948 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 1.5. 



for extracted honey, as do nearly all other bee- 

 keepers in this region, extracted honey being 

 much easier to transport to the railroad. Mr. 

 McCarty is one of the very few bee-keepers who 

 produced a crop of honey this year. He accom- 

 plished It by movirs his bees to a place where 

 the basswood-flowers were not killed by the se- 

 vere frosts in May. 



My next stop was at Yuba, on Pine River, in 

 Richland Co. Here I visited Mr. E. C. Priest, 

 the only bee-keeper in the immediate neighbor- 

 hood. Mr. Priest had taken only a small crop 

 of honey, and confessed that he had partly neg- 

 lected his bees for several years back, as he has 

 built and equipped an excelsior-mill, and work- 

 ed hard to make it a success; but it has not 

 paid. I remarked that he would have done 

 better and had an easier time if he had increas- 

 ed his bee-business, and attended to it proper- 

 ly, and let the excelsior-mill alone, thereby also 

 avoiding the destruction of the basswood tim- 

 ber. He assented that such was the truth. I 

 find the tendency in this country is to neglect 

 the bees for various kinds of ventures. Very 

 few seem willing to make a specialty of honey 

 production, for the reason, as they say, they are 

 not sure of a crop of honey every year. 



From Yuba I went down Pine River Valley, 

 passing on the way one of the apiaries of the 

 successful bee-keeper Mrs. Pickard. At Rich- 

 land Center I was met by Bro. C. A. Hatch, 

 who took me out to his beautiful home and 

 farm. Mr. Hatch is too well known as a bee- 

 keeper to need an introduction here. He and 

 his brother, A. L. Hatch, are extensive fruit- 

 growers. I was surprised to find them success- 

 fully producing a large variety of choice ap- 

 ples, plums, cherries, grapes, and small fruits. 

 Of course, the crop was short this year on ac- 

 count of the unusual frosts. Their orchards 

 are situated on the top of high clay ridges, en- 

 tirely unsheltered. There are many such ridges 

 in Southern Wisconsin, but there are no or- 

 chards on them. The apple-trees are usually 

 placed along the creek bottoms, where they do 

 not thrive. These orchards of the Hatch broth- 

 ers are an object-lesson to the bee-keepers and 

 others of our State, because they show what 

 can be done in our climate; and if there is any 

 branch of business that goes well with bee- 

 keeping I think it is the production of the 

 larger fruits which are gathered after the busy 

 honey season is past. I shall never forget the 

 beauty of these fruit-farms nor the kindness 

 shown me by both the Hatch brothers during 

 my short visit. When I started for home from 

 here, C. A. took me to a small railroad station 

 below Richland Center, and pointed out the 

 place where the out-apiary of the late S. I. 

 Freeborn had made large crops of honey from a 

 kind of mint after the close of the basswood 

 season; but the large number of colonies once 

 owned by him is now greatly reduced. In fact, 



the bee-keeping industry is somewhat neglect- 

 ed in these regions, and the amount of honey 

 produced is but a small per cent of what is- 

 possible. 



In closing I will say that I am not trying to 

 beat Rambler out of his job, though I do enjoy 

 traveling among the bee keepers, and looking 

 up the resources of my State. I am a married 

 man, and love my home and family, therefore 

 my rambles must be few and far between. 



Browntown, Wis., Oct. 23. 



THE STEPHENS SPACER. 



IMPORTANCE OF GOOD LUMBEK FOB TOP-BARS. 

 AN OPEN LETTER TO DR. MILLER. 



By Oeo. W. Stephens. 



Dr. C. C. Miller:—! see you have dropped the 

 discussion of hives, and taken up frames; and 

 in your article on ''The Right Kind of Frames," 

 in Gleanings, October 1."), you point out an ob- 

 jection to the Stephens spacer. Well. I sup- 

 pose spacers ought to be discussed along with 

 other things; they are a nf^cessity to any one- 

 who is at all particular and cares to have 

 straight combs, and to get rid of propolis, 

 fair discussion will not injure a meritorious- 

 article, and I believe in the survival of the fit- 

 test; but my mind is not clear as to whether 

 you are putting up one of your jokes, or are in 

 earnest; for, you see, the objection you raise 

 applies to the top-bar and to the man who 

 nailed the frames, and not to the spacer at all. 

 On the same line of reasoning you might say 

 the Stephens spacer will not prevent top-bars^ 

 from warping. I have some top-bars, made by a 

 popular manufacturer, that are warped, or 

 sprung out of line, V inch; but I never thought 

 to blame the spacers. I think it is because they 

 were made of poor lumber, or else it was not 

 well seasoned. 



STEPHENS' FRAME-SPACER. 



Top-bars should be made of first-clear, well- 

 seasoned lumber; and if pine will not do, some- 

 thing else should be used; and then they should 

 be cut true and to an exact size, and great care 



