18 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 1. 



mestic animals or an ordinary wind from turn- 

 ing them over. They are what some people 

 call "tenement" hives. Imagine a large dou- 

 ble-walled hive divided up into four squares by 

 X boards passing at right angles in the center. 

 The outer walls are double and packed. Thus 

 it will be seen that it is necessary to have only 

 two outside walls, of double thickness, for each 

 colony; and herein, I suppose, is the economy. 

 But for some reason or other the quadruple or 

 tenement hives are not generally popular among 

 bee-keepers, owing, I think, largely to their 

 non-portability.* 



The Frances had discarded the old mouth 

 smokers, such as they formerly used, and were 

 using a modified type of the Bingham of their 

 own construction. They had heard of the 

 Crane, but had never seen it. When the senior 

 France commenced to fill his smoker he said he 

 had found that ordinary straw, packed tightly 

 with a little tobacco, was about as good a fuel 

 as he wanted. Indeed, the straw alone makes 

 an excellent fuel. It makes a very dense white 

 smoke— one that is pungent and powerful; and 

 while we were looking over the bees, the smo- 

 ker did not require replenishing. I think, any 

 oftener than with planer-shavings or even 

 blocks of wood. Of course, if the straw is not 

 packed in tightly it will burn quickly. 



The Frances are using principally the Carni- 

 olans. They prefer them for their own use to 

 any others. The home yard was largely of 

 these bees, and other yards were being Carni 

 olanized,if I may coin the expression, as rapidly 

 as possible. 



Our Platteville bee-keepers are conservative, 

 and not inclined to adopt any new fad except 

 on careful and thorough trial on a limited scale; 

 and the adoption of this race of bees by the 

 Frances must indeed be quite a feather in the 

 little caps of these black fellows. 



We finally went into the honey-house where 

 there were barrels, large and small; but not 

 many of them were full of honey, owing to the 

 short season. They find that barrels are the 

 best packages for large amounts of honey, and, 

 when properly coopered and cared for, afterward 

 give but little trouble from leakage. They do 

 not need to be waxed inside, but should become 

 thoroughly dried, and the hoops should be driv- 

 en down before filling the barrels with honey. 

 They had had, for experiment, some large bar- 

 rels made, holding .500 lbs. and over; but these 

 were too heavy and bulky to handle. The 

 smaller size, holding about 300 lbs., was much 

 better. The door of the honey-house commu- 

 nicating with the apiary was on a level with 

 the ground. The other door was just opposite, 

 facing the roadway, and was just high enough 

 so a barrel could be rolled from the floor into a 

 wagon-box. 



*A full detailed description, with druwing', at the 

 shot-tower hives is g-iveii on page 369 of Gleanings 

 for 189U. 



We next looked at the France extractor,, 

 which is of the non- reversible type. The in- 

 side reel was made of wood, for lightness and 

 stiffness, and the whole can was put in a stout 

 frame to hold it to the proper height for easy 

 handling, and to protect it for hauling when- 

 ever it should be necessary. The senior France 

 said the non-reversible would extract all the 

 honey one could get, but the junior France ex- 

 pressed a desire to see the Cowan, and was be- 

 ginning to feel, from the reports he had seen, 

 that it must be quite an advantage over most 

 of the non-reversing kind. Another year they 

 will give one a test. 



In another room in the same building was a 

 large and fine collection of stuffed animals — 

 some of them exceedingly rare — most of them 

 of the junior France's preparation, and a few 

 that E. France himself had prepared. Both of 

 the Frances are expert hunters, and occasion- 

 ally take an outing. 



CHAT ON EUROPEAN MATTERS.— NO. 3. 



By diaries Norma)i. 



Most of both the Swiss and French bee-keep- 

 ers produce extracted honey. By the way, there 

 is a honey-knife advertised, enabling one to un- 

 cap the two sides of a frame (of a certain size) 

 without turning it. What do you think of that? 

 Would it not, if really practical, be quite a 

 splendid little implement? Well, Mr. Bertrand, 

 being a bee-master, recommends, of course, the 

 production of section honey, and gives in an ar- 

 ticle of his all the requisite directions how to 

 proceed. He is not, however, in favor of our 

 American square sections ; first, because one 

 might (in the super as well as in the shipping- 

 case) place them wrong side up; and, second, 

 because they do not correspond with the metric 

 system, weighing only from 420 to 440 grams (or 

 about 1.5 ounces) which latter argument can not 

 well be refuted. He therefore invented and 

 recommends what he named the " French sec- 

 tion," which is longer than deep, measuring 130 

 by 105 by .50 millimeters (or about S-j^-,, by 4,V by 

 nearly 2 inches thick), weighing .500 grams, or 

 about 18 ounces. It can be adapted to all kinds 

 of hives. 



Mr. C. P. Dadant, in the American Bee Jour- 

 nal, published two articles in which he spoke 

 against the use of sulphuric acid for rendering 

 wax. Mr. Bertrand has translated and reprint- 

 ed both of them. 



Naphthaline is asserted to be a preventive of 

 bee-stings. A correspondent says positively 

 that bees, when going for his " naphthalined " 

 hands, always desist from their aim. 



Concerning "laying workers," Mr. Gillet, a 

 teacher of apiculture, has observed that, when 

 a colony of laying workers is dumped or brush- 

 ed on to the ground at some distance from their 

 hive, the laying workers do not return, but stay 



