1880 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



153 



she wrote in answer to my request for the 

 machine. 



I have received your card, requesting- an electro- 

 type of my fdn. machine, and I send you one in good 

 faith. I can truly say that 1 have met wiih nothing 

 but kindness from the bee-keeping brotherhood. 

 Frances Dunham. 



De Pere, Wis., March 15, 1880. 



As the fdn. made by this machine does not 

 sag, or at least but slightly, the question 

 comes up, why not use it and dispense with 

 wired frames? The first mill we ever made. 

 the one Mr. Perrine carried to Chicago, was 

 made on this plan; i. e., having the walls 

 come up so as to be level on top ; hut we did 

 not make any more so, because of the ex- 

 pense of the wax. Mr. Perrine soon altered 

 the mill, I presume lor the same reason. 

 W Inch is cheaper, wax or wires V The wired 

 com us are certainly most durable when it 

 comes to shipping bees, and this question, 

 like many others, seems destined to be set- 

 tled by the one of supply and demand. Our 

 friend Given, whose machine was illustrated 

 in Peb. No., has succeeded in getting it to 

 produce most beautiful fdn. in wired frames, 

 and with so little expenditure of wax, that 

 he now otters wired L. frames, rilled with 

 fdn., for 13i c. each, by the hundred. Our 

 price, as you know, is 14 c. for metal-corner- 

 ed frames. As all-wood frames are 2 c. less, 

 we are already down to 13 c. Now, can any- 

 body furnish frames of Dunham fdn. that 

 will not sag, for a like sum ? Another thing: 

 is this excess of wax worked up into comb, 

 with thin base, so that a frame of Dunham 

 comb is worth more, because the bees get 

 along fasterwiih it ? Itwill be hard to send 

 filled frames of any fdn., not containing 

 wire, safely by freight or express. It is also 

 quite a problem to get the frames wired, and 

 have it done cheaply. 1 presume we shall 

 have to set women and children at it, at so 

 much per hundred. You see we have quite 

 a number of problems to work out in this 

 matter, my friends. Those who are going to 

 " run" the wax right into molds containing 

 the wired frames will have to make hasie 

 and get them into market. This latter plan 

 will make the best fdn. for the bees, and 

 will likely be the cheapest plan when it is 

 worked out. I will tell you all I know of it 

 every month, but I can not well write long 

 letters about it meantime. 



FOUNDATION WITH SQUARE CELLS. 



The bees finish up square fdn. so that you can not 

 tell it certainly, only by holding- it up between you 

 and the light. The queen uses it as readily as any, 

 and the bees will work quicker on a dipped sheet 

 than on a pressed one, because it is more porous, 

 I presume. But I did not succeed in dipping and 

 pressing large sheets; the shrinkage cracks them, 

 unless you make them loo thick to use. I was in 

 hipes some one would make a roll machine. It 

 ci uld be cbeai ly made, for the creases in the rolls, 

 to make the sidi s of the cells, could be made on 

 the lathe. I shall make a set this spring, and will 

 make ibem of type metal. The one I have is made 

 of lhat, and is hard enough, and, if (he first trial 

 don't mit me, I can melt them over and return 

 the metal. John F Laffektv. 



Martinsville, Clark Co., 111., Feb. 16, 18S0. 



I sent you, a day or two ago, a piece of comb made 

 from square, flat cells; also a piece or two of the fdn. 

 The comb was raise d in cool weather, near the last 

 of harvest, and is not as thin as that made earlier 

 and filled with honey. John B. Case. 



Baptisttown, Hunterdon Co., N. J., March 8, 1880. 



ISuie enoua-h, we have, at last, a piece of comb 

 built on fdn. divided oil into squares. At first sight, 

 the comb looks like any other; but when you come 

 right down to it, it is not. The bees, by a very in- 

 genious plan got up with much study, it would 

 seem, have made cells almost 6-sided at the top, but 

 with a base pretty nearly square. More wax is used 

 than where the> have buili the natural comb below, 

 and although it may be easily and cheaply produced, 

 1 do not believe it will generally be profitable in the 

 end.] 



THE MII¥NlSOTA KARLl-AinBER SU- 



iprjEOM the quantity of seed we are sell- 

 hj ing, 1 feel that 1 can not use space to 

 — ' a better advantage ihan to make an 

 extract from our 75 cent book, in regard to 

 planting and culti\ ation. 



Cultivate crops in rotation, following a cane crop 

 after coin, and the corn alter meadow or sod. 

 'thus, iu the winter, spread troin sixie< n to tweiuy 

 wagon-loads of bam-,) aid mauuie per acre on ihe 

 sod, and plow with ihree horses, nine inch- s deep. 

 Cut and shock ihe corn, and expect a yield of r .5 

 or more bushels per acre. Let no animals roam 

 over tho field to tramp it, and in early (-priug plow- 

 so deep lhat there will be twelve inches of loose 

 soil. iDe rotten sod, with the mauuie, makes the 

 soil mellow as an ash heap, and is the bt st possi- 

 ble condiiion that 1 know how to piepare a Ikld 

 for corn. Now level the field with a drag made of 

 six rails, woven together with iwo trace-chains at 

 about three feet Iimil the ends of ihe rails. This 

 does not pack the ground as does a roller. Theu 

 plant the setd with a drill, dropping about six seeds 

 to the foot, and in rows three and one-half ftet 

 apart, the drill doing the work of furfowiug, drop- 

 ping, and covering. By the time the seed is will 

 sprouted, go over the field again with the drag; 

 and just about the time the first plants are ap- 

 pearing, drag the rails across the previous dragging. 

 Now we have a fresh, clean, mellow field for the 

 plants to emerge into daylight. As soon as the row 

 of plants can be traced with the eye, with a one- 

 horse plow, with a fender, to keep the dirt from the 

 plants, plow as close to the rows as possible; and 

 one with a steel rake can clear the plants and keep 

 up with the plow. By the time the plants are a fin- 

 ger's length high, scrape the rows with sharp hoes, 

 and thin the plants to about three to the foot. If 

 this work is thoroughly done, then going over the 

 field about three times, twice in a row each time, 

 with a double-shovel or cultivator, to be completed 

 by the time the cane is four feet high, will be suffi- 

 cient cultivation. Thus prepared and cultivated, I 

 expect a yield of from 165 to 185 gallons of refined 

 syrup, of a density of 43 deg. Beaume. 



The next most successful way to prepare a field 

 for cane, is to lot the aftermath of a clover field re- 

 main through the fall and winter untouched until 

 about the tenth of May. By lhat time the young 

 clover will be well up. Thi n turu under deeply. 

 Sutisoiling would be beneficial in most soils, especial- 

 ly where land is not under-drained. So might irri- 

 gation be capital, but only the few can command it. 

 Soaking the seed and rolling in plaster may be ad- 

 vantageous if conditions be right at the time of and 

 after planting. An old clay field with all the organ- 

 ic compounds (the niirogen, oxygen, carbon, etc.) 

 so nearly worn and washed out that cane will but 

 feebly or barely grow upon it, will yield the clearest 

 and ihe finest fruit) -flavored syrup, but tbe quanti- 

 ty may not pay for cultivation. On the other band, 

 a field in good heart, freely and freshly manured 

 from the hog-pens and horse-stables, might give an 

 enormous yi< Id of syiup,but of a quality that would 

 be unlit lor the table. 



The articles on sorghum in the late numbers of 

 Gleanings, comiDg from all parts of the country, 



