1879 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



is? 



It is a rather hard matter, friend B., to 

 say why the bees so persistently preferred 

 hanging on a tree, instead of going into the 

 hives furnished them. Perhaps the bruis- 

 ed and mashed combs had so disgusted 

 them that they preferred taking a new start 

 somewhere else. Had your neighbor have 

 given them a comb containing unsealed larvae 

 from one of his hives, I think they would 

 have stayed without trouble. I have known 

 bees to hang out over night, but I never 

 knew them to hang several days, unless 

 they built combs and seemingly considered 

 their airy situation a hive. I think you will 

 find combs, by this time, and that if you 

 transfer these to a hive, all will be well. 



GLEANINGS INB_EE GUITUBE. 



J±. I. ROOT, 

 EDITOR AND PUBLISHER, 



MEDINA, OHIO. 



li;iMI>: $1.00 PER YEAR, POST-PAID. 



ZMHEIDi:iNr.A. 3 IsAU^^r 1, 1879. 



And I will bring- the blind by a way that they knew 

 not; I will lead them in paths that they have not 

 known: I will make darkness light before them, and 

 crooked things straight. These things will I do unto 

 them, and not forsake them. —Isaiah 42: 16. 



I am very glad to announce that a considerable in- 

 duction has been made in both freight and express 

 charges by the K. R. and Express Co's. 



^~.#«-^ 



I have decided to make no more of the covered 

 Simplicity feeders shown on page 32, March No., be- 

 cause it comes so near being- a copy of Shuck's 

 "Boss Feeder." 1 am not sure that 1 have done right 

 in g-iving- way under the circumstances, but I 

 thought best to err on the side of charity, where 

 there was danger of being in error in one way or the 

 other. 



I will pay 20c each for Jan. and Feb. Nos., and 

 those who want them must pay 25c each. While I 

 am glad for those who have them to sell, I am sorry 

 for those who are obliged to buy. Please do not 

 scold because I was not wise enough to foresee the 

 extraordinary demand and have more printed. 



Now, when you send us a No., please put your 

 name on the wrapper. Bay "from," and then put 

 your name and address. You have a perfect right 

 to put so much on any mail matter. Whenever you 

 send me anythiny, put your name on it. 

 — i | i ^ 



I have been working on a plan of making fdn. at 

 one operation, without dipping sheets at all. 

 Wood blocks were made, as given in another col- 

 umn, and the faces of both were dipped in the melted 

 wax at once. Before the wax had time to cool, these 

 faces were quickly pressed together, pressing out 

 all surplus wax. With small blocks, fdn. can be 

 made in this way that will answer very well, but 

 there are ditlicultiesin handling boards large enough 

 to make sheets to till a frame in this way. This 

 process will be nice for putting it in the wired 

 frames, for the wires would then be covered com- 

 pletely with wax. Perhaps some of you will work it 

 out before I do. 



— ■ *»» <m* 



One of our friends sent back a whole dozen cold 

 blast smokers saying they would not burn. An ex- 

 amination of the only one that had been tried showed 

 that the tube was literally stopped up with soot. 

 Some damp or wet fuel had doubtless been used, 

 and our friend had not thought to look in the tube 

 where the trouble was. The soot was all cleaned 

 out with a stick in less than a minute, and the smok- 

 er then burned as nicely as one could desire, with 

 dry fuel. With any smoker, I think it will pay you 

 well in time saved, to dry your fuel in an oven. 



This, to a great extent, will do away with the annoy- 

 ance caused by the accumulation of soot. More 

 than a thousand cold blast smokers have been sold 

 this spring, and the only complaints we have had, 

 are evidently from the use of improper fuel. 



ANOTHER S TJO li ER. 



eVll ingenious 

 friend, Scovell, 

 has made a smo- 

 ker that has a direct 

 draft, apositive blast, 

 is very simple, and 

 yet does not "in- 

 fringe" on any body. 

 The only objection' 1 1[; 

 should make to it, is 

 that it will, like other 

 direct draft smokers, 

 burn tip the fuel too 

 fast. 1 think you will 

 understand the in- 

 vention from the cut. 

 The large leather 

 valve has a perfora- 

 ted wooden knob in( 

 its center. When the^ 

 bellows is pressed, __ 

 the valve, in closing, 

 throws the knob against the blast tube and 

 shoots in the stream of air. 



MAKING FDN. RIGHT IN THE WIRED 

 FRAMES. 



ff MENTIONED last month that Mr. Giv- 

 jf| en was making fdn. inside the wired 

 — ' frame, by means of a powerful press. 

 From the samples received, 1 have no reason 

 to doubt but that he has made a success of 

 the project. Although not quite as nice to 

 look at, I think his fdn. will be just as good 

 for actual nse, as that made by the rolls. 

 This invention will enable us to ship frames 

 filled with fdn., just ready to hang in the 

 hive, and the breaking down of a comb, 

 whether new or old, will be practically im- 

 possible. As we can now have the fdn. come 

 clear up to the wood of the frame on all 

 sides, it may be well to have a winter pas- 

 sage in the center of each comb. Friend 

 ( 'arlin says 7 or 8 wires to the frame are suf- 

 ficient. We can furnish a nice article of 

 No. 36 tinned iron wire, on spools expressly 

 for this purpose, that we can send by mail 

 for 10 c. per spool. The following is from 

 Mr. Given in regard to his invention. 



I have no wire less than No. 28, and even with that 

 I have no trouble to make fdn. ti feet to the lb., and 

 without wire, 1 can make it so thin I don't know if 

 Ihe bees could even find it. I have my presses 

 ready, and am now making- up wax as last as a 

 printer can print: and, by the way, my iron press is 



i just the thing for a small printing press. 1 find I 

 can sell them at 125.00, as 1 get my molding done 

 low, by having several cast at once. In all candor, 

 1 think I have just the thing for making fdn. 



I made all in frames last year with wire in them. 

 If you noticed, 1 wrote an article in the A. B. ./., in 

 July No., recommending it. Early in the spring, I 

 bedded wire made of copper which was a failure, as 

 the larva? would all die over it. But I afterwards, 

 in June, Commenced with galvanized wire, and soon 

 found it was a success. 1 have been studying on 

 this machine ever since. I made some plates early in 

 the winter east on plaster, but never could get them 



I accurate till I electroplated my moulds, and now I 

 have no trouble. D. S. Given. 



Hoopeston, 111., April 22, '79. 



