1890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



253 



"with a sort of hay-rack top, we took along 

 with us the required u urn her of lengths of 

 cord. My plan was simply to tie them 

 transverbely on the hives on the dotted line 

 as above. Atter having tied a few of them 

 I saw that 1 could hardly make them tight 

 enough. While I was thus engaged, Mr. 

 War.l, our teamster, had struck upon a very 

 ingenious plan of tightening them, and that 

 was the method I have already described. 

 I was very sorry that he discovered it be- 

 fore I did. It worked so unique that I 

 wanted to have the honor of it. The plan 

 is doubtless old ; but then, you know there 

 is a little fun in using a good thing your- 

 self, even if the other fellow has the honor 

 of first suggesting it. 



We haided, thus secured, more than 50 

 colonies. The bottom - board and cover 

 would have stood ten times the amount of 

 hard usHge we gave them. Without stop- 

 ping to take the hive up by the hand-holes, 

 we grabbed hold of the cleats of the cover so 

 that you can see that the whole weight of 

 the hive is held by the cords. If the cover- 

 board has any tendency to warp, the cords 

 will very speedily draw them down again 

 tight, so as not to leave a peeping crack for 

 the bees, to say nothing of the impossibility 

 of srettina: out and stinging the horses. 



You will see elsewhere that J. A. Green 

 describes another method for securing the 

 cover and bottom. Our plan, I think, is 

 cheaper and more secure. There is no ex- 

 pense of wire, of V stretching strips, or 

 danger of tearing clothing from nail-heads. 

 Not a nail is used. 



For m jving in the fall or spring, it will 

 not be necessary to use the wire-cloth 

 screen, if the entrance is stopped with wire 

 cloth. For summer moving, the screen can 

 be secured with the bottom-board as above. 

 For stopping the entrance we use a device 

 similar to tliat described by Mr. Green. In 

 the engraving, a narrow strip i inch thick 

 and i wide, and of the length of the en- 

 trance, is used. To this is nailed a strip of 

 wire cloth folded double, to give it addition- 

 al stiffness. I am indebted to Dr. Miller 

 for this suggestion. A single thickness of 

 wire cloth sometimes may be bent just 

 enough to let bees out. It: is highly impor- 

 tant that not a single bee escapes. 



Since writing the above. Mr. Chalon 

 Fowls, of Oberlin, Ohio, an enthusiastic and 

 prominent bee-keeper, has been visiting at 

 the Home of the Honey-bees. He sa.\she 

 would not have supposed it possible, from 

 the description, that the method described 

 above would hold the bottom and cover so 

 securely. I took him out to my back yard, 

 fastened a cover and bottom, and then ask- 

 ed him to test the strength. He said he had 

 supposed the loop would slip and become 

 loose ; but he found that they stayed where 

 they were put. 



FASTENIXC; FRAMES. 



On page 551, 1889, 1 described our spacing- 

 strips for fastening movable frames. Next 

 year I propose tryintr frames at fixed dis- 

 tances, probably the Van Deusen. We have 

 already tested them somewhat in our apia- 

 ry, you will remember. 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS. 



THE FLORIDA .JAY-BIRD AN ENEMY OF BEES. 



Do you or any of your readers linow whether the 

 Florida jay-bird, or "scrub jay," as some call it, is 

 In the habit of eating' bees? I never saw them eat 

 bees till this spring:. They come among the hives 

 in the early morning, before sunrise, and seem to 

 be sci-atching- and picking up bugs, worms, etc., 

 and will run up to a hive and pick off the first bees 

 that crawl out. 1 don't think they eat a great 

 many bees. I dislike to kill them, for I have 

 thought they were our best friends. They are not 

 very numerous, but are very industrious; and, 

 aside from eating bees, I don't think they do any 

 harm, but a great deal of good in picking up bugs, 

 worms, etc., in the garden and grove. J. H. Hill. 



Grove City, Fla.. Feb IT. 



If the Florida jay-bird is any thing like 

 the king-bird described in the ABC book, 

 you have good grounds for thinking that it 

 consumes bees in Lhe same way. I would 

 keep a careful watch if I were you, and let 

 the result deci<ie whether the jav-bird should 

 live or die; and I would not be in a great 

 hurry to condemn him either. I think it is 

 true, that we often make mistakes and kill 

 our friends, mistaking them for enemies — 

 that is, in dealing with the feathered tribes. 



IGNOTUM TOMATOES. HONEY VINEGAR, ETC. 



LjLast year my brother, as a subscriber of Glean- 

 ings, received a p-tcWage of Ignotum tomato seed, 

 from which I succeeded in raising nine plants. We 

 all think them the finest tomato we ever had. Some 

 of them weighed 18 ounces, and many of them 

 weighed one pound. I also raised some radishes 

 that weighed 4 pounds; were set d all through. 

 Thev were of Jhe Giant Stuttgart variety. I see 

 Mrs*srs.''Kratz objects to the taste of honey vine- 

 gar when she puts it on pickles, etc. I used to dis- 

 like honey vinegar. I now think I used it too soon. 

 I think it needs to be, as we say about honey, 

 "ripe." But that is not the word to use in regard 

 to vinegar. It needs to be thoroughly fermented, 

 or worked. I have had some experience in making 

 and using honey vinegar, and I have kept pickles, 

 piccalilli, etc., a year. Many of our neighbors come 

 to us to get their vinegar. Some even send from 

 town (4 miles) to get it. I make it from rinsings of 

 cans, cappings soaked, and any refuse honey we 

 have. I strain through cheese-t-loth into a barrel, 

 add some soft yeast, and in less than a year we 

 have vinegar that is pronounced by competent 

 judges to be superior to cider vinegar. I never 

 let any comb get into it. Might that not be what 

 gives it the unpleasant flavor? 

 Black Lick, Pa., Mar. 7. Mrs. Bell L. Duncan. 



I do not think, my friend, that particles 

 of comb would have any effect on the vin- 

 egar whatever. 



alfalfa; chewing the heads, etc. 

 I desire to add my testimony to what has already 

 been said in regard to alfalfa as a honey-producing 

 clover. We have thousands of acres in this little 

 valley, and it grows on the poorest, rockiest soil -we 

 have; in fact, I have not seen a place in this valley, 

 where there is sufficient moisture, that it will not 



