1890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



329 



as much by saggiug when we used founda- 

 tion without any wires at all ; and I believe 

 that foundation made on the Given press 

 seldom has as high and perfect side walls as 

 we now sret by the use of rolls. I tried hor- 

 izontal wires years ago, but had something 

 of the same experience you have had. I de- 

 cided they were not what we wanted. With 

 a heavy top-bar, however, and a wire to 

 support them midway, attached to the top- 

 bar, they may answer all right. 



IN FAVOR OF HORIZONTAL, WIRING OF FRAMES. 



I have just read friend Foster's article, on page 

 193, March 15th, in reg-ard to wiring frames; also 

 Ernest's and your foot-notes to the same. I wish to 

 say I ag-ree with Ernest exactly in regard to wiring 

 frames. If I remember correctly, friend Vander- 

 vort, the foundation-mill man, when I visited him 

 six years ago this spring, was wiring all of his 

 frames horizontally, using four wires to each 

 frame. His frames are nine inches deep. For five 

 years all frames in which 1 have used foundation 

 have been wired horizontally; and after five years' 

 experience I could not be induced to wire upright. 

 It is too much work, and the tin bars are a nuisance. 

 My top-bars do not sag, and the horizontal wires 

 hold the combs straight and true in the frames. T 

 have hundreds of such frames in use, and they give 

 perfect satisfaction. Friend Root, when you get 

 your mind set you stick " like a dog to a root;" and 

 it seems hard to get you out of a rut without taking 

 a wheel off. Where the foundation is light, running 

 7 to 8 feet to the pound, it needs four wires; with 

 foundation running 5 feet to the pound, 3 wires are 

 plenty. Geo. A. Wright. 



Glenwood, Fa., March :.'3. 



^'ery good, friend Wright ; but I have 

 read the above carefully twice over to see if 

 you said any thing about the size of your 

 frame. I am well aware that horizontal 

 wires answer nicely for a frame like the 

 (rallup, or even the American or ^Vdair ; 

 but my experiments with horizontal wires 

 in the L. frame indicated that the stretch 

 was too long unless there were a support of 

 some kind in the middle. Ten or fifteen 

 years ago a good many of the friends of 

 GLEANiN(is threatened to give it up unless 

 I could get over changing my mind so often, 

 and recommending something else. In 

 view of this you pay me a very great com- 

 pliment. The fact is, I have seen many 

 troubles come from being in haste to change 

 to something else. 



wiring FRAMES WITH STAPLES AND HOOKS. 



I think there is altogether too much fussing in 

 Mr. Foster's method of wiring frames with thick 

 top-bars (Gleanings, Mar. 15, page 198), so I pro- 

 pose to tell you how I do it. Instead of boring 

 holes in the top-bars I drive double-pointed tacks 

 in the under side, just where the holes would come. 

 The tacks are driven down pretty close, leaving 

 just about room enough for the wire to pass 

 through. After the frame is all wired, and the tin 

 bar sprung in place, the tacks are driven down 

 close, drawing the wire still tighter. Care should 

 be taken that the wire is in the center before the 

 tacks are driven down close. The diagonal wires, 

 after passing through a hole in the upper end of 

 the end-bars, are looped over wire nails driven in 



the end-bar, and returned through the hole; then 

 proceed as in wiring an ordinary frame, passing the 

 wire through the first tack, down through the bot- 

 tom-tar, then up through the next tack, etc., until 

 the frame is completed. Theo. Jennings. 



Port Chester, N. Y., Mar. 24. 



We have tried the double-pointed tacks 

 to a limited extent. It is true, that, after 

 threading the wires and drawing moderate- 

 ly light, you can stretch the wires taut by 

 driving the staples further into the wood, 

 and this certainly is a nice feature; but it 

 takes a good deal of time to properly space 

 and drive the staples ; and piercing the 

 wood is vastly quicker, and, of course, 

 cheaper. We can thread holes in nearly the 

 same time it takes to thread staples. If I 

 did not use pierced bars I should use wire 

 nails, which, after being driven into wood, 

 are bent with round-nosed pliers into the 

 form of a hook. The wire, instead of be- 

 ing passed through holes, is sinjply caught 

 on to the hooks. They can then be stretch- 

 ed by driving the nails further into the 

 wood. Dr. Miller wires all his frames thus. 



RAMBLE NO. 24. 



A VISIT TO THE WESTCOTTS; ANOTHER NOON SER- 

 VICE IN A FACTORY. 



A FEW of those quiet bee-keepers who are never 

 seen in print reside in Fair Haven, Vt. Mr. Proc- 

 tor, of this place, made quite a business of raising 

 queens, making foundation, and producing honey. 

 His health failing, he advertised his bees for sale at 

 auction in the spring of 1889; and though the Ram- 

 bler did not attend the sale he learned afterward 

 that the auction method was a failure. Only a few 

 colonies were sold, at ^i 00 each, thus proving that, 

 even in Vermont, bees in good chaff hives are not 

 in as much demand, and have not the certain value, 

 that is attached to other farm stock. 



The person engaged most extensively in honey 

 production is E. L. Westcott. At the time of our 

 call he had over 150 colonies in two apiaries, all in 

 Bristol hives, or a modification of them. His locali- 

 ty is good for raising a fine quality of both comb 

 and extracted honey. Much honey is sold in the 

 home market. The slate industry fills the town 

 with a class of laborers who are free to spend some 

 of their earnings for the sweets of the bee-hive. 

 We find such a class of people better to deal with, 

 and larger purchasers, than the wealthy people. 

 They will buy the cheaper grades of honey, and 

 consume more of it. The senior Westcott is an ex- 

 tensive farmer, and has had a varied experience. 

 The dairy business had been tried, and, after being 

 tied, as it were, to a cow's tail several years, he sold 

 this kind of stock and purchased sheep. Scab, foot- 

 rot, dogs, and cheap wool, caused another change; 

 and at the time of our visit, horses, both fast and 

 slow, were being bred. His pet colt was valued at 

 *500. Others, we supposed, were getting along to 

 greater value. Experience and sensible methods 

 are employed in his farm operations. Agricultural 

 journals are of little value. The Cultivator had 

 been taken thirty years; and the only idea of value 

 learned in all that time was how to break up a sit- 

 ting hen. Put a chestnut-burr in the nest, and it is 



