98 



GLEANINGS JN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



burr-combs V We should think that top- 

 bars H in. wide, spaced in a 10-frame hive 

 14i in. wide, would be so close together as 

 to be rather difficult to get hold of. 



THICK TOP-BARS AS AGAINST HONEY-BOARDS ; 

 BEE-SPACES OB NOT. 



1 am greatly interested in the thick top-bar 

 brood-frame. Now, friend Root, if this will do 

 away with the honey-board, so much the better. If 

 they will, the frames should come up flush with the 

 top of the hive, then the T tin should be just a bee- 

 space; that is, the double part of it; then turn it up- 

 side down. This makes a bee-space on the under 

 side of the crate, and does away with the tin keep- 

 ing the sections apart, which has been a great fault 

 with the T tin. Now get up something to hold the 

 tins in place upside down. What do you think of 

 this scheme ? W. D. Soper. 



Jackson, Mich., Jan. 11. 



On account of putting on the cover, we 

 should surely want a bee-space above the 

 frames in the hive. If the frames came 

 flush with the sides of the hive, there would 

 always be trouble in adjusting the cover. 

 It would kill bees, and make no end of 

 trouble. We should prefer thin top bars 

 with a bee-space fllled with burr-combs, 

 rather than thick top-bars and no bee-space 

 above them. Our section-holder in the 

 Dovetailed hive obviates the objectionable 

 upright in the T tin, and will also permit 

 the use of open-side sections, and yet have 

 the bee-space on top of the sections. 



DOOLITTIiE'S CAGING PROCESS OF 

 FORMING NUCLEI. 



NOT SUCCESSFUL FOR INTRODUCING. 



Friend Root: Several years ago ^Mr. Doolittle 

 gave us a plan for forming nuclei, which seemed 

 new and original, and thereby excited my curiosity. 

 I refer to the caging process. We remember the 

 plan very well, and I need not give it here. I have 

 never had much need to use it; but liking to ex- 

 periment and try new ways I have resorted to it 

 quite a number of times since it was brought out. 

 Two things were claimed for it: That the bees 

 would not return to the parent colony at all, and 

 that it was a sure way of introducing a queen. 

 Neither one of these has proven true in my experi- 

 ence. At the time, Ernest made experiments tend- 

 ing to show that a portion of the bees did return, 

 but I do not recall seeing reports adverse to it as 

 an introducing process. I will say, whenever I 

 have tried it the bees have been allowed to 

 thoroughly fill, have remained caged in the cellar 

 from four to six hours, until greatly excited, before 

 inserting the queen, after which they have stood 

 over night, and were hived early in the morning. 

 Frequently every thing has worked nicely, except 

 that probably a few bees always went back; but at 

 times the queen was not kindly received. Twice I 

 have found the queen most viciously balled when I 

 went to hive the bees in the morning; and in each 

 instance she had to be caged for two days before 

 they were reconciled to her. Once she was imme- 

 diately balled when introduced into the cage, and a 

 perfect deluge of smoke liberated her for only the 

 time being. 

 Last summer I received a Carniolan queen from 



Dr. Morrison; and not having a handy place to put 

 her, I resorted to the Doolittle "infallible." In the 

 morning the queen was dead. I do not know 

 whether the bees killed her or not. This is the only 

 time I have really lost a queen by this method; but 

 the ones before mentioned probably would have 

 been killed had I not caged them. In working this 

 plan, instead of starting nuclei I usually desired to 

 start a small colony. I have caged a rather large 

 number of bees. I have wondered if such a num- 

 ber would be as likely to be friendly toward a queen 

 as would a smaller and more lonesome number. 

 Newton, Iowa, Jan. 10. Wm. L. Drew. 



HANGING FRAMES AT FIXED DIS- 

 TANCES FOR MOVING BEES. 



A VERY SIMPLE AND CHEAP WAY OF DOING IT. 



Mr. N. T. Phelps, a short time ago, 

 asked if he should send a very cheap, sim- 

 ple, effective distance - keeper for hang- 

 ing frames, remarking that we had been 

 selling said distance - keepers for several 

 years. Having a curiosity to know what it 

 was, we requested him to send a few sam- 

 ple frames (or parts of them). We give his 

 description below, with engravings, which 

 we have had made from his samples : 



Mr. R(M)t:—AB you request me, in yours of the 6th 

 inst., to send you an explanation of the distance- 

 keeper that you have been selling for several years, 

 I do so at this time, and so there will be a good un- 

 derstanding of it. I send by this mail a reduced 

 sample (No. 1) of the frame 1 use, showing how 

 they are applied. 



The timber is the true dimension, only each piece 

 is cut shorter, to make it more portable in the 

 mails, and it also shows the point at which they are 

 driven. They are first started with a hammer, and 

 the driving is finished with a set, or punch, with a 

 broad flat end, perhaps one inch by "g inch, with a 

 slot cut across the face of the punch to the depth I 

 wish the keepers to stand out. See Fig. 6. The 

 sample is driven to space the frames 1 finches. 

 To drive them, lay the frame on a flat] board, with 

 the top-bar toward you. Drive one in the corner at 

 J^ lA. 



PHELPS' FRAME SPACED WITH STAPLES. 



your left hand, then the one in the corner nearest 

 your right hand, taking care that the long way of the 

 keeper runs at right angles to the direction of the 

 long way of the one first driven. Now turn the 

 frame over ^by keeping the top-bar toward you, so 

 that the two end-bars change places. You will now 

 see that you need two holes in your board to let the 

 two keepers already driven drop into, while you 

 drive two more exactly as you did the first two. If 

 you drive the first left-hand one with the long way 

 in the direction of the long way of the top-bar, do 

 this one so, and the right-hand one in the direction 



