494 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



brought over the bees having- plenty of drones with 

 them, and put them with the nucleus, giving them 

 some larvae from the Italian to raise a queeu from, 

 and taking tbe partly made cells away. 1 am satis- 

 tied there is something in getting used to stings, for, 

 six months ago, they were very painful to me; now 

 they are not much worse than an ant bite. 

 Bakersfleld, Cal., Oct. 17, '79. Isaac B. Romford. 



THE BAR OF TIN IN THE WIRED FRAMES. 



Your postal is received; al*o the tin strips for tri- 

 al in wired combs, which give better satisfaction 

 than anything else I have tried. All six are in 

 frames with fdn. built out, and no holes eaten in the 

 fdn., as when I used wood strips. 1 put in the tin 

 with the edge out, and one edge nearly even with 

 the wire, which gives perfect cells on that side: on 

 the other side there will be some imperfect cells, 

 and some drone cells at the sides of the tin. It will 

 be too late after this to experiment with any satis- 

 faction this season. I think the strips of tin could 

 be a little narrower and still have the requisite 

 strength, and would give fewer imperfect cells on 

 that side. C. R. Carlin. 



Shreveport, La., Oct. 17, 1879. 



I am glad to get so good a report from the 

 bars of tin. As I have made some decided 

 improvements in making the wired frames 

 since the article on page 254, July No., I will 

 give the following extract from our new 

 price list : 



cjip 



in 



\ 



\ 



/ 



7 



J 



WIRED FRAMES OF FOUNDATION. 



These, as you will see from the cut, cannot sag, 

 and the comb cannot break out, in either extremely 

 hot, or extremely cold weather. The fdn. fills the 

 frame completely, and the diagonal wires make it 

 impossible for either the top or bottom bar to sag, 

 even with the greatest weight of honey which a 

 frame may ever contain. Besides all this, the whole 

 frame is made very much lighter than any ordinary 

 frame. 



The wire used is No. 30, tinned, iron wire, and 

 about 8 feet are required to a frame. The place of 

 the central wire, is taken by a light, stiff bar of fold- 

 ed tin. To put in the wire, double it in the middle, 

 and start from the bottom of the folded tin strip; 

 carry both ends to the tipper outside corners, one to 

 each; then bring the ends of the wire each over on 

 the top bar, and down through the first hole; then 

 under the bottom bar, toward the centre, and up 

 through the top bar again; then down through the 

 bottom bar, and finish by twisting the ends together 

 at the point of starting. The diagonal wires (which 

 were first suggested by L. W. Betts, Milton, Dela- 

 ware), should be drawn tight enough to make the 

 bottom bar slightly crowning; when the wire is all in, 

 spring in the bar of tin, and you are done. 



TO PUT IN THE FDN. 



Cut the sheets to just fill the inside of the frame, 

 warm them in the sun, or near a stove, lay them in 

 the frame on the wires, and imbed the wires by run- 

 ning over them the roller shown below. 



ROLLER FOR PUTTING FDN. INTO WIRH.D FRAMES. 



No melted wax or other fastening is needed, and 

 your frames of fdn. are ready to hang in the hive, 

 or to ship to customers, as you choose. Price of 

 roller, 20c ; by mail, 25c. 



PRICES OF THE WIRED FRAMES, PER HUNDRED. 



Frames filled with fdn. ready to hang in the 



hive $14 00 



Frames without fdn., as shown in the cut. ... 5 00 

 The same in the flat, wood pierced for the 



wires, wire and tin bars included 4 00 



No. 30, tinned wire, per lb., (enough for 253 



frames) 35 



The same, on 1 oz. spools, each, 8c, or 75c per 

 dozen; if sent by mail, add 2c each extra. 



Bars of folded tin, per hundred 5 ) 



To show the necessity of something to 

 support combs, even after they are built 

 out, in the South at least, I give the follow- 

 ing card, received from friend Carlin last 

 June : 



My hives are in the shade of trees, with entrances 

 the full width of hives, and % inch high. The cov- 

 ers are raised 1! j to 2 inches above the quilt. Fdn. 

 of pure wax, 5 to 6 L. sheets to the pound, worked 

 out in cooler weather, with no apparent sagging, is 

 now filled with honey, and many hives have from 

 one to three combs broken down. They break about- 

 three inches below the top bar. What a success fdn. 

 is, without wire, in this part of the ccuntry! Natu- 

 ral combs do not break down so for me, when hives 

 are shaded as mine are. The wired combs look well, 

 and have not broken down. C. R. Carlin. 



Shrevepoit, La., June 25, 1879. 



QUEEN DEAD AT THE ENTRANCE. 



I have but 3 stands of bees and I have found one 

 of the queens dead at the mouth of the hive. 1 don't 

 know but it is too late in the season to ship bees, 

 but, if you think there is a chance of the queen's 

 living to get through, I would like to have it sent. 



Sandwich, 111., Nov. 13, 1819. G. S. Treat. 



I should be glad to send you the queen, 

 friend T., as we have a large number to 

 spare, but I am quite certain, from the cases 

 1 have met of the kind, that the dead queen 

 is an old, discarded one, and that they have 

 got a nice, young one in her place. At this 

 time of the year, when there is no brood, it 

 may trouble you some to find her, but if the 

 stock is a good one, in a normal condition, I 

 am pretty sure she is there. 



OUTFIT FOR AN A B C SCHOLAR. 



I received ABC, in good order. It has many val- 

 uable hints in it for a beginner, I believe. This is 

 as far as 1 can go, for I know ntf more about the bee 

 business than a hog does about a holiday. Now I 

 will try to give you an idea of my outfit. J have 

 four colonies; one in an American, one in a Lang- 

 stroth, one in a Quinby, and one in a Simplicity 

 hive. I got a present of one swaim in a nail keg. 

 This is my variety; I don't believe I want any more 

 in kegs. Lee Warner. 



P. S.— No relation of that P. O. clerk, Warner. 



Allison, HI., Nov. 13, 1S79. 



I think, friend W., you should have just 

 one more up in some tall tree top ; you could 

 then see the subject on all sides. If you 

 have plenty «f time, and money too, that you 

 wish employed in some way, I think you 

 will find your apiary a source of great satis- 

 faction. Should you, on the contrary, wish 

 them to pay their way, without very much 

 time bestowed upon them, I would, by all 

 means, transfer them next spring, during 

 fruit bloom, into one kind of hives. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH SECTIONS IN 

 DIFFERENT POSITIONS, ETC. 



^0[§Sj)EE CULTURE in this part of our state is in the 

 MQsj) dark ages. We are among men who keep a 



' few box hives of black bees, standing from 



year to year in the weeds, in fence-corners, or under 

 fruit trees, wherever the swarm happened to light, 

 who never get any honey unless by brimstone, or by 

 prying off the top, cutting down to the cross sticks, 

 and taking out combs which may have been used as 

 brood comb for years. This disgusting stuff, in the 

 comb and strained, is brought to the stores and sold 



