222 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



the difficulty or differences are in slight va- 

 riations in construction ; but you have given 

 us a timely caution, and as your plan seems 

 to be rather easier of construction, it seems 

 to me I should prefer it. I would suggest, 

 that the slit where the syrup comes" out 

 should not exceed l-Ki of an inch, or the 

 bees will push their heads into it when try- 

 ing to get the last drop, and often get caught 

 by their necks. We had a good deal of this' 

 trouble with the Mains feeders. By making 

 a right-angled fold on the edge above the 

 slot, the matter is helped ; for then there 

 will be Jio sharp edge to catch into their 

 necks. I think 1 should prefer the glass 

 fruit-jar, that you may see how fast they are 

 taking it. The great objection now to all 

 feeders of this class is, that it must be 

 drawn from the hive to fill, instead of being 

 filled with a coffee-pot, like the covered Sim- 

 plicities. As a quart fruit-jar full is enough 

 for quite a little time, it may not be so great 

 an objection, after all. We will furnish 

 these feeders, all tin, like cut, to hold about 

 a quart, for 10 c, or $1.00 per doz. ; or, made 

 with a quart glass fruit-jar, 20 cts., or S2.00 

 per doz. The former can be sent by mail for 

 10 c. more. 



FOUNDATION TO FIL.I. THE l-TOUND 



SECTIONS. 



SOME EXCELLENT SUGGESTIONS FROxM A I'BACTIC.IL 

 HONEY-MAN. 



A TIMELY MINT ON TRANSFEKKINti. 



BY AN A B C SCHOLAR. 



fl OR the benefit of the ABC class I write you 

 this. Last year I tried both the drumming- 

 out system and your favorite way in transfer- 

 ring. To-day I tried a plan of my own which may 

 have been practiced by others, but if so, not within 

 my reading. I arranged a Simplicity hive, into 

 which I wanted to put my bees, by putting some 

 frames of comb into it ; I removed the cover, and 

 set my box hive right on top, bottom down, removed 

 top of box hive, and smoked bees down into Simplic- 

 ity hive; removed one side, and cut out honey and 

 comb as fast as I could work, and had no trouble 

 from bees, which were all below, and quiet. As 

 fast as I could get brood into frames, I set them in 

 an empty hive that was on old stand. When thi'ough, 

 all I had to do was to double up the frames into one 

 hive, and then I had no bees crawling around on 

 the ground. More than that, I was done and cleaned 

 up in about the time that I would have been, had I 

 drummed them out. If you have never tried it, do 

 so at once. I did not use veil or gloves; the latter I 

 never use. I. D. Pbarce. 



Kirksville, Mo., April 20, 1883. 



Very good, friend P., and we all give you 

 a vote of thanks for the idea, especially if we 

 are going to do any transferring. I thinic, 

 if I were to do it. though, I would set the 

 hive of empty combs right on the stand, and 

 as fast as I got a frame filled with brood, I 

 would move the old box hive a little, and get 

 it right down among the bees, where they 

 would keep it warm, and safe from robbers, 

 and where it would hold them all together 

 also. The modern way of transferring is to 

 use frames of fdn., chiefly, and transfer only 

 the combs containing the brood and the 

 most of the pollen. All the rest is melted up 

 into wax. The odds and ends, dripping 

 with honey, may be laid over the cluster, 

 over night, or until all the honey is taken 

 below, and then melted into wax. 



F LEASE send me by express, 35 lbs. thin foun- 

 dation, in sheets as nearly as you can so that 

 ' I can cut it 3?ix3l2. What you sent me last 

 was beautiful and excellent; and if I did not think 

 you would take it as a favor, I would not criticise it 

 in the least. But I know you want to get as near 

 perfection as possible, and want to help what little 

 I can to get up a standard size of fdn. for starters. 

 In your remarks iu last Gleanings, you lay some 

 stress on haviug starters so they can be shipped. 

 But please remember, that the great bulk of it is 

 not to bo shipped till after the bees fill it with 

 honey, and, barring your presence, we honey-raisers 

 don't care a fig whether it can be shipped or not. 

 What we want is the best fdn., and the most of it in 

 a section. Allow me, therefore, to say what I con- 

 ceive your last shipment lacks of perfection. The 

 sheets were Itjjjx^ij inches. They should bo 18?4x 

 3^2, so that the starters can be cut 3;!^ inches long; 

 for the length of the starter, as it runs up and down 

 in the section, inust correspond with the length of 

 the sheet, for two reasons. First, I want to use the 

 edge that I cut myself to fasten in the section, as I 

 can then cut it as true and square as I wish; second, 

 some of the sheets are inclined to split up into rib- 

 bons, and this is always lengthwise of the sheet, so 

 these pieces can only hang in the section in the di- 

 rection of the length of the sheet. This splitting of 

 the sheet is another evil to be remedied; for it is a 

 tedious task to pull the paper off them without split- 

 ting and breaking them badly. Another fault Is the 

 slight curving still left in the sheets, which I sup- 

 pose is exceedingly difficult to overcome; but your 

 last shipment is such an immense improvement 

 over previous efforts, that it is possible sheets may 

 yet be made entirely straight. Of course, it would 

 do just as well if the sheets were 1.5 or 33Vi inches 

 long, only so they would admit; of being cut into 

 starters 3?4 inches long. C. C. Miller. 



Marengo, 111., April 15, 18?3. 



To be sure, I shall always take it as a fa- 

 vor, friend M., to have our patrons tell us 

 wherein we can improve, or make our work 

 adapt itself to their work. I have read your 

 letter to the foreman of the wax-room, and 

 we are now following all the suggestions you 

 have made. While it is not always possible 

 to have these thin strips exactly straight, we 

 are getting so we can come pretty near it. It 

 is those who order made-up hives, or a com- 

 plete sample hive, who want their sections 

 already filled with fdn. ; but if the sheet 

 must be allowed to hang, as you do it, of 

 course they cannot be shipped in that shape. 

 We can easily cut them in any of the lengths 

 you mention. I have published your hints, 

 chiefly for the benefit of fdn. makers, and 

 they are now a small army sca'.tered abroad 

 through our land, roundation mills are so 

 cheap now, that every neighborhood should 

 have one, and thus save the expense of ship- 

 ping wax and foundation. Express charges 

 on wax and fdn. are often quite expensive ; 

 and unless the quantity is 25 lbs. or more, 

 freight is about as bad. Every State, at 

 least, should have a reVuihle supply dealer ; 

 and where many bees are kept, three or four 

 in a State might be an accommodation. 



