854 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15. 



bee- keeping would be also well expended? 

 While I am free to confess, that sometimes such 

 funds ar(> worse than wasted, and there might 

 be some one who had a '" political pull " receive 

 an appointment as experimenter in apiculture 

 who would be a clog in the wheels of progress, 

 yet such a one would not last long. It would 

 take a man who had an inherent love for the 

 business to stay by it for any length of time. 

 But there is no use speculating in the future 

 when we have/acfs in the past to refer to. It 

 is the principle of this and other governments 

 to aid science financially. Thousands of dollars 

 have been expended in sending expeditions to 

 Iceland, Cape of Good Hope, or Kamtschatka 

 to view an eclipse of the sun or a transit of 

 Venus. Such things benefit none financially, 

 and satisfy the curiosity of but few; yet no 

 man, with any love for his country, can object 

 to such expenditures. 



Let us see how some of the money of the 

 agricultural departments has been spent, and 

 see if we can give a good account of your five 

 cents. 



The several experiment stations which re- 

 ceive aid ($15,000) from the government have 

 expended it in many ways, not all alike. Some 

 have purchased the best blood of thoroughbred 

 sheep of the various breeds; tested and com- 

 pared them, and in their reports are carefully 

 prepared tables of the amount of feed each 

 kind consumed, and amount of gain each made, 

 while no kind is recommended; yet at a glance 

 there can lie seen which kind makes its owners 

 the most money, and each one can draw his 

 own conclusions. 



Others have purchased cattle of various 

 breeds and ages, and fed them for the market. 

 The amount of grain and hay consumed by 

 each is carefully noted, and the gain of each 

 breed, and at each age; so that the farmer now 

 knows how much he may expect his cattle in 

 the feed-lot to gain in a named length of time; 

 also how mucli grain and hay they will con- 

 sume; and. months before, he can tell how 

 much they are going to cost him when ready 

 for the market. 



Others have conducted similar experiments 

 with swine. On investigation, we find the 

 government has done a vast amount for the 

 farmer besides investigating diseases of domes- 

 tic animals. Other experimcMit stations, and 

 Wisconsin leads in this, havi- l)een looking after 

 the dairy cow — the amount she eats of the 

 various foods, the atnount of water she con- 

 sumes, the amount of milk she gives daily, and 

 for the year, its per cent of butter-fat. The 

 nutritive ratio of the food fed to the cows, and 

 its costs, have all been subjects of experiment 

 and investigation. While the kind of barn lias 

 not, so far as I know, Iwen investigated yet 

 (though it should bo), the kind of silo has 

 received much attention — how to build it. and 

 its cost, with instructions for its construction 

 and material. Specifications are all prepared 

 at government expense. The implements for 

 testing the amount of butter-fat in milk have 

 the indorsements of the experiment stations. 

 These cost less than one dollar, and yet how 

 many there are who keep cows that do not now, 

 never did. and never will pay the cost of their 

 keeping! The time is coming, almost now is, 

 when the purchaser of a cow will insist upon 

 knowing the amount of butter-fat in the milk 

 of a cow he purchases. 



To arrive at conclusions by running one hive 

 for comb and another for extracted honey 

 would not establish the reputatiou of the exper- 

 imenter as an infallible authority on matters 

 of apiculture to any alarming extent. There is 

 just a little too much such work done now. 



Just one more reference to the experiment 



stations, though many others could be cited, 

 and we will quit with this; that is, the matter 

 of testing small fruits, especially strawberries. 

 Do not the stations give some varieties very 

 high praise, and condemn others severely ? and 

 is not their judgment valuable, especially in 

 their own locality? Many kinds are especially 

 valuable in certain soils and climates, and 

 worthless in others; and no doubt apicultural 

 implements will be found similar. Some places 

 require a t<'n-frame hive; in others an eight is 

 sufficient. A deep brood-chamber would give 

 best results, perhaps, in some places, while in 

 others shallow frames would do best. Foul 

 brood could not possibly be developed from 

 chilled or dead brood in Texas; but in the 

 North, where sometimes there is a change of 

 temperature of 70 degrees in four or five hours, 

 it might. There may be degrees in deadness. 

 There are several experiments with bees that 

 should be conducted in places far removed from 

 bees of any kind except those taken to be used 

 in the experiments. Five years since I knew of 

 such a paradise for bees, not then occupied; 

 but now it teems with bees. I still know of 

 alfalfa-fields on which there is not yet a single 

 bee. How long such places will remain unoc- 

 cupied, I know not— surely not long. 



In view of the importance of agriculture to 

 this nation, and of the small proportion of the 

 funds that are expended in its behalf, and of 

 the importance of apiculture, a branch of the 

 agricultural industry which has as yet received 

 practically nothing. I am firmly of the opinion 

 we should have some aid from the government. 

 We must remeiuber there are a good many of 

 us. and any additional expense would not be 

 felt. What kind of a farmer would it be who 

 would willingly aid in the expense of painting 

 the house of his neighbor (who lives in the 

 city), giving him a cement sidewalk and a 

 painted picket- fence, and when he could have 

 his farm fenced from the same purse for the 

 asking, but would, from motives of economy, 

 insist upon allowing his farm to lie out to the 

 commons? Have you gained full "value 

 received" for yoiir- five cents? If not, why 

 not? W. C. Frazier. 



Atlantic, la., Nov. 4. 



Heads of Grain , 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS. 



IJROOn-FRAMES; WIDTH OF SPACE, ETC. 



I have used brood-frames made of % lumber 

 for some time. Two years ago I happened to 

 get a board Pg thick, and cut it into top-bars, 

 and have used them in several hives. I find 

 that is just exactly the thickness the bees build 

 their combs. I space l^g from center to center, 

 and then frames are perfectly clear of brace- 

 combs. The combs are much nicer than those 

 on X ffames, all covered with lumps, no dif- 

 ference how thick. I like a frame ,9h thick, 

 top- bar 1^8 wide, dovetailed all round. 



THE HIVE I USE. 



I have improved the Simplicity hive to suit 

 the climate. The l)ottom has cleats run length- 

 wise, projecting in front 5 inches, sloped down 

 to take a thin alighiing-board on the slope. A 

 3x^^-inch hoard and 2 three-cornered boards are 

 nailed on to make a Simplicity alighting- board, 

 with slope in front. Two pii'ces, %x%. rabbeted 

 out. are nailed on <>ach end of the bottom for the 

 frames to rest on. The rabbet holds them so they 

 can'tshift endwise. They are closed -end frames. 

 There is a dummy on each side, and the body 



