1893 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



437 



ANOTHER SITGGESTION FOR HOLDING OPEN THE 

 MOUTH OF A SACK. 



Take an ear-of corn or a rolled-up price list 

 in each hand, and roll them in the mouth of 

 the sack from the outside, then you have a 

 square-mouthed sack. One ear will do quite 

 well for one alone. M. W. Murphey. 



Cuba, 111. \ 



BAD FOR SEALED COVERS. 



Sealed covers are a failure with me. I went 

 into winter quarters with 108 colonies, part of 

 thein under sealed covers. Most of them under 

 sealed covers died. The rest are in good shape. 

 I winter on summer stands. We have had a 

 long cold winter in Missouri. G. W. Babb. 



Medicine, Mo., May 10. 



SEALED COVERS A POSITIVE FAILURE IN WIN- 

 TERING. 



I want to say, in regard to sealed covei's, that, 

 during cold weather, they siveat so as to be 

 very dangerous. I had two weak colonies that 

 I did not get sealed. I put just one good gunny 

 sack over the frames, and laid on the lid. They 

 both wintered, and were in good shape all the 

 time. I had them open several times in Decem- 

 ber, also in February and March, and found 

 them booming. I bought eight stands in box 

 hives during fall. I got them packed on top of 

 the combs with a Hill device; and although 

 they were not packed until on or about Jan. 1, 

 they all came out strong. They had nothing 

 over the bees to protect them until I packed 

 them. The more exposed they seemed, the bet- 

 ter they wintered. 



I fear our shallow frames are bad for winter- 

 ing. One neighbor had four Dovetailed hives. 

 He left on the empty supers. They also win- 

 tered in excellent shape. Now. that is ventila- 

 tion with a vengeance. I intend to have either 

 double hives or V^ stories full of bees, and feed 

 hereafter, and I look for success. I don't want 

 any sealed covers in my yard. 



Newman, 111., May 11. Byron E. Smith. 



THE CRANE SMOKER .JUST AS REPRESENTED ; 



THE PORTER BEE -ESCAPE AND COWAN 



EXTRACTOR. 



The new Crane smoker is at hand. In regard 

 to this smoker it is, I believe, all that is claimed 

 for it. That check-valve is perfect; the fire is 

 easily kindled, and it does not have to be filled 

 every time a hive is opened. It fact, it tills a 

 long-felt want. In regard to the Porter bee- 

 escape. I am afraid I was a little hasty. After 

 a further trial, and having extracted nearly 

 one ton of honey, I am very well satisfied with 

 it, and would advise all producers of extracted 

 honey to give it a trial. In regard to the Cow- 

 an honey-extractor, if I had another 150 or 200 

 hives I would increase its capacity by the pur- 

 chase of another two- frame like the one I now 

 have — that is. if it were necessary; but I believe 

 a two-frame Cowan will extract all the honey 

 that two or three men can bring in day after 

 day. In regard to the solar wax-extractor, here 

 in Louisiana it will extract wax from old black 

 combs as well as any other process, besides do- 

 ing it much cheaper, cleaner, and with less 

 fussing. I am one of the ABC class; but I do 

 not read the book now: for, as we used to say 

 when we were boys, I know it by heart. 



Musson, La., May 15. A. W. Tufts. 



FAX. 



Most all the honey I have seen in the market 

 the past season 'pears to be sugared. 



Thay'll be lots o' honfy-"due" here this year, 

 but, will we git it? that's the pint. 



Here's a fax that hain't a fax: All bee-keep- 



ers, when they sell honey, alius put the onriest- 

 lookin' boxes next to the glass in the shippin'- 

 crates. 



I kin slide my hives peart nearly all over the 

 razberry patch ttyin' to git that "lateral " mo- 

 tion with the okl-fashioned Hoffman frames, 

 'thoutanytin rabbets. 



My 'sperience with spindlin' bottom-bars is, 

 that, after a season er two, the bees built down 

 and partly round "em, plump and square. Sum- 

 tiuK'S I like to ketch a frame by the bottom-bar 

 but dislike to dent the komb. 



Advice to beginners in the old cattleogs had 

 us Hoosiers down jjurty safe at $25 proceeds from 

 a single colony: Vuit the new ones, tellin' us not 

 to git extravagant er crazy if we cleered .f5 er 

 $10 frum one hive in a single seesin. makes it a 

 little risky. Ellery Krum. 



B. N. — If the Italyunswas crossed until thair 

 tongues is long nutf to work on red clover, what 

 would become of the poor bumble-bee? I don't 

 want the Italyuns deformed by havin thair bills 

 as long as a Watti-rberry watch-spring, and the 

 bumble-bees put on sich slim pickin'. I object, 

 and suggest to them persons what aint satersfi- 

 ed with the honey-bee as she is, that it mite be 

 a good plan, when they send 'em out on red 

 clover, to supply each bee with a "Stray Straw" 

 to suck the honey out with. E. K. 



Alexandria, Ind. 



THE MAPLE-SUGAR PRODUCT OF THE STATE OF 



OHIO; THE EXHIBIT AT THP: WORLD'S 



FAIR. 



From the Chicago Dispatch of May 13 we 

 make the following extracts: 



One million dollars" worth of maple products are 

 produced annually in Ohio, mostly in the counties 

 known as the Western Reserve. Geaug'a County 

 leads, with $150,H0O annually; Portage County fol- 

 lows, with $100,0U(l, and Ashtabula, Medina, Trum- 

 l)ull, Cuy.iliogH, Mahoning', Summit, and Log'an 

 Counties all make large quantities. 



Mr. Thrasher showed a letter from John D. Orr, 

 deputy collector internal revenue, i'oung-stown, 

 Ohio, which stated: " The average quality of maple 

 sugar sent from Ohio to Washington, D. C, 'to be 

 examined for the two-cent bounty.' tested higher 

 ilian the averag-e in any other State in the Union." 

 The exhibit consists largely of samples sent in and 

 donated bv the farmei's from all over the State, 

 about 200 different makers having contributed, and 

 is as good a test of the average production of the 

 State as could well be collected. Logan County 

 especially seemed to outdo herself in the quality of 

 her exhibits. Mr. T. seemed surprised at this, as 

 he said Logan County was considered rather too 

 far south to be in the maple belt. 



The east end drew the crowd, for, beside the bot- 

 tle display above them, hangs from the cornice a 

 large glass pendant filled with the maple syrup, and 

 just below it on a shelf inside an alcove stood a 

 beautiful glass pitcher 33 inches high, filled also 

 with syrup. But this was not all ; for down on the 

 counter was arranged on the left an old-fashioned 

 sugar-camp with the log shanty with the coon-skins 

 on the side to dry; the old log fire over which boiled 

 two iron kettles suspended upon crotcbed sticks. 

 A man with a yoke on his back was gathering the 

 sap from the rough troughs, while a boy was just 

 bringing the oxen up with a load of poles on the 

 long woodshod sled. Many an old nnin brushed a 

 tear away as he looked at this, and called the atten- 

 tion of his grandchildren to the way he used to do 

 down east when he was a boj'. 



Sugar in all styles, from the 15-pound cake to the 

 penny cake, is shown; and the impression received 

 by a visitor to the exhibit is that any lover of good, 

 pure maple sugar or syrup woidd miss a pleasing 

 and instructive sight if he failed to see the Ohio 

 maple exhibit. 



The above is certainly to the credit of our 

 State, and we are very glad indeed that the 

 great outside world has now an onportunity of 

 knowing not only how much maple sugar Ohio 

 can make, but how good it is. 



