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GLExiNINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



427 



are glad to get your testimony in regard to 

 section-holders. 



THE MELTED -WAX PLAN OK P0TTING IK START- 

 ERS; 25 TO THE MINUTE, AND 1200 PER HOUR. 



I notice ia Gleanings of May 1, a letter from Dr. 

 C. C. Miller, giving his way of putting in start- 

 ers. He says he can put in four starters a min- 

 ute, and Emma can put in 14. I will give you 

 my way of putting them in. I use a small iron pan, 

 with a bottom about 5 in. across, and put enough 

 wax in to cover the bottom about }i inch. I place 

 the pan on the stove and let the wax melt. 1 take 

 a board one foot wide and 18 in. long, and sit down 

 close enough to the stove so that I can reach the 

 pan conveniently, and put my sections on a pile 

 (starter side) on the board, and the starters also. I 

 put the board on my lap with starters next to me. 

 I dip the edge of the starters into the hot wax, and 

 then place it on my sections. The first minute I 

 tried it I put on 20 starters; the next minute, I put 

 on 2.5. I can put on 1200 in one hour, without any 

 extra effort. I have a little girl and boy that lay 

 them away after I get them on. I do not put the 

 sections together until after the starters are on. 



Muncy Sta., Pa., May 8. R. I. Cromley. 



THE HOFFMAN FRAME, AGAIN. 



I notice you inquire in Gleanings for May 1 "if 

 there is any one else among your readers who has 

 tried the Hoffman frame." T have used this frame 

 for the past six years, and I find it far superior to 

 any other frame, and I agree with Mr. Beebee in all 

 the points he makes in regard to them. 



My frames are the Langstroth size, with top-bars 

 1% in. wide at the ends, and notched out ]i in. on 

 each side between the end-bars, making them I's 

 in. wide over the combs, so that, when they are plac- 

 ed in the hive, there is V in. space between the top- 

 bars, to allow bees to enter the super. For supers 

 I use the T super with V-in. bee-space at the bot- 

 tom, and place the supers directly upon the frames. 

 No honey-board is required with this frame if the 

 super has a bee-space at the bottom, as the top-bars 

 act the same as a honey-board. This I deem a big 

 point in their favor. I produce comb honey exclu- 

 sively, and in my six years' experience with this 

 frame, without honey-boards, I have had but one 

 section in which brood was placed. When I first be- 

 gan to use this frame I had top-bars v in. thick; but 

 I found the weight of the combs caused some of the 

 frames to sag. I also noticed that, where the frames 

 sagged, there were brace-combs built; and where 

 the frames did not sag there were hardly any brace- 

 combe. I then changed from the %-in. to ^-in. top- 

 bars ; then the result was, there was no more sag- 

 ging of frames, and almost no brace-combs. 



Louis Anderson. 



Bloomsbury, N. J., May 6, 18!tU. 



Your testimony is valuable, and the more 

 so, as it substantiates what others have said. 

 So you can use T supers on these frames with- 

 out a honey-board. That's good. Who else 

 has tried these frames? 



NO LOSS on summer STANDS. 



I have to report 54 colonies in the fall, and 54 

 spring count. How is that for outdoor wintering 

 in ordinary box-frame hives, and just as they stood 

 on their summer stands, and, with one single excep- 

 tion, in good condition? 



My bees have had so far too much honey from 



last year to raise enough brood. That is not room 

 enough ; nevertheless, the late, cold, and wet spring 

 will give them ample time to use it all up before 

 they get much from the fields. White clover is 

 blooming earlier than common, with prospects good, 

 when the weather settles. We had a light frost last 

 Sunday and Monday morning, with heavy rains 

 yesterday and to-day. Franklin Garnes. 



Kenna, W. Va., May 14,1890. 



AGAINST selling ON COMMISSION. 



If the bee-keepers do not adoptsome other method 

 of selling their honey than sending it to commission 

 men and letting them sell it for what the grocerymen 

 want to give, they might just as well let their bees 

 all die or kill them. As fine comb honey as you ever 

 saw, linden, white as snow, put up in 2 lb. frames, 

 sold last February for 8 c. per lb. ; taking out freight 

 and commission, netting the bee-keeper 5 Ji cts. per 

 pound. If the commission man had been in- 

 structed to sell it for 1214 it would have brought it. 

 As soon as I can get time I will give the readers of 

 Gleanings my method of selling honey, and how 

 to get a good price for it, as 1 have always sold my 

 own honey for the last forty years, and expect to if 

 1 live forty more. Wm. Urie. 



Minneapolis, Minn., April 28, 1800. 



FROM 55 TO 115, AND 2700 LBS. OF HONEY, WITH A 

 LOSS OF BUT TWO. 



I Started in the spring of 1889 with 55 colonies, with 

 quite a per cent of them very weak. I increased to 

 115, principally by natural swarming. I obtained 

 2700 lbs. of honey, 2000 lbs. comb, and 700 lbs. extract- 

 ed, all very nice white-clover honey, for which I real- 

 ized from 15 to 20 cts. for comb, and 15 for extracted, 

 wholesale. I started into the winter of 1889 with 115 

 colonies, with natural stores, no feeding, and came 

 through with 115 up to March. I lost two in March, 

 and two more proved to be queenless ; the rest are in 

 good shape, with a prospect of a good season in 

 view. I wintered all on their summer stands, 

 with sawdust cushions over brood-frames, in im- 

 proved Mitchell hives, double-walled. 



S. R. Morris. 



Bloomingburg, O., May 10, 1890. 



how an untested queen and 1 LB. OFBEES DID. 



I ordered 1 lb. of Italians, and an untested queen ; 

 but through your kindness you sent 2 lbs. of bees 

 and a queen. As I told you in a letter, I put the 2 lbs. 

 of bees into the hive in the greatest hurry, not think- 

 ing that, right after destroying the black queen, the 

 blacks might destroy the new queen; and as it came 

 to my mind that might be the case, I let the white 

 sheet lie before the hive for about three days, to 

 take a look every morning to find the dead (jueen 

 dragged out of the hive, but could find no dead 

 queen, so I did think all right. 



By this time, and several weeks ago, I could see 

 the young yellow-striped bees come out to try tlicir 

 wings for the first time in the nicest way. So I 

 have turned the black cross colony into the most 

 beautiful Italians. 



The 1 lb. of bees and Italian queen I got of you 

 last J\me are now a strong colony. 



John Slaubaugh. 



Eglan, W. Va.. May. 1893. 



prospect very poor for honey so far. 

 There are no material; sisns of swarming, and 

 white clover is just beginningiltojbloom. It is 6till 

 very cold, and we have.had four frosts- this month. 



