250 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1. 



" Clumsy " or no clumsy, if you can make on 

 rolls foundation like the Given, that the bees 

 will like as well as that made with the press, I 

 want to try it. I want foundation, not for its 

 beauty, but for the beauty of the finished prod- 

 uct. [We can make ihe article; and if the 

 bees or their owners can tell it from the pressed 

 wax, they are smart ones. — Ed.J 



The Bienen-Vater is an excellent German 

 bee-journal, published at Vienna. You can 

 subscribe for it at a dollar a year, or you can 

 join the bee-keepers' society, paying 50 cents a 

 year, and get ihe journal for nothing. Is it 

 any wonder the society has a large member- 

 ship? I tell you, those Germans can give us 

 points on bee- keepers' societies. 



A VENEKABLE TRADiTiox has come down to 

 us, that allowing bees to get started storing in 

 the brood-nest ^eriously interferes wiih their 

 storing in supers. I've bowed to that idol long 

 enough, and now stand up to say I don't believe 

 there's a word of truth in it. So there, now! 

 [I am half inclined to think the doctor is right. 

 If there is a supporter of that '• Venerable Tra- 

 dition," let him speak out.— Ed.] 



"A NICE JOKE " is what Mr. Cowan calls that 

 Straw on p. 123 about British honey produc- 

 tion. That Medina printer wouldn'tthink it any 

 joke if I could get hold of him. Only I'm 

 afraid the mistake was mine instead of his. 

 You see, I gave 5250 lbs. as the possible pro- 

 duction annually, when I meant tons. But 

 Mr. Cowan thinks 10,000 tons would be nearer 

 the mark. [Your treat, doctor.— Ed.J 



Propolis, says Geo. W. Stephens, in ^4. B.J., 

 can be cleaned off the hands with soap and 

 water alone. "Use plenty of soap and not 

 much water; rub the hands together in the 

 lather until the propolis is dissolved, then wash 

 in the water. If any propolis yet remains, 

 lather and wash again." [Grease the fingers 

 with vaseline before working with the hives, 

 and the propolis won't get on the fingers much 

 if any.— Ed ] 



La grippe, says Dr. Peiro, in A. B. J., can 

 generally be shaken off if taken at first. " Ab- 

 solute quiet in a warm bed, not a thing to eat 

 for 24 hours, and only hot buttermilk to drink- 

 all you want of it. After that time, toast, with 

 the yolk of a soft-boiled egg three times a day 

 is permissible. In a few days you will be quite 

 able to- resume your regular work and diet." 

 [Dr. P. is about right. I have been testing that 

 sort of advice, without the buttermilk, and it 

 worked tiptop. We don't have buttermilk at 

 our house. — Ed.J 



What's THE RIGHT ANSAVER to R. C. Alkin's 

 demand, p. 205, for 25 and .50 lb. cans for ex- 

 tracted honey instead of 00 lbs.? [Yes; but we 

 can't make the large manufacturers change. 

 The OO-lb. cans are made to hold a great vari- 

 ety of liquids, among which kerosene and 

 lubricating oils are the most prominent. These 



goods are sold by the gallon; and the cans 

 hold, even measure, five gallons. A four-gal- 

 lon can would be an odd-size; and as the honey 

 interests are insignificant compared with the 

 oil-trade, it is evident that the smaller size, hold- 

 ing .50 lbs., would cost as much as or more than 

 the GO-lb. size. The square cans are cheap be- 

 cause the oil and syrup business makes them 

 so, and we must take the regular size or pay 

 more.— Ed.J 



[As this item, although by another writer, 

 properly belongs to this department, 1 put it 

 here at the end. — Ed.J 



Dr. Miller's criticism in March 15th Glean"- 

 INGS, in Stray Straws, is a little misleading 

 when he compares the capacity of my hive 

 with 9 frames with that of the Dovetailed hive 

 with 8. My statement, that I favored the 

 eight- frame hive with 9 frames, applies as well 

 to the eight-frame Dovetailed hive as to mine 

 or any other of same width. Comparing them 

 both as an eight-frame hive will be fair. And, 

 again, if Dr. Miller will think just a moment 

 he will be able to see (without getting off the 

 fence) that adding an extra frame does not 

 increase the capacity of the hive except in one 

 respect. It gives more comb surface, but makes 

 the combs thinner and only increases the ca- 

 pacity for brood, and actually d iminishes the 

 capacity of the hive in other respects. It di- 

 minishes the room for bees by just the space 

 occu pied by t he e xtra comb. I t diminishes the 

 holding capacity for stores, as it adds an extra 

 empty bee-space. 



Mr. Hatch has made the same criticism on 

 p. 225 of the same issue. My brood-fjame has 

 a cross-bar in the middle, which has been over- 

 looked in the estimate of the comb-space in it. 

 This was omitted in my article also. 



H. R. BOARDMAN. 



East Townsend, O., Mar. 18. 



[There! you have struck the key to the situ- 

 ation exactly. I thought I was right, but 

 couldn't prove it quite as well as you have 

 done —Ed.] 



THE OLD-STRA'W BEE-HIVE. 



THE BEST FORM FOR A HIVE. 



Bu H. R. Bocndmau. 



This has always seemed to me to be a model 

 of perfection not surpassed by any other hive in 

 use to-day, if man's convenience is eliminated 

 from the question. This strange, ancient hive, 

 was hardly the result of accident, but was, I 

 think, the result of careful study of the re- 

 quirements of the bees by the pioneer bee-keep- 

 er, who took the dimensions of the swarm, as 

 it were, for an economical covering for their 

 protection. It is most perfectly adapted by its 



