1890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



99 



of the long way of the side-bar. It is a very easy 

 and quick job, and takes longer to tell it than it does 

 to do it. 



These sample frames 1 have marked No. 1. My 

 experience teaches me that they are all that is re- 

 quired on any hanging frame. In the last of July 

 and first of August, 188S, I moved 50 strong colonies, 

 heavy with bees, brood, and honey, on a wagon, 

 eight miles, over roads newly worked, and with 

 some steep hills, and not a comb was misplaced or 

 broken. After the season was over, I moved eleven 

 back that were literally crowded with honey, with 

 the same result. In the spring I moved the other 

 30 back, when they were as light in bees and honey 

 as at any time, and no combs moved or were bro- 



SPACEB ADAPTED TO THE ALL-WOOD SIMP. FKAME. 



ken. No. 2 is one end of the top-bar of Simplicity 

 frame made by you, showing how they can be used 

 on that frame. No. 3 is another way of driving 

 them, but I do not like that way as well as the first 

 one. They can be put on the bottom corners in 

 just the same way, if wanted there; but I know of 

 no good reason for wanting them on any good hang- 

 ing frame. 



No. 4 is a bottom corner of a Simplicity frame, 

 showing how they can be used as a guide to pre- 

 vent the crushing of bees. And if you wish to 

 carry this " foolishness " still further, No. .5 will 

 show how they can be employed on an invertible 

 frame without projections— do away with all our 

 metal strips and rabbets, and let it stand on its 

 own bottom. All corners are to be ornamented 

 alike. I think they would be a little better if they 

 were made of No. 16 or 17 round steel wire, and 

 perhaps '?. of an inch longer. N. T. Phelps. 



Kingsville, O., Dec. 9, 1889. 



The staple-spacers may not be entirely 

 ,new ; but whether they are or not, the idea 

 (or invention) has the elements of cheap- 

 ness and simplicity to its fullest extent ; 

 and it may not be so far from being practic- 

 able either. It can be adapted to hives and 

 frames already in use, even w hen the latter 

 are filled with comb. Where bee culture is 

 carried on to any considerable extent, a 

 system of one or more out-apiaries is almost 

 the inevitable result, and out - apiaries 

 means vioving bees. The hanging frame not 

 fastened, although bees can be moved to 

 and from out-apiaries on it, necessitates 

 careful driving and good roads. Our men 

 during the past season, in moving bees, 

 could drive no faster than a walk, and that 

 with extreme caution in places. Witli a 

 couple of expensive men. one a teamster 

 and the other a practical bee-keeper, to say 

 nothing of a valuable team, slow driving, 

 all because the frames are hanging and not 



fixed, is expensive. To stop and stick up 

 each frame in a load of o.5 colonies, simply 

 for the sake of driving fast afterward, is 

 just as expensive. What we want is frames 

 always fixed, always ready for moving at a 

 brisk drive, and yet sufficiently movable to 

 be readily manipulated in the hive. Friend 

 Phelps comes very near hitting it; and 

 while it may not be the best arrangement 

 for hanging frames, it comes very near it. 

 Perhaps a still simpler plan would be, todrive 

 wire staples, half an inch wide, into the wood- 

 en rabbets, I inch apart, in such a way as to 

 space each frame with a top-bar I inch wide, 

 If inches from center to center. This would 

 require fewer staples. The same idea in vari- 

 ous bungling forms has been before suggest- 

 ed : for instance, notching out the wooden 

 rabbet. But the end-bars would become so 

 stuck in these notches, by reason of propo- 

 lis, as to be practically immovable ; but the 

 wire staple would be almost entirely free 

 from this objection, besides being cheaper. 

 On the other hand, this w^ould make always a 

 fixed distance of spacing. For wintering, 

 it might be desirable to spread the combs. 

 Again, the removal of subsequent combs 

 would be just as difficult as the removal of 

 the first. Phelps' arrangement would allow 

 of wider sjiacing in winter, and after the 

 first comb was out the rest could be remov- 

 ed easier. 



Let's have suggestions ; and in the mean 

 time, let's think it over. We don't want 

 any thing that will increase the expense of 

 the frames more than 10 cents per hive. If 

 honey could be sold for 50 cents per pound 

 at wholesale, we might tolerate some of the 

 expensive frame-spacers. Eunest. 



RETAILING EXTRACTED HONEY IN 

 PAPER PAILS. 



HOW ~'6(I0 LBS. WAS SOLD RIGHT AT HOME 

 IN THIS WAY. 



Friend Root:— I wish to add my mite to (jues- 

 tion No. 149. I send you by this mail a paper pail 

 for extracted honey, 

 that I think is just per- 

 fection. After having 

 used glass and tin, I 

 find, by two years' 

 trial, that I shall not 

 use either again. Of 

 course, one must wait 

 until the honey granu- 

 lates, and then they 

 are just as handy as so 

 many bricks. 1 have 

 sold nearly all of my 

 crop of 2til)0 pounds, 

 and could sell more 

 than as much again on my home market at 25 cts. 

 per pail, wholesale. 



They look rather doubtfully at granulated honey 

 at first; but after the first trial pail they usually 

 come back after more, as my honey was ripened by 

 tiering up, and is very thick and nice. They cost 

 .fl5 00 per thousand at the factory, complete, like 

 sample, except waxing the corners. This is not 

 necessary if the honey is drawn into them just the 

 last thing before it hardens. 



