1880 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



L'S7 



when yon are using only the extreme point, 

 the remainder of the blade is so supported 

 and protected, that it can neither bend nor 

 break. The whole tool is only 25c, and sep- 

 arate blades 15c. Postage, etc., on all these 

 tools will be found among the counter goods. 



EXPANSIVE BITS. 



Boring holes may be thought 

 to be a very simple matter, but 

 to bore a hole and have it smooth 

 and neatly finished is not so very 

 easy after all. Many bits and 

 augers will bore very well when 

 new, but to keep them always in 

 nice trim is not so easy. Be- 

 sides, to bore holes of all sizes 

 requires a larger outlay in bits 

 and augers than most people care 

 to invest. The expansion bits 

 that can be set to bore holes of 

 as many sizes as you can mark 

 circles with a pair of compasses 

 is quite an ingenious tool, and 

 the cutters that go with it are so 

 made that they can be removed 

 to be sharpened almost as well 

 as you can sharpen an ordinary 

 plane bit. With the great de- 

 mand there is now for cages to 

 send queens in by mail, these 

 tools are almost indispensable. 

 My first one cost me $-5.00, and I 

 thought it a great saving even at 

 that price, but we have now got 

 them down so that the largest 

 size, boring from i up to 3 in., is 

 only $2.50. And this brings us to 



OUR MAILING QUEEN CAGE. 



If you remove the cutters from 

 the above tool, you will have left 

 just the center part boring a f 

 hole. In boring a hole of any 

 size, this I center always goes a 

 little ahead of the large cutter, 

 and we therefore have a small 

 hole, say i in. deep, in the center 

 of the large ones. In making 

 our smokers, we cut out of the 

 center of the bottom, round 

 pieces of tin of exactly i in. The 

 idea occurred to me that a tin 

 bottle could be made to slip into ^ 

 this shallow cut, so that, when 

 surrounded with candy, it would 

 be firm, and we should have on- 

 ly one operation of boring in ma- 

 king a queen cage. To be sure that the bees 

 can not be out of water, even if the cage 

 should stand a certain side up several days, 

 we have put a partition across the bottle, 

 and have two openings (on opposite sides), 

 and therefore, of course have, virtually, two 

 bottles. To make these bottles, cut pieces 

 of thin tin (Tagger's tin is the best), 2 5-16 

 byH; roll them up, and then cut round 

 pieces for the partition, with a £ hollow 

 punch ; push the round pieces just half way 

 through these tubes ; this can be done best 

 by slipping the tubes on a stick having a 

 square end ; while on this stick, the parti- 

 tion is to be neatly soldered, and the seam is 

 then soldered up ; now solder one of the £ 



round pieces before mentioned on each end ; 

 for openings, prick holes large enough to 

 take in the nozzle of a sewing machine oil 

 can. One of those from the 5c counter will 

 do very well, although a 10c one is better 

 where you have a great many cages to fill. 

 To fill bottles already fastened in by the 

 candy, the nozzle should be slightly bent. 

 In the cut below, we show you me bottle, 

 and the can for filling it. 



(MX 



TIN BOTTLE FOR QUEEN CAGE, AND BENT 

 NOZZLE CAN FOR FILLING THEM. 



The bent nozzle can easily be forced 

 through the meshes of the wire cloth, so as 

 to fill the cage at any time, even when it is 

 full of bees. The tin bottle being in the 

 center, the bees have a promenade all 

 around it, and no nook or cranny into which 

 they may wedge themselves and die, as has 

 so often happened with some forms of cages. 



A bottle with only this one small opening 

 will not let any water out, no matter which 

 side up it be turned, unless shaken violent- 

 ly, while the bees can sip it out with their 

 tongues as readily as from a cell of honey. 

 They thus have right near them, pure sugar 

 and pure water ; neither will sour so long as 

 kept separate, and the bees can mix them as 

 fast as they wish. "Why not fill the bottles 

 with honey? Because it would get thick 

 and sticky, unless made thin with water, 

 and then it would soon sour in hot weather. 

 At present the cheapest rate at which we 

 can furnish these double tin bottles is He 

 each, or 15c per doz. In making them, use 

 only rosin to solder, not the soldering fluid, 

 for it could scarcely be washed out, so as not 

 to endanger the life of the bees. We have 

 tested them pretty thoroughly for mailing, 

 and the tin seems to answer just as well as 

 glass for the water. Our expert friend, 

 Moore, of Atlanta, Ga., sent us 40 queens, 

 half with water in tin bottles, and half with 

 candy only. While all the queens were 

 received alive, many cages without water 

 had only the queen alive, and those in the 

 watered cages were in far better condition 

 than the others. The cages containing these 

 bottles, are, of course, the same cages shown 

 in our price list, that we have used so many 

 years. To protect the wire cloth, we simply 

 tack a thin piece of wood over it. Having 

 the wood slide in a groove, as described on 

 page 108, March No., would of course be 

 rather more convenient. 



