1880 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



ll>9 



tides come with no clue at all as to the own- 

 er, I would respectfully request the senders 

 to try to do this. -The rulings of the post- 

 office department allow this much, but under 

 no circumstances are you to write anything 

 more, unless you pay letter postage on the 

 article. I will try to notice them a little 

 more than I have done on these pages, even 

 if they are not all of them new inventions. 

 By the way, I think we will open a depart- 

 ment for the notice of new inventions and 

 curiosities received during the preceding 

 month. 



HONEY-BOARDS — WHY THEY ARE NO LONGER NEED- 

 ED. 



Please inform me if you use any honey-board or 

 slats as a division between the brood-hive and honey- 

 chamber, in Simplicity hive, to prevent the queen 

 from depositing- eggs in honey-sections. I have used 

 Langstroth hives, and have usually had a honey- 

 board to separate the different parts of the hive. 



Wm. Ruddiman. 



Dearborn, Mich., March 8, 1880. 



The bottom bars of the wide frames form 

 a honey board, friend B.., as you will see if 

 you reflect that the spaces between them are 

 only about I of an inch wide. The queen 

 very seldom goes up through such a passage, 

 and if she did, she would not be inclined to 

 lay in such small sized, thick combs of hon- 

 ey. The use of the separators is also a hin- 

 drance, as she seldom likes the looks of so 

 much metal in her brooding apartment. 



THE MAILING QUEEN-CAGE. 



The government demands sugar in the cage, and a 

 double wire-gauze or perforated-tin screen. Gov- 

 ernment employees can not judge of the keeping of 

 the spirit of a law; they are incompetent. Why, 

 then, urge any but a double-walled, wire-gauze cage, 

 with candy and no bottle? The cage you sent me to 

 take to Washington was good enough. Why praise 

 any other plan? I take no credit for the double- 

 walled screen. I had heard the same suggested, and 

 had se»t queens in them before I went to the con- 

 vention. I wrote to several, as to you, to send cag- 

 es, that I might be sure to please the Postmaster 

 General. A. J. Cook. 



Lansing, Mich., March 8, 1880. 



Thanks, friend ('.; very likely you are 

 right, but the double wire gauze is not near- 

 ly as sure a protection as a solid board, and 

 if I should use double gauze I should prefer 

 still to have the board over it. I do not 

 know how the department could object to 

 this, unless because the clerks could not 

 have the privilege of seeing what our queens 

 look like. Unless we can be permitted to 

 use water in the cages, I fear we shall have 

 much trouble in shipping long distances. 

 My experience of last season in sending 

 queens with bees and a piece of comb, 

 enough so they may be laying on the way, 

 with the cheering reports from such queens, 

 has perhaps made me somewhat loth to un- 

 dertake our old small cages, and candy with- 

 out water. 



WHITE CLOVER AND WHITE DUTCH CLOVER SEED. 



Our indigenous, common white-clover is not the 

 same as White Dutch Clover. The latter grows 

 much larger and stronger. The probabilities are 



that your white clover is the "Dutch;" as the native 

 grows too short to make the harvesting of the crop 

 for seed profitable. Occasionally we get Ohio-grown 

 Timothy with a sprinkling of native white clover in 

 it, but have never been able to obtain it pure. 



PEA FLOUR. 



Pea flour is used sometimes for cooking. It will 

 make good pea soup in shorter notice than either 

 whole or split peas. We use it in the manufacture 

 of food for mocking, and other insectivorous, birds. 

 We can furnish pea Hour at 5c. per pound. 



Cleveland, O., Mar. 10, 1880. A. C. Kendel. 



MAKING ALIGHTING BOARDS ALL OF ONE PIECE. 



We make our alighting boards now in one piece. 

 We take a 3 in. plank dress and saw it as you do the 

 corners to your chaff hives, then make the entrance 

 with a wabbling saw. C. E. Wright & Co. 



Beaver Dam, Wis., Mar. 8, 1880. 



Many thanks, friend W. I have thought 

 of the plan, but, as we generally make them 

 of refuse pieces, the work has been the prin- 

 cipal expense. Another thing : we general- 

 ly have to pay higher for three-inch plank 

 than for other lumber ; but if farmers get 

 out their own logs and take them to the 

 mill, it ought to he cheaper to have them 

 sawed into three-inch plank than into one- 

 inch boards, and an accommodating miller 

 will usually make it so. Stuff worked out of 

 one piece has the advantage of having no 

 cracks or joints to open and let water in, 

 and, when painted, makes a much neater 

 looking job. Your idea of finishing with 

 the wabbling saw is new, and quite ingeni- 

 ous. 



GRAPE-SUGAR CANDY. 



My bees have been very quiet this winter. They 

 are in chaff hives on their summer stands. I think 

 I have as many as 40 or 50 swarms that haven't had 

 a fly this winter, and their entrances are all open 

 and free. Those with slabs of candy are most quief. 



MORE ABOUT THAT ADAMS HORSE-POWER. 



It was anyldfl»is,not a ( Tn'lds, power; and that you 

 may believe me this time, I will send the shipping- 

 bill. Now, brother Root, I hope you and brother H. 

 M. Hunt will not ascribe my failure to my WJ t of 

 "patience," " ropes," or "chains." I used a four- 

 inch rubber belt without its slipping- or running- uiT. 

 The trouble is, no horse can stand it to travel in so 

 small a circle. I have tried other horses besides my 

 own. I used a steamer belonging to a thrashing ma- 

 chine afterward, and that worked well. 



Tell the boys I am glad they are trying to help you 

 in the Sabbath-school, and if they will continue to 

 do so they will become good and useful men. We 

 want to hear from them often, and that they are 

 helping you more and more as they are getting old- 

 er. J. Child s. 



Amherst, Portage Co., Wis., March 5, 1880. 



From the above it would seem that the 

 original Adams, who claims to be the pat- 

 entee and inventor of the machine, could 

 not furnish as good a one as an inexperi- 

 enced or green hand at the business. Many 

 thanks, friend C, for your kind remem- 

 brance of the boys. The electrical and oth- 

 er experiments have captivated them com- 

 pletely, and they are beginning to be the 

 i best friends I have. 



