1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



105 



candy just right. The candy we last used was 

 made of coarse granulated sugar and honey, 

 with a very little of the pulverized to stiffen 

 the dough. Among those where the queen 

 went through dead, the cause was evidently 

 starvation. The honey had all been taken out 

 between the granules of sugar, and the dry 

 particles of the latter were no better than so 

 much sand. 



THOSE CROSSES OF FIVE-BANDERS. 



In another column will be found a reply by 

 Mrs. Jennie Atchley and F. A. Lockhart, to the 

 editorial on page 23, to the effect that a cross 

 between a black drone and a five-banded Ital- 

 ian queen does not necessarily show one and 

 two banded bees, but that such bees show all 

 the characteristics of ordinary hybrids, with 

 the exception of color. Mrs. Atchley's experi- 

 ence and that of Mr. Lockhart seem to be dia- 

 metrically opposite to ours. As she says, let 

 us hear from others on this point. It is only by 

 getting testimony from quite a number that we 

 can form a really decided opinion on this ques- 

 tion. 



As to ray own statements on page 33. I have 

 just been out to ask our apiarist if I had made 

 any mistake. He says not. He is very posi- 

 tive that some of our five-banders, while show- 

 ing good color, were crossed with hybrids, be- 

 cause their progeny is so fearfully cross. We 

 obtained five-banders from a number of breed- 

 ers; but as not all of them are cross, I can not 

 say that Mrs. Atchley's bees that we received 

 showed any bad traits. Indeed, so far as I 

 have been able to trace them they were gentle 

 and beautiful, and in several instances were 

 energetic and good workers. As Mrs. Atchley 

 breeds from original Doolittle stock, and, I 

 have reason to believe, takes more than ordi- 

 nary pains, I assume that her stock is both 

 beautiful and energetic. Mr. Lockhart, I be- 

 lieve, has the same stock. 



WIRING BY MEANS OF ELECTRICITY. 



We have not said much of late about imbed- 

 ding wires into foundation by means of elec- 

 tricity. It is not because we considered the plan 

 impracticable, nor because we have found an- 

 other and better way — nay, far from it. We 

 could scarcely drive our people to imbedding 

 wires with the old-fashioned spur-wheel, so 

 slow and unsatisfactory is it, compared with 

 the neat and rapid method by means of electric- 

 ity. But perhaps some of you may have for- 

 gotten how to construct the battery. Secure 

 three crocks, of not less than a gallon ca- 

 pacity each— larger will make the batteries 

 run longer; and where much imbedding is to be 

 done, crocks of not less than five gallons capac- 

 ity should be used. For about a cent apiece 

 you can get electric-light carbons at the near- 

 est electric-light station— just such carbons as 

 are used for arc lights. You will need, for 



each cell of your battery — that is, for each 

 crock, three long carbons or six short ones. 

 Now, for each crock secure a square board of 

 inch stuff, to cover it. Describe a circle on one 

 of the boards, the circumference of which 

 should be about two inches smaller than the 

 inside diameter of the crock. On the line of 

 this circle bore six holes equally distant, just 

 large enough to receive the carbons. Wire 

 these carbons all together by running a naked 

 copper wire around each carbon a couple of 

 times and then pass it on to its neighbor. Pro- 

 ceed thus with each board. In the center of 

 each circle bore a hole large enough to receive 

 a rod of zinc, the size and length of which is 

 immaterial. If you can not get rods, take 

 sheet zinc and roil it up to about an inch in 

 diameter, and as long as the carbons. Solder a 

 wire to each zinc. The wiring to each cell or 

 crock should be so arrranged that the zinc of 

 one battery will be attached by its wire connec- 

 tion to the carbons of the other battery, and so 

 on until you have one free end of the wire from 

 the carbons of one cell, and one free end from 

 the zinc of another crock — the other cell being 

 connected with the other two. These two free 

 ends are to be attached with spring clips, in 

 such a way that they (the clips) engage, or 

 come in contact with the two ends of the wire 

 running through the frame to be filled with 

 foundation. Now, then, before you proceed to 

 work you will need to throw into each crock, 

 say for the three-gallon size, a couple of pounds 

 of bichromate-of-potash crystals. Fill the 

 crock to within l^i inches of the top, with hot 

 water. Allow it to stand three or four hours, 

 and then pour about a gill of sulphuric acid in- 

 to each crock; stir; insert the zinc and carbon 

 element, and you are ready for business. 



We have experimented with almost every 

 form of galvanic battery that we could Isaru or 

 read of; but none gave anywhere near such 

 satisfactory results, for the money, as the one 

 just described. If you do not reckon your time 

 at night and mornings, the whole outfit ought 

 not to cost you more than 75 cts., including the 

 chemicals and all. 



One charge for the five-gallon size ought to 

 imbed about 1000 frames; but after you have 

 put in about 200 frames you will need to let the 

 battery " rest," i.e., recuperate itself, which it 

 will do in about three or four hours; then you 

 can imbed a couple of hundred more. The 

 activity of the battery may be greatly assisted 

 by stirring the solution occasionally while 

 working it. 



We used this form of battery until last sea- 

 son. During the fall, one of our young men of 

 an electrical turn of mind constructed for us a 

 small dynamo, which furnishes a current both 

 for a storage battery which runs the phono- 

 graph, and for imbedding foundation. All we 

 have to do is to throw on the belt, and the 

 current is ready at any moment. Of course, 



