1882 



GLEAlTtNGS IK BEE CULTURE. 



135 



MAKING THE BEES BUILD OVER THE TIN BAR, IN 

 THE WIRED FRAMES. 



In putting foundation into wired frames, I tried 

 the experiment of cutting each sheet into two equal 

 parts, and then lapping one half on one side the tin 

 center-bar, and the other half on the opposite side 

 the bar. B.vthis means 1 induced the bees to build 

 the frame full the whole length, and, not to leave a 

 space over the bar. This is but little moVe work; 

 takes no more foundation, and makes a much nicer- 

 looking comb, than by putting all on one side the 

 bar. I tried it with six frames, and found them all 

 well filled out. The idea is new to me, although it 

 may not be new in itself. If considered of value, let 

 the friends know of it in Gleanings. I like, if I 

 have any thing I think good, to let the world know 

 it. J. E. Pond, Jr. 



North Attleboro\ Bristol Co., Mass., Feb. 2, 1883. 



Thanks, friend P., for the idea. When 

 honey is coming in briskly, we have no trou- 

 ble in getting the bees to cover the tin bars 

 completely ; but at other times they do build 

 out the fdn. on the side where it covers tlie 

 bar, and leave the other. Your plan will fix 

 it nicely. And, by the way, you have start- 

 ed another and very important matter. Rub- 

 ber plates, to till a frame complete, are pret- 

 ty heavy to handle, and rather expensive. 

 One to make a half L. frame full, would be 

 quite pretty to handle, and could be worked 

 perhaps enough more rapidly, besides the 

 smaller expense. I will at once see to get- 

 ting some out for a half L. frame. The 

 query may come in here, Why have the tin 

 bar V I would have it, my friends, because 

 it enables us to make a frame very much 

 lighter, and, as a matter of course, with a 

 much greater area inside for honey-cells. 

 Our wired frames are made of such light 

 strips of pine, that we are enabled to dis- 

 pense with a great amoiuit of heavy wood 

 that has heretofore encumbered the very 

 heart of the bee-hive. 



dollar queens. 

 As complaints are continually made by parties in- 

 terested, doubtless, in keeping up high prices, against 

 the dollar-queen business, perhaps a few words in 

 reply will be permitted from a buyer and producer 

 of queens who does not sell any. A few years ago, 

 in the National Convention, a speaker, deploring 

 the degeneracy sure to result from the low price of 

 queens, asked what would become of our herds of 

 choice cattle and sheep, if bulls and rams were of- 

 fered for a dollar! The reply was, that if bulls and 

 rams could be pioduced for one dollar, they would 

 sell at that, or nearly that price. Now, if such parties 

 would but retlect, they would see that an untested 

 queen can be sold much cheaper than one kept till 

 its progeny appears; also, that some men have a 

 greater aptitude for such a pursuit than others, and 

 can therefore produce good queens much more 

 cheaply than others. So long as careful breeders 

 are content to furnish untested queens at one dol- 

 lar, or even less, and claim that they can make more 

 monej' at that than in honey production, who should 

 complain? It is true, that careless, shiftless men 

 may sell queens not properly reared; but may not 

 that be done at three dollars, and more to the injury 

 of the buyer, than by him who sells at one dollar? 

 That good queens may be reared for one dollar, is 

 now beyond question. The public, by patronizing 



those who do the best, can regulate this matter in a 

 far more satisfactory way than by trying to create a 

 monopoly. J. W. Porter. 



Charlottesville, Va., Feb. 4, 1882. 



good for TEXAS. 



There arc some stocks kept here, but mostly in 

 old cross- stick hives; but the yield of honey is 

 good. One old-style bee-keeper has sold 4000 lbs. of 

 honey this last season (1881), from 125 stands. In 

 February, 18S1, I bought hives — 4 in Simplicity 

 frame hives, and two in cross-stick; transferred the 

 latter, and increased, by natural swarming, to 17 

 hives; used an extractor, and obtained 500 lbs. of 

 honey; sold at IJVic; sold all the hives for $40.00 

 (their first cost was $18.00), and bought Italians to 

 stock up with this year. I think the investment 

 paid me 100 per cent. My bees are gathering some 

 pollen now — the first about a week ago. 



West Falls, Texas, Jan. 28, 1882. S. A. Elam. 



bee-men AS A CLASS. 



In all conscience, there has been enough said in 

 the Burch matters. One well-authenticated case of 

 such treatment as Mr. Merrick narrates in the last 

 number ought to stamp any dealer as unworthy of 

 confidence. I think every business man will say 

 that. No professions in the column for "square 

 men" can relieve a man from a stain of dishonor. A 

 man is either honest or dishonest. Every man can 

 tell which class he belongs to, if he will give the time 

 for study. To be sure, it is human to err, and it is 

 divine to forgive. Few just, right-thinking men, 

 would refuse to pardon an error or forgive a wrong, 

 if that error or wrong be acknowledged, and forgive- 

 ness asked. What excuse van there be for such con- 

 duct? A man may be embarrassed, but he need not 

 be dishonest in consequence; and what else is any 

 one who receives and appropriates money to his own 

 use which belongs to another, which was intrusted 

 to him for a specific purpose? The bee-keeping fra- 

 ternity will compare favorably, so far as my varied 

 experience goes, with any other for probity and lib- 

 erality. The sooner we are freed from impostors 

 entirely, the better it will be all around. 



J. W. Porter. 



Charlottesville, Albemarle Co., Va., Feb. 4, 1882. 



necessity of ventilators for CHAFF HIVES, ETC. 



Last fall I went to work and made chaflf cushions, 

 and packed my ten colonies of bees all down snug 

 for a long winter, overlooking entirely any escape 

 for dampness, supposing the chatt' in those cushions 

 would absorb all moisture that might arise from the 

 breath of the bees. To-day I went to my library and 

 stood for a moment to choose some book of interest. 

 I finally took up the little red cover, A B C of Bee 

 Culture. As I intend to make all chaff hives in the 

 spring, my attention was drawn to that subject on 

 page 97, " How to make the gable ends." No sooner 

 had I read this than I said to Mrs. B., " I must see to 

 my bees," and that I had just been reading in A B C 

 we must not omit ventilation in chaff hives. I threw 

 the book down on the table, and as the day was very 

 mild I went to work at once. I found the nice new 

 cotton chaff cushions rotten — not only the cloth, 

 but the chaff too, which looked more like manure 

 than chaff. One or two were all right. I soon took 

 off the miserable wet stuff, replacing it with fine 

 hay, as I had no chaff. I may not have done right; 

 but this I know, it is fresh and dry; the bees arc all 

 booming, and look as slick and clean as in June. 



