1890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



821 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS, 



jrUST AS MUCH HONEY STOKED ABOVE THICK- 

 BAKS AS ABOA'E THIN ONES. 



Well, Uncle Amos, I have come to tell you 

 about my thick top-bars, as I agreed to at the 

 close of the season. I have taken off all the 

 supers on the 2!t hives that I told you about in 

 August Gleanings, page (302. The different 

 top-bars on the 18 hives that I spoke of in the 

 same article do not satisfy me at all. so I will 

 say nothing about them, only that they were a 

 failure so far as preventing burr-combs is con- 

 cerned; but with top-bars j-ly thick and J4 wide, 

 and spaced f^ with the furniture nails, has giv- 

 en me entire satisfaction. There was not a 

 particle of burr-comb, except on two of the 

 colonies, and only a very little on them. 



In your foot-note yoii ask me whether the 

 colonies with thick top-bars stored less honey 

 than the colonies with thin top-bars. Well. I 

 am sure that I could see no difference. It is my 

 opinion, from what experience I have had. that, 

 if the colonies were strong, and there were a 

 good flow of nectar, the top-bars, or even the 

 honey-boards, would make no difference in the 

 amount of honey stored. 



On page (559, C. C. Miller wants to know 

 whether there isn't danger of running fixed dis- 

 tances to extremes. I wintered two colonies 

 last winter on their summer stands, with this 

 close spacing, and they were in as good shape 

 in the spring as any I had, and gave me good 

 strong swarms. I use a device similar to the 

 Hill, covered with burlap and chaff cushions. 

 One thing that Dr. Miller speaks of is to tip the 

 hive up and look at the bottom-bars to see how 

 irregularly they are spaced. This is a point 

 that we certainly have got to overcome if we 

 use close spacing. I have been very particular 

 to have my frames hang so that the spacing 

 would be the same at the bottom as at the top; 

 but I find that I have one frame in one hive that 

 got a little out of " whack."' and, as Dr. M. says, 

 there was no brood reared on one side of the 

 frame; but if I could get some of those wires 

 that Dadant & Son describe, bent to fit my 

 frames, I think they would fill the bill. 



Maple Ridge, Mich., Oct 21. Fked C. Smith. 



the dovetailed an outdoor wintering 

 hive; hoav it may be done. 



Friend Root: — I am using a hive for winter- 

 ing on summer stands, that I think is ahead of 

 any thing I have ever seen, for reasons you will 

 readily understand without explaining. 



I use the common Dovetailed hive, and line 

 each end with building - paper. I have the 

 blocks and thumbscrews in the hive exactly 

 like the Heddon. I use, also, eight closed-end 

 frames, and hang them. 



To prepare for winter I remove two combs 

 and insert chaff' dummies, one on each side, 

 and screw up the thumbscrews tight. I have 

 the closed frames pressed together tight for one 

 end, wall-paper lining between them and the 

 hive-walls. The chaff dummies are fitted tight 

 to the end of the frames by pressure with a 

 dead-air space between the dummy and hive- 

 wall. A cushion laid on top of a Hill device, 

 furnishes the winter preparation. Your bees 

 are snug and warm for wint<>r. and how they 

 will build up in the spring! Now. this is good; 

 it is cheap; there is no loose packing nor clumsy 

 hives. 



CLOSED-END FRAMES HANDLED AS EASILY AS 

 ANY. 



I would not use a hive without closed-end 



frames. Objections to them have been made 

 by men who never tried them or did not know 

 how to use them. The closed-end frames have 

 so many advantages that they will never be 

 laid aside by any man who knows how to use 

 them; and when hung from above, a man must 

 be very careless or ignorant if he kills bees in 

 manipulating them. I know this hive and 

 closed-end frame is a good thing, and seems to 

 be about what Ernest is trying to get at. so I 

 send this description, hoping that it nuiy be of 

 some service to him in his search for a summer 

 and winter hive. J. Richardson. 



Moberly, Mo., Oct. 6. 



Friend R., the plan you give has been given 

 over and over again through our journals, es- 

 pecially years ago, about the time chaff hives 

 were first inaugurated; but although such 

 protection is a good deal better than none at 

 all. during very severe winters the results have 

 not been equal to such protection as was given 

 by the chaff hive, or something equivalent to it. 

 Of course, closed-end frames would be an ad- 

 vantage with such an arrangement. 



PERFORATED ZINC FOR EXTRACTING, A 



SUCCESS. 



Last year (1889) my bees swarmed a good 

 deal. I hived them in 8-frame L. hives. They 

 built, on an average, IK to 3 frames of drone 

 comb in the bottom, and nearly all drone in top 

 story. I had no combs or foundation to give 

 them, and they raised solid sheets of drones, at 

 a considerable loss of time and honey. 



This year I went over the yard, fitting in 

 worker combs in place of drone in the brood - 

 chamber, placing the drone comb in the second 

 story, with a sheet of perforated zinc. Root's 

 make, between, on 28 colonies. On looking 

 them over soon after, I found two queens above, 

 which I put below. One of the queens I found 

 above, two or three days afterward. The others 

 all worked well, very few drones below. In 

 some hives the bees would clean out a part of 

 one or more combs (drone) in upper story for 

 the queen to lay in; but when honey came in 

 fairly they would fill it up. In a few of the 

 sheets the perforations were partly filled with 

 wax; but combs in the upper story were not 

 fastened down to the zinc where a -^ space was 

 used. I believe they are just the thing for hives 

 for extracting, especially where the bees build 

 all their comb; and they will pay expense and 

 trouble of adapting them to the hives in one 

 season's use. 



KEROSENE FOR PROPOLIS, ETC. 



I think the best and handiest way of getting 

 propolis off the hands is to have a small can of 

 kerosene handy. A few drops will "cut" the 

 gum very satisfactorily. It is also good for 

 rusty saws, etc. By running the bottom of the 

 Benton queen-cage over a cutter-head, cutting 

 iV deep and to within, say, 3^ of each edge, and 

 tacking on a strip about ,V thick by width be- 

 tween strips and length of cage, using about % 

 wire nails, the said cage can be used to intro- 

 duce, the same as a Peet cage. To take off the 

 bottom, pry up the bottom -^ inch, using a stout 

 knife; push the bottom back, when the nails 

 may be easily i)ulled out. The strip or (bottom) 

 will slide easily between the side strips, and 

 may be used and put on the combs the same as 

 the Peet. While, if any prefer to introduce by 

 the candy plan, there is nothing to prevent by 

 making cages this way; the wire cloth and top 

 may be nailed on, and the bottom left until 

 after the queen is caught before fast<Miiiig. This 

 idea may be old; but I, at least, have not seen it. 



Port Orange, Fla., Oct. 14. John B. Case. 



