1890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



771 



preaches exclusive apiculture for the apiarist, 

 and does what very few of his colleagues in lliis 

 faith do — he practices what he preaches. He 

 is, perhaps, tlie largest bee-keeper in our State. 



As an apiarist he stands among the first. 

 His cautious, scientific, tlioroughty Informed 

 mind grapples even witli foul l)rood. and the 

 fell disease is worsted in the struggle. He told 

 me once, as I visited his apiary, that he rather 

 •enjoyed the malady, as it was interesting to 

 watch and study it. How few are cautious 

 enough to hold this scourge at arm's length, 

 even though it he right in tlie apiary I 



Mr. Taylor is one of ISIichigan's best bee- 

 keepers. Thi^ American Soci(>ty is honored no 

 less than Mr. Taylor in his jn-csidency. H(^ is 

 so expert in bee-keeping that lie can "feed 

 back" at a profit, and can produce an immense 

 crop of comb honey — his specialty — without any 

 use of separators", and yet takethe very cream 

 of the market. Like nearly all successful bee- 

 keepers he is very ingenious. Every thing about 

 his apiary is neat, orderly, and convenient. His 

 invention to fasten foundation in the sections is 

 doiil)tless on(> of the very best in use. He uses 

 the new H(^ddon hive, and would have no other. 

 One has only to see him manipulate these hives 

 and find the queens, to beconii^ convinced that, 

 in his hands at least, they are a trem(;ndous 

 success. 



Mr. Taylor's style as a speaker and writer is 

 quiet, earnest, but very convincing. He is can- 

 did, very cautious, and rather conservative; 

 so thos(> who know him place great weight 

 upon his ojunion or judgment. Slow to draw 

 •conclusions, his conclusions rarely need recon- 

 sideration. In our literature, in" our conven- 

 tions, and, best of all, in his home city, he is a 

 power. His presence is felt to be of signal 

 advantage. 



That Mr. Taylor's neighbors appreciate his 

 worth is evinced in the fact that he was elected 

 to our State Senate in 188S, whei-e he was an 

 able and influential member. He is renominated 

 for the position, and. with almost no doubt, will 

 be re-elected. 



Mr. Taylor has been a member of the church 

 for over thirty years. He is an elder in the 

 Presbyterian church, and thus again honors and 

 is loyal to his Scotch descent. But there is no 

 need to publish the fact that Senator Taylor is 

 a Christian. The fact shines out in all his life 

 and acts. He is a true, clean, reverent man — 

 one of the men that always make us feel better 

 when we have associated with them. 



Mr. Taylor has been married for nearly a 

 quarter of a century. His wife is a tit companion 

 for such a husband. Like her husband she takes 

 great interest in religion, temperance, and all 

 else that is good and helpful toothers. Though 

 they have none of those best adornments of the 

 home — sweet, loving children, yet their home is 

 one of those social centers that so richly l)less 

 every community where they are found. 



Agricultural College, Mich. A. J. Cook. 



Friend C, we all know you have a remarkable 

 talent for studying bugs and insects; in fact, 

 you often find out a thousand little things about 

 them that perhaps the most of us would never 

 notice at all. Hut I did not know before that 

 you had such a rare faculty of taking in — or, 

 perhaps I should say, rceof/ztizi/i;/ — all these lit- 

 tle individual traits that go to make up a man's 

 charactei-. My acquaintance with friend T. 

 has been mostly at conventions; and as I read 

 your description, point after point, it almost 

 made me smile to see how carefully you have 

 filled out the peculiarities and qualities. Why, 



your pen-pictuH! would almost enable one to 

 know the man, even if the reader did not have 

 the excellent portrait, furnished us by the half- 

 tone process. We can all rejoice that friend T. 

 has seen fit to take up bee culture — yes, even if 

 he is a little severe sometimes on some of us 

 whose loose ways of thinking and speaking 

 contrast so strongly with his own cautious and 

 careful ways. 



^ I ^1 



THOSE CLOSED-END FRAMES. 



AXOTHEK ENTHUSIASTIC ADMIIiEK OF THEM. 



During a few of the past rainy days I have 

 been looking over Ernest's notes of travel, and I 

 have laughed more than once while reading 

 them since the Sejit. 1st issue, and there are 

 several otiiers that have enjoyed it- too. In 1886 

 there was a request in (Jlkaninos for an ex- 

 l)ression concerning the reversing frame. I then 

 expressed my opinion that they were good, but 

 their full value would not be appreciated unless 

 they were used with an end-bar If^ wide (the 

 closed-end frame), and a division-board on each 

 side, fastened in place by a wedge. 



On i)age li-tl, Sept. 1, you make mention of the 

 closed-end hanging frame used by Mr. Tunicliff, 

 in the hives of his 400 colonies. In a letter 

 received from the Home of the Honey Bees in 

 1884. in answer to one I wrote concerning the 

 wide end-bar, it is stated as dictated by A. I. R. 

 that the wide end -bar was not practical, so far 

 as rapid handling was concerned. Well, now, I 

 should say that there is to be a change of opin- 

 ion at the Home of the Honey Bees, or Gi-ean- 

 INGS is not an indication of the future. But let 

 me give you a few points that may not have 

 been noted by you, Ernest, on page (iTO, Sept. 1. 



Several years ago I noticed tliat the wide- 

 end-bar frame pnwented that clogging of the 

 ends of the nari'ow frames, and the hive with 

 corah and honey; and the numlxM' of times that 

 bee-keepers have said. "I wish the fools would 

 put the honey where it belongs" is a strong ar- 

 gument for closed- end frames. Secondly, there 

 is an air-chamber at the ends of the frames, 

 preventing that needlelike frost from extending 

 between the combs in winter. \\'hich is another 

 valual)le feature. Thirdly. I place a strip of 

 lath, 8 inches long, at each end of the hive, per- 

 pendicularly. Shove up one of the division- 

 boards (I always use two), then your four or 

 five frames, then your other division-board, and 

 put your i)acking in good and tight, and your 

 bees are just as well off as in a cliatf hive, and 

 in a single-walled hive at that. 



I think I hear some of you say, '" I guess not." 

 Well, here is what I have tried and seen tried 

 for several years. Make your hive 1:314 wide 

 inside, bee-space at the bottom. The hive- 

 body should be 9;?< deep, all around. To nnike 

 the enti'ance, a strip of shingle one inch wide is 

 pushed between the hive and bottom-board on 

 each Side of the hive {<i l<i C. A. Stone, South- 

 bury, Conn., 1878). The frames are then placed 

 in as JK'fore desoibed. Three strips of burlap, 

 20 iiu'hes wide l)y ).'4 long, are folded so tbey are 

 20x1:.'; one of these is laid aci'oss the lop of the 

 frames, with the folded edge just I'eaching over 

 the top of the opi)osite division-board. The 

 other two are put in the same position for the 

 other sid(\ aiul the i)acking is put in. Now 

 place on the top of the frames a half-length 

 barrel-stave with a '.j-inch-stpiare stick tacked 

 on the under side at each end. One of the bur- 

 lap cloths from the side that tin- two are on is 

 laid over the stave, then the one from the other 

 side, and then tlu; second of the two. Thus 



