380 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



with a wabble saw, they would be stronger and bet- 

 ter, but I have no machinery for doing it. I am 

 sure you could sell any amount of them if you 

 made them. Chas. Penton. 



E. Aurora, N. Y., Feb. 3. 



Your suggestion is no doubt valuable. I 

 hold in my hand a top-bar made as you sug- 

 gest. Instead of using a wabble-saw we 

 simply use one of our thick grooving saws. 

 A slot is cut so as to leave sufficient wood at 

 each end, and also a solid piece in the mid- 

 dle. Yours will be the cheapest way to make 

 a double top-bar; and it will, besides, be 

 considerably stifler than one made of two 

 pieces of wood. 



A LETTER FROM A LITTLE GIKL; PAPA'S SOLAR 

 WAX-EXTRACTOll. 



My papa had over 70 hives of bees two years ago. 

 I will try to tell you how we moved them. He filled 

 the horse-cart nearly half full of fine dirt, so they 

 would not be jolted, then placed in as many as the 

 cart would conveniently hold, brought them home, 

 and removed all the others the same way until all 

 the bees had arrived safely at our new home Papa 

 does not " squeeze" the cappings, as some do, but be 

 has an extractor made of a Simplicity hive wiih 

 a flat cover put on, on hinges, then in the bottom 

 there is a square tin pan 6 in. deep, which catches the 



wax and honey; 

 above that there 

 is a wire-net cover 

 on which the wax 

 is placed. The good 

 goes down in the 

 pan beneath, while 

 the dead bees and 

 Dad wax stay on 

 the wire net, and 

 over that there is 

 a glass cover which 

 throws the heat of 

 the sun down on ttie wax, an melts it very rapidly. 

 1 here draw one as near like it as possible. Papa 

 gives me half of the wax for watching it, and put- 

 ting and taking out wax when it is needed. Once a 

 high tide came half way up our front yard, and 

 drowned nearly half of our bees. 

 Church Creek, Md. Eliza Busick, age 13. 



-^^P _ PAN 



works were detached from the hives (made of 

 straw); only two or three could be set on the stools; 

 the rest were all broken-up wax, honey, and bees, 

 all thoroughly mi.xed up. Alter getting the house- 

 hold bedded, I placed two washing-tubs before the 

 kitchen fire, took off my coat, rolkd up my sleeves . 

 (I had been, previous to that, stung so much that I 

 had become heedless of more), took up a handful of 

 the mixture, and picked with my fingers bee after 

 bee into the fire. This was my occupation all the 

 night, and I finished it only when the sun was ris- 

 ing. You will doubtless laugh, but I tell you it was 

 not a laughing job to me at the lime, though I have 

 laughed over the matter many a time since. 

 Washington, D. C, April 10. J. S. 



But, friend S., what in the world did you 

 sit up all night for, picking out bees and 

 throwing them into the fire ? Did the 

 mashed-up honey you had, pay you for the 

 trouble? It was the towels over tlie bot- 

 tom of the hive, shutting off the air, that 

 made the trouble. In removing bees, you 

 want wire cloth. Nothing else is safe, es- 

 pecially when the weather is warm. 



MOVING BEES; BAD WORK WITH. 



I must give you the benefit of my experience in 

 bee culture. It was many years ago, when I was 

 but a young lad, when a man who kept a number of 

 hives was a laborer for my father. He would be 

 talking everlastingly about how all his bees were 

 thriving. I purchased one hive from him, and left 

 it with bis own for two or three years, when the 

 number was increased to tix or seven, and may be 

 eight hives. 1 made as many stools in my father's 

 kitchen garden to place the hives upon them. 1 in- 

 quired of the bee-keeper the best way to remove 

 them. He said, "The road is good, as smooth as a 

 room floor. Bring a large-bottomed cart and tow- 

 els, and we will fix a towel about each hive, and 

 place them all in the cart; and by driving carefully 

 you will get them home nicely." Home was three 

 miles cff. By the time we had gone but half a mile, 

 the honey was dripping through the cart on the 

 road; but as it was useless to stop, we continued 

 our journey. Upon lifting them out of the cart to 

 place them on the previously prepared stools, the 



WHAT MADE THE BEES SWARM OUT/' 



My bees have been out for a week, and I have had 

 7 swarms leave their hive and go in with other 

 swarms. They leave from 3 J to 50 lbs. in a hive. 



Hammond, Wis., Apr. 4. A. E Bradford. 



The swarming out you mention comes 

 under the head of ''Absconding in Early 

 Spring," in the first chapter of the ABC' 

 book. Bees are more apt to do this when 

 wintered in cellars or special repositories. 

 Yours must have gotten a kind of abscond- 

 ing mania, especially if they had plenty of 

 stores, as you state it. 



fall HONEY, AND BEES IN GOOD CONDITION. 



Bees did not do much last year till about Septem- 

 ber 1, when the fall flowers opened and the bees 

 went at them in earnest, filling their Lives with the 

 best fall honey I ever saw. I had several swarms 

 in September, which built their combs and stored 

 honey enough to carry them through the winter — 

 something never known in this country. I have 59 

 colonies of bees in good condition for spring work. 



Mart, N. C, March 17. Sdbscriber. 



00^ ^aEgn^i0N-B@^, 



With Replies from our best Authorities on Bees. 



Question 160.— A young man having just graduat- 

 ed from college, and living in the vicinity of Central 

 Illinois, has had some experience in managing out- 

 apiaries for abee heeper. He desires to keep some two 

 or three apiaries, and teach school during the odd 

 months. He wants to hnow hoiv much time he will 

 probably have for teaching school, providing he does 

 all the work himself, with the assistance of a horse and 

 wagon, and yet give the bees all the necessary attention. 



I should think about four months. 



Cuba. O. O. POPPLETON. 



Excepting a few days, he will have from Septem- 

 ber 1st to April 1st. 

 Wisconsin. S. E. Geo. Grimm. 



If he purchases all supplies, six months, from 

 October 1st to April Ist. 

 Michigan. C. A. J. Cook. 



