166 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 



do it alone.— As you have brought up the 

 matter of the break-joint feature in your 

 honey-board, allow me to say (with no de- 

 sire to provoke discussion) that I never could 

 see that it made a bit of difference wheth- 

 er the slats were break-joint or directly over 

 the top-bars. Perhaps my experience has 

 been limited. But Dr. Miller (and he is a 

 very candid man) says he can not discover 

 that there is any value in the break-joint. 

 A very prominent bee-keeper of your State, 

 with whom I had the pleasure of a couple 

 of hours' conversation in regard to bees and 

 bee-keeping, while we were on the subject 

 of honey-boards told me that he had tried 

 them with the slats both on the break-joint 

 and continuous-passageway idea, but he was 

 unable to detect any difference. 1 should 

 be glad to give you his name, but perhaps 

 he would object to my lugging him into 

 print in this way. as he is a very good friend 

 of yours. Dr. Tinker, in the Apiculturist 

 (p. 18), goes even so far as to say that there 

 are more burr-combs from the break-joint 

 than there was from the direct-passageway 

 plan. Now, we will admit that your honey- 

 board has been a good thing— a, blessing, 

 etc.; but it does not go more than half far 

 enough. With thick and wider top-bars 

 we can do away with burr-combs altogetlier, 

 if scores of good witnesses are reliable ; but 

 with the honey-board, one of the bee-spaces 

 is entirely filled. While it is possible that the 

 deep top-bar has stirred up an undue excite- 

 ment, yet there is so much in it, evidently, 

 that bee - keepers north and south are 

 mightily pleased with it — yes, those who 

 have tried them for several years. Your pre- 

 diction, that your honey-board has " come 

 to stay, multiply, and cover the earth," may 

 come true ; but I must confess that I con- 

 sider this a rather confident assertion for 

 the future. E. B. 



BABY BEES IN WINTER. 



H. R. BOARDMAN EXAMINES HIS BEES. 



YESTERDAy was a pleasant day. The sun shone 

 out clear and strong, and the mercury stood at 56° 

 in the shade. I worked among the bees, opening 

 hives and taking out combs for examination, with 

 as much comfort as I should in June. Such a treat 

 is really refreshing to me, whether the bees enjoy 

 it or not. I had set several colonies out of the bee- 

 house for examination, which I frequently do to 

 determine just what is going on; also a few were 

 left out on the summer stands so I might be able to 

 compare results of the two ways of wintering. 



I examined eleven colonies— seven taken from 

 the bee-house, and four that had been left out on 

 the summer stands. Ten of the number had more 

 or less brood. The queens were laying freely. In 

 several colonies, young bees were emerging from 

 the cells, and quite a sprinkling of young baby bees 

 could be seen moving timidly about in the crowd. 

 I have never seen the like before at this time of 

 year. I have often found brood in a hive occasion- 

 ally, as early as January, but not so general and in 

 such abundance. I presume we may take this as 

 an Indication of the general condition of the bees 

 all over the country— at least, so far as the mild 

 weather has prevailed. 



Those who insist that early breeding is followed 

 by unfavorable results in wintering, please stand 

 up and tell us what we may expect from this un- 

 usual condition. For myself, I feel no alarm about 

 it, if only there are sulBcient stores, as, of course, 

 an extra amount of stores will be consumed. 



H. R. BOARDMAN. 



East Townsend, O., Feb. 1, 1889. 



Fnend B., why don't you tell us which 

 wintered best of those you examined — those 

 indoors or outV and how about the compar- 

 ative consumption of stores during this ex- 

 ceedingly mild winter? 



KBVERSIBLE EXTRACTORS. 



ANOTHER GOOD TESTIMONIAL FOR THE STANLEY. 



I SEE there is quite a little talk just now about 

 extractors; and as the Stanley comes in for its 

 share, both pro and con, I thought I would give my 

 experience. I bought a four-frame Stanley in the 

 spring of 1887, purely on the recommendation of 

 Prof. A. J. Cook; and I will say right here, I have 

 never regretted so doing. It is not a geared ma- 

 chine, consequently it turns easily. In the month 

 of July my 16-year-old sister will extract all the 

 honey we can get to her. But when I do my fall 

 extracting— that is, from my surplus combs, usual- 

 ly about the first of September, then it requires a 

 man to operate it, because the weather is cooler, 

 and therefore it needs harder turning. 



The season of 1889 was the first honey season we 

 have had since I bought the machine. My crop 

 this year was a little over 10,000 lbs. I have never 

 had a comb broken in the Stanley, nor do they be- 

 come imbedded in the wire baskets so as to tear out 

 when being lifted up. 



Friend Osborn speaks of the baskets on his be- 

 coming tangled when reversing. I can work mine 

 all day and never have them tangle once. When I 

 first got mine, before I learned how to operate it, I 

 made mine tangle, and I was quite vexed; so I went 

 and got Stanley's letter and read it over again. He 

 said, " When you want to reverse, slow down gradu- 

 ally. Stop. Let the baskets swing past the center- 

 shaft, then reverse. Do it in a somewhat slow and 

 lazy manner." Every person who has ever taken 

 hold of my Stanley to work it has always been in 

 too great haste to reverse, and, as a result, some 

 baskets are jerked off from their hooks, or they be- 

 come tangled. I think some one mentioned that it 

 was unhandy about putting in and taking combs 

 out. I experience no difficulty in this respect. 

 Perhaps it is owing to the frame I use. I use the 

 Gallup. The operator picks up a comb by the cen- 

 ter of the top-bar, with his right hand, and with hi& 

 left swings the comb-basket to the outside of the 

 extractor, then lowers the comb in. 



It is possible that the Stanley is not the best ex- 

 tractor on the market, yet I have seen the IT. S. and 

 the Novice, and several home-made machines, but 

 I have not seen any that I would be willing to trade 

 my Stanley for yet. 



CARRYING BEES OUT OF THE CELLAR. 



I see quite a good many of the brethren who 

 practice cellar wintering advise putting the bees 

 into the cellar without any bottom-board to the 

 hives. I should like to have them tell me how they 

 manage in the spring to keep the bees from get- 

 ting in an uproar when being placed on their sum- 



