1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



57 



spaced with nails. That makes fixed distances 

 at all parts of the frame; and not only fixed 

 distances, but all distances the same. With 

 the Hoffman, or any other frame having the 

 spacing mostly or entirely at the top, the frames 

 may be fixed at the bottom, but they are fixed 

 at irregular distances. 



You say finishing-nails are an obstruction to 

 the uncapping-lfnife. That's no objection to 

 producers of comb honey, and please don't deny 

 us what may clearly seem the best, just for the 

 " convenience of supply-manufacturers." Poor 

 supply-manufacturers! They get it on both 

 .sides. One man blames them for encouraging 

 changes, and anoiher blames them for trying to 

 keep the number of supplies down to as low a 

 number as possible. But if I were running for 

 extracted honey exclusively, I should still want 

 the frames with four nails in each. As the 

 nails on each side are at only one end, if at the 

 time of uncapping the nails be at the upper 

 end I do not see that they need to be so very 

 much in the way of uncapping ; and if the 

 -nail-heads be always kept uppermost, they need 

 not catch in the meshes of the wire cloth of the 

 extractor. The extractor can be made so that 

 the wire cloth need not come up as far as the 

 nails. Come to think of it, the nails would be 

 at the bottom with a reversible extractor. Well, 

 have the wire cloth short enough to clear the 

 nails both bottoiL. and top. Make the extractor 

 accommodate the frame, rather than have an 

 inferior frame to accommodate the extractor. 



You say the finishing-nails would not stand a 

 'hard enough squeeze without pushing the nail 

 in farther or making the head of the nail punch 

 into the opposing wood. You're right, as I 

 found by further experience. And the same 

 •objection holds to a less degree against the fur- 

 niture-nails. You say, try those that are per- 

 fectly conical. I hardly think you mean that, 

 for that would be worse than the finishing- 

 nail, for the head would come to a sharp point. 

 Y"ou probably mean hemispherical But still 

 that would not be so good as a perfectly flat 

 surface. We want the point of contact just as 

 small as can be without allowing it to punch 

 into the wood with a hard squeeze. A common 

 wire nail, heavy enough so it will not be driven 

 farther into the wood by a hard squeeze, with a 

 flat head j^j in diameter, would perhaps answer. 

 Still better might be a nail with a head just % 

 inch in thickness and t'o in diameter. That 

 would make a sure thing of always driving 

 the right depth, without trouble. Or perhaps 

 it might be better to have a two-headed nail, 

 the one head within ^4 inch of the other. 



you should fairly try, side by side, the furni- 

 ture-nails with other nails, you would, like my- 

 self, change your mind. 



With nails as spacers, there is still left the 

 trouble of the ends of the top-bars being glued. 

 I wonder if vaseline would help that. If the 

 frames could be handled as easily, it might be a 

 good thing to have the top-bar of uniform width 

 throughout, ^4 inch less at each end than the 

 usual length, and then a spacing-nail driven 

 into the end. I half believe I'd like to try that. 

 But it might be inconvenient to handle. 



Marengo, 111. 



[Yes, I think the case of the comb-honey 

 colony and that of the extracted are quite a 

 little different. Bees will store honey much 

 more readily in brood or extracting combs, 

 because. I suppose, they are not divided up into 

 little squares of 4 inches. My observation has 

 always seemed to indicate that bees will begin 

 to store in extracting- combs sooner than in 

 sections, even when the latter have partially 

 drawn-out combs. In other words, I believe it 

 takes more pressure to induce bees to go into 

 sections than into extracting-combs. That 

 being the case, for comb honey it is desirable to 

 reduce the size of the hive, and /o?-ce the bees 

 to put it into a place divided off into little 

 squares whether they like them or not. There, 

 I believe that answers your puzzle, so far as I 

 am able to do so. 



As to your other question yet unanswered, 

 whether it is better to allow the same number 

 of frames all the year through, or limit the 

 queen during the harvest, from what facts I 

 have been able to glean from different bee- 

 keepers who have reported on this matter. I 

 think the majority decide that it is better to 

 give the queen an abundance of room during 

 the breeding- season, and, later on, to reduce 

 this breeding-room just about the time honey 

 begins to come in. 



I have no doubt that your nail spacers, such 

 as you illustrate, will work very nicely so far 

 as the convenience of a comb- honey producer 

 is concerned; but there are just two things 

 that stand in the way of their general adoption. 

 The first— and perhaps we could remove that if 

 we could be sure of the demand— is the cost of 

 making such spacers, because there is nothing 

 like them already on the market, to reduce 

 their cost. The second is, that extracted- 

 honey producers dislike nails sticking out — first, 

 because of the uncapping-knife; and, second, 

 because of the catching of the nails in the 

 meshes of the wire cloth. I know you have 

 alluded to this point; but you produce no ex- 

 tracted honey, and I think you do not fully ap- 

 preciate the objections of your extracted-honey 

 brothers. — Ed.] 



POULTRY WITH BEES. 



^ 



I find in actual practice that the catching of 

 the nail-heads is rather a matter of theory, and 

 •counts very little. I feel very confident that, if 



Bii Dr. H. J. Ashley. 



After five or six unprecedentedly bad years 

 for our favorite pursuit, the question arises in 

 the minds of many bee-keepers. " Is there some 

 occupation I can combine to advantage with 

 bee-keeping, or must I sacrifice my stock of 

 bees, together with fixtures and appliances, 

 that I have spent years in perfecting?" This 

 question has come to us many times; and we 

 believe from personal experience that the rais- 



