954 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 1.5. 



some wagon road, so that the honoy may be 

 drawn from this large tank into barrels or cans 

 that stand almost on a level with the bed of an 

 ordinary wagon. In this way the honey is 

 loaded np ready to be taken away without any 

 heavy lifting at all. Where the hives are 

 located on lower gronnd than the honey-house 

 the combs are frequently run up to the honey- 

 house door, on a suitable ear, cart, or wheel- 

 barrow. In the picture mentioned we get a 

 glimpse of the apiary just a little above the 

 honey-house. So you see it is downhill work 

 from the time the honey is taken from the hive 

 until it is ready to load. A. I. R. 



DIFFERENCES OF OPINION ON HOFFMAN FRAMES 

 AND HONEY-BOARDS. 



Friend Hutchinson can't understand how 

 such "bright practical men" as his Medina 

 friends could adopt the Hoffman frames. I 

 suspect it is all because he hasn't tried them — 

 at least, as we have. But, say I I can't see how 

 such a bright practical man as my Flint friend 

 can use and like the^slat honey-board with all 

 its [attendant burr-comb attachments. With 

 our Hoffman frames we are practically free 

 from the trouble. Clearly, here are differences 

 of opinion; but they are, I^ am sure, honest 

 differences. 



I am willing to admit, however, that there 

 are those Jwhose ways of working have been 

 such that they could not like the Hoffman, and 

 for that reason we give our friends the choice 

 of several styles— one reversible, one loose un- 

 spaced thick top, and one old-style Langstroth, 

 pure^and simple, with top-bar >s inch wide and 

 % inch thick. This last requires a honey- 

 board, which we also sell, for those who want 

 it. We; may also, for those who may prefer, 

 add to the list a thick-top frame with some form 

 of metallic spacer — a Stephens or some form of 

 furniture-nail spacer. 



I tell you, friends, we can't all like the same 

 things or all see things alike. 



feeding back; avhen it does and doesn't 



PAT. 



On page 856 we published an article from 

 Doolittle that seemed to show that feeding 

 back didn't pay. While I think that, as a gen- 

 eral rule, it is not profitable, I do not wish to 

 overlook the cases where it apparently is so. 

 In a recent article in the Progressive Bee-heep- 

 er, it seems to be shown that it can be made a 

 success; but friend Flanagan says, in summing 

 up, "If one has time on his hands, and plenty 

 of drawn sections, . . . and plenty of cheap 

 extracted honey, it may pay; otherwise, decid- 

 edly not." Bro. Hutchinson, in commenting 

 upon this article in his own paper, says: 



But very little profit can be made in " feeding- 

 back" unless there are partly floislied sections as a 

 foundalion. Sections filled with undrawn founda- 

 tion won't answer. I can't explain why; I simply 



know that too largf a proportion of extracted honey 

 is required as compared with the amount needed 

 when partly finished sections are used. With plenty 

 of these on hand, and the right kindof bees, feeders, 

 and weather, there is no question but what " feed- 

 ing' back " may be followed witli pleasure and profit. 

 First comes the selection of colonies. Blacks are 

 first clioice, with hybrids a close second; next come 

 dark Italians. No great success can be made with 

 ligh1>colored bees. Tlie brood-nest must be con- 

 tracted to not more than five L. frames, and better 

 results are secured if only three frames are left in 

 the brood-nest; but the strength of the colony is 

 likely to suffer if contraction is carried to this ex- 

 tent and very long continued. 



THE weight of BEES AND BEE-LOADS; THE 



PRACTICAL SIDE TO THIS AND OTHER 



SUCH QUESTIONS. 



The editor of the Reineto, while admitting 

 that it may be interesting in a scientific way to 

 know the exact weight of a bee and the amount 

 of nectar it can carry at a load, fails to see any 

 practical benefit to the honey-producer. If our 

 printed matter were to be confined simply to 

 the methods for converting the labor of our 

 minds and hands into bread and butter, and 

 honey to put on it. some of the best litera- 

 ture of our bee-journals would have to be elim- 

 inated.* Man does not live by bread alone, 

 neither should he try to. The practical bear- 

 ing on some questions is not always at once 

 apparent. 



In the case of the bee's weight, or the weight 

 of honey it can carry, there is a practical side. 

 The knowledge of the average bee-load of nec- 

 tar gives us the key to the solution of the prob- 

 lem of the number of bees necessary to carry a 

 pound of nectar, and the number of trips that 

 have to be made to the fields. Indirectly we 

 learn how many workers a colony should have 

 in order to get the best results from a certain 

 honey-flow. But perhaps friend Hutchinson 

 would ask, " How about the weight of a bee ? " 

 In order to know the weight of a bee-?oa(7 we 

 must know the weight of the bee itself. 



Then, too, there have in limes past been all 

 sorts of rude guesses as to how many bees there 

 were in a ten-frame colony. Our knowledge is 

 now much more exact; and hence, in discussing 

 practical questions— those that involve bread- 

 and-butter-getting— our comparisons and our 

 statements of bee forces will be more in keeping 

 with the facts, and hence lead to more exact 

 results. 



BEE-.IOURNAI.S AND THE SUPPLY BUSINESS. 



Various comment has been offered in some of 

 the bee-journals as to whether the Aniprican 

 Bee Journal is harnessed to the supply-business 

 or under the wing of Gleanings now that its 

 editor, Mr. York, has been engaged to manage 



*The Langstroth memorial in this issue, for ex- 

 ample, does not have much of practical value to the 

 lioney-producer, but it does greatly enrich our bee 

 literature.— Ed. 



