them. 



THE PIECES OP WOOD FORMING THE DEANE SEC- 

 TION-HOLDERS. 



The smallest piece is 11x4^x7-32. The oth- 

 er is 17ixl#x7-82. You will observe, the for- 

 mer is just the width of an ordinary section 

 in its widest part, and the latter just the 

 width in the narrowest part. The latter is, 

 in fact, only the bottom-bar to an ordinary 

 wide frame. Xow, -in- 

 stead of notching them 

 together as friend Deane 

 does, I would put them 

 together in the usual way of dovetiiliiig, so: 

 If made to drive together hard, they will 

 make a much tirmer joint, and yet they can 

 be easily bent back a little, when lifting out 

 the sections. If separators are to be used, 

 they are tacked to these short pieces. I 



