186 



GLEAKtNGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



stopped. They had plenty of brood. I don't know 

 the cause of their killing' their queen unless it was 

 the robbers, for they were Hying- around very thick- 

 ly. Looking' at them on the 15th, I found them all 

 right, and would like to know the cause of their be- 

 havior. 

 Spencerville, Md., Apr. 18, '79. H. V. Black. 



I have had several cases of bees balling 

 their own queen, but it was usually during 

 a time of scarcity. Where the hives set very 

 close together. These paracidal attacks, as 

 they have been called, are made I think by 

 strange bees that have got into the hive by 

 accident, and finding a queen unknown to 

 them, ball her much as they do when we 

 attempt to introduce strange queens. 



You did the proper thing, in smoking 

 them; robbers might have been the cause, in 

 your case. 



THE "25C" MACHINE FOR MAKING FDN. ALSO SOME- 

 THING ABOUT PATENTS ON BEE IMPLEMENTS. 



Enclosed find a piece of fdn. made from wooden 

 dies, the dies having- been made by a brass door key, 

 hied the rig-ht size and shape, and then cut out in 

 the middle so as to make a whole cell, at every clip 

 of the hammer. I use boxwood for dies, stamped 

 on the end, and soaked full of oil; then it can be 

 soaped to prevent sticking-. I can now make my 

 own fdn.; thanks to Wm. L. King for the idea. The 

 bottom of the cells is flat, but 1 guess the bees will 

 work it. W. Reeger. 



Binghamton, N. Y., April 19, 1879. 



The sample of fdn. sent has beautiful, reg- 

 ular cells, and will work satisfactorily, with- 

 out a doubt. As these improvements are 

 handed in, I cannot help feeling, my friends, 

 that the finger of God is plainly to be seen in 

 all this, and that he has intended it as a re- 

 buke to those who will persist in trying to 

 patent these things which are so evidently 

 the work of the people, and of no one indi- 

 vidual. Fdn. with fiat bottomed cells, made 

 by home-made machinery like the above, 

 seems destined to be as common as movable 

 frames, and a patent is just about as ridicu- 

 lous on the one as the other. You are wast- 

 ing your money if you take out a patent for 

 such things. God's hand is against you, and 

 he is showing you your helplessness, through 

 the voice and inventive genius of the multi- 

 tudes of our people. See how futile these 

 efforts, one after another, are proving to be. 

 Give it up, my friends, I beseecli you, and 

 devote your energies to a better, a worthier, 

 and a more profitable cause. 



CORN HUSKS VERSUS CHAFF, SHINGLE COVER FOR 



CHAFF HIVES, AND MATS FOR COVERING 



THE FRAMES. 



About half the bees in this vicinity are no more. 

 I got one colony last year, but they are gone. I 

 have bought two more this spring, and being a 

 worker in wood, have made X chaff hives, all but the 

 chaff. There being no suitable chaff to be had, at 

 this time of the year, I have used corn husks; why 

 will they not be as good as chaff? They will not de- 

 cay so soon, I think. I had finished 2 bodies before 

 concluding how to make covers. Just then it "pop- 

 ped" into my head that a lot of nice shingles had 

 been over-head in the wood-house a year or more. 

 So this is the way to make covers by hand:— 



Mitre gables and sides together, cut and nail in 

 ridge piece, nail on a double course of shingles on 

 each side, planing the outside of upper ones, then 

 get out an upper ridge piece, lay it inverted on the 

 bench, turn down the cover upon it, and drive fin- 

 ishing nails through the inner, and into the outer 

 piece, and "old Sol" can't "see the point" of a single 

 nail, nor the heads of the upper course of shingle 

 nails. 



For mats, or covers, to lower story, 1 shall try this 

 plan: make a frame large enough to lap on to the 



ledges all around, by mitering together stuff of suit- 

 able size, with a piece across the middle both ways; 

 draw cloth "taut" over what will be the under side, 

 tack it over the edges, and if necessary, to the cross 

 pieces of the frame; now, nail a strip of tin— say 1J 4 

 in. wide, around the edge, over the cloth, letting the 

 lower edge extend 5-16 or :i a below it, to rest on the 

 ledges, thus holding the cloth above the frames, and 

 affording the "blessed bees" a free passage over 

 them. After this, should they still persist in gnaw- 

 ing their covering by reaching up over head to do it, 

 they should be voted— gnaw— ty— bees. Division 

 boards could be made to reach up to the cloth. 

 Memphis, Mo., Apr. 21, '7). Stephen Young. 



I have often thought of corn husks, and 

 have no doubt but that the soft portions 

 would answer excellently, the labor of pre- 

 paring them being the greatest objection 

 that I know of. 



Your shingle roof, with the upper tier of 

 shingles planed and painted, would be a 

 very good arrangement, and we may soon 

 make use of the idea. Many thanks, friend 

 Y. Your substitute for a mat has all the 

 objections of the old style of honey board 

 If a space is left above the frames, even of 

 i inch only, the bees are sure to build bits 

 of comb from the frames to the cloth above, 

 and then you are liable to raise the frames 

 when you lift the mat off, and whenever it 

 is replaced, you are almost sure to crush bees 

 with these bits of comb. It is true, you 

 may get along by scraping these bits of 

 comb from the tops of the frames and honey 

 boards every time you open the hive, but 

 this makes much work for both yourself and 

 the bees. Something like our hew mat, to 

 lie close to the top bars of the frames, and 

 which can be put down without killing any 

 bees, I think will obtain the preference in 

 the end. Cloth about bee hives needs replac- 

 ing so soon that I am almost inclined to 

 abandon it. The bees sooner or later, bite 

 into every thing of the kind I have ever us- 

 ed. 



PERSISTENT SWARMING OUT. 



Mr. Root:— As the ABC children are in the habit 

 of running to you for information, you will please 

 bear with me, an Arkansaw hoosier, who is not ex- 

 pected to know anything, when I come with my 

 query. Some 3 weeks ago, having bought 2 stands 

 of bees in old gums, we carried an L. hive down and 

 transferred them. They were left there about one 

 week and were working beautifully when we brought 

 them home on a wagon which gave them very 

 rough usage. Next day my son interviewed them 

 and found the frames badly jostled about. About 

 2 hours after making all things right, the bees in 

 one of them concluded to *ira/7?i. and made off im- 

 mediately. 



My sons following, the bees settled in woods a half 

 mile distant. They procured a hive and when trying 

 to get them in, they made the second move. Away 

 go the boys after, for another half mile run. This 

 time the bees settled on a peach tree at one of my 

 neighbor's and within 10 feet of his gums. The L. 

 hive was brought up, and after some time they 

 were caged, and left there to be brought home in a 

 day or so. Mr. A. came overthe next day. to tell us 

 our bees had swarmed atiain. Being unwell and my 

 boys absent. I told Mr. H. to do what he could with 

 them and take bees for pay. He says he worked in 

 trying to get them to accept of different hives until 

 worn out; they insisted on hanging to the tree; and 

 at this writing, 8 days since they left us. they are 

 still hanging- on the' tree. W T hat is the matter? We 

 gave them their brood when we transferred. Was 

 the queen killed in transferring or on the rough ride 

 home? Did going into the hive at noon to set things 

 right cause them to take that uncontrollable abscon- 

 ding fever? This seems to be a trifling matter, but it 

 has troubled me no little and I woidd be glad to hear 

 from you. R. A. Bethune, M. D. 



Snyder, Ashley Co., Ark., April 19, '79. 



