1890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



529 



hives to new swarma, there being considerable hon- 

 ey left in most of them? 



WHAT DO THE COURTS DECIDE ON THE MATTER 

 OF DESTROYING BEES WITH POISONED HONEY ? 



Has it been tested in courts whether people have 

 a right to destroy bees, and endanger consumers of 

 honey that way? If it would not be too much 

 trouble, I wish you would replj' to this in Glean- 

 ings. A. Hennings. 



Alabama, Wis., Juno 3. 



Friend H., this story about feeding bpes 

 yeast in their honey is very old. I do not 

 believe it was that that killed your bees ; 

 but I am inclined to think, from what yon 

 say, that they had the spring dwindling. I 

 do not know that the matter has ever been 

 tested in regard to poisoning bees ; but it 

 certainly would be a very clear case, for our 

 laws are very severe on any one who wilful- 

 ly poisons domestic animals of any sort. 



WIDER ENTRANCE FOR THE CHAFF HIVE. 



I see by Gleanings you have abandoned the 8- 

 inch entrance to chaff hives, and adopted the full 

 width. If you will jog your memory I think you 

 will find I was one of the first if not the first to in- 

 sist upon full-width entrances to chaff hives, both 

 one-story and two-story. If you please I should 

 like to insist upon another improvement. There 

 will not be any more demand for brood-frames with 

 top-bars 'a wide. Many of us think 1?8 too wide. 

 Many of us wish to continue the use of metal cor- 

 ners. It is hard to use all-wood frames and be a 

 Christian at the same time. I want to use metal- 

 cornered wired brood-frames with top-bars one 

 inch wide and % thick, wired as you have been wir- 

 ing them, with tin bar in Ihe middle. 



Bonney, Pa., June 20, 1890 Philo S. Dilworth. 



Yes, you did suggest making a wider en- 

 trance ; and from what you and one or two 

 others said, together with our own convic- 

 tions in the matter, we commenced this 

 spring to make them full width of the 

 brood-chamber. There is no reason, if sin- 

 gle-walled hives have the full-width en- 

 trance, why the chaff hive should not. 

 Don't be too positive that there will be no 

 more demand for a narrow top-bar I inch 

 wide. The tendencxj of the times looks that 

 way. 



THICK TOP-BARS; RUSHING AFTER NEW THINGS A 

 DAMAGE. 



I have just read in Gleanings, page 183, "It is a 

 serious matter to lumber our homes and our apia- 

 ries with things that may, after a little while, be 

 discarded as useless for the purpose for which they 

 were recommended." Now, I will venture a proph- 

 ecy. The wide and thick top-bars that you are just 

 now booming so vehemently will turn out just as 

 stated above. They will soon be regarded as an in- 

 tolerable nuisance, then away they go, and what a 

 time therp will be to get the combs out and fit them 

 into other frames! Top-bars one inch wide and % 

 thick, properly spaced, will prevent brace-combs as 

 effectually as one inch or Ja thick. I know whereof 

 I speak. I saw it tried; but there are objections to 

 wide top-bars, that make me extremely reluctant 

 to go back to them. 1 have not used a honey-board 

 since I discarded the old Langstroth style of hive, 

 and I am satisfied in roy mind that I never shall. 

 My hive is so constructed that a supf r of the same 

 length and width is jufet right for 'ii one-pound sec- 



tions 1?4 wide without separators, and leaving- 

 room to slip in a '» board in one side as a clamp. I 

 then place two strips 7 in. wide, of painted cloth, 

 between the sections and the brood-frames, and 

 that does the business to my satisfaction. The mak- 

 ing of frames an inch or 1 '.; involves quite an extra 

 expense over frames just Js wide. In most places 

 suitable lumber can not be had without special or- 

 der for the purpose, and that at once involves an 

 extra price, to say nothing of the extra quantity. 



G. B. Keplogle. 

 Centerville, Iowa, Mar. 13, 1890. 



What you say regarding thick top bara 

 may be true ; but if we reject every thing 

 new because new, apiculture would be at a 

 standstill. On such a basis the world would 

 never have had a sewing-machine or a 

 steam-engine, and you possibly might have 

 been plodding along without movable 

 frames. No, friend R., it is worth our while 

 to properly examine into the merits or de- 

 merits of the new, and then use a little dis- 

 crimination. Have we not urged, in almost 

 every number of the journal, to go slow and 

 try a few, and, if the few justihed trying 

 more, try moreV If vou will turn to our 

 catalogue you will see that we sell thick- 

 top-bar frames for the .s«7?ie price as the thin 

 ones. There is more lumber in the former, 

 but they are more cheaply made. Thin top- 

 bars are quite liable to sag, but the thick 

 ones will hardly be affected by the weight 

 of combs. Top - bars Ix^ inch, properly 

 spaced, will not prevent burr-combs with us. 



E. R. 



THE DOVETAILED HIVE AND KEENEY'S WIRING. 



The Dovetailed hive is very neat, and I shall like 

 it better after using a while. I am not sure about 

 the slatted honey-board. I put in the nine slats 

 and placed them even. Before the super is put on 

 I find the bees will bridge their frames to the cover. 

 That may be because the frames have already been 

 plentifully bridged on top when used in other hives 

 where I use a cloth. But I scraped the top-bars as 

 well as I could before putting in the frames. I find 

 it necessary to put on ihe enamel cloth. The new 

 plan of wiring frames, introduced by E. D. Keeney, 

 I have tried with improvements suggested by Er- 

 nest; foundation only four inches deep, and stick 

 one edge into the slot that was made for comb- 

 guide. It works wonderfully well. 



Hopkinsville, Ky., June 9. ' D. F. Savage. 



^OT AGAINST PERFORATED ZINC. 



Spring opened with bees in good condition. I did 

 not lose a single colony until April. A neighbor 

 asked me to assist him in overhauling his 30 colo- 

 nies, when we found 9 dead. I told him of my success 

 in wintering, not having lost a colony in 7 years, 

 the entire period I had owned bees. But after a 

 week's rain I told him a different tale. I had lost 

 8 colonies out of 18. But after the weather settled, 

 the little fellows went to work in earnest; and up 

 to June 14th I had taken .''C'a lbs. of as fine clover 

 honey as one could wish. I will add, also, that my 

 hives with perforated honey-boards did much bet- 

 ter than those with wooden ones. At this date the 

 honey-How is about over, as we have little else here 

 besides clover that yields honey sufiiciently to store 

 in supers. E. W. Sta\ton. 



Bowling Green, Ky., June 31. 



The statement has been made, that per- 



