328 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



vantage, without letting the bees up into it. 

 A new swarm should not be put in the sun. 



PAINTING HIVES. 



In reply to a request, in your May Gleanings, for 

 information as to the best material for painting- 

 hives, I would say that I am a painter, and that, in 

 my opinion, there is nothing better than good white 

 lead and pure linseed oil, either boiled or raw, or the 

 two mixed in equal parts. If any other color than 

 white is desired, a pretty drab may be made by the 

 addition of a little burnt umber, or liquid asphalt- 

 um. I should recommend keeping the color as light 

 as possible. Having then good lead and pure linseed 

 oil, you have as good a paint as you can possibly 

 get. The hives should have two coats, if possible, 

 before being put to use, after which one coat every 

 two years will keep them in good condition. 



For first coat, mix in the proportion of i gall, of 

 oil to 100 lb. of lead; for second coat, 3 gall, of oil to 

 100 lb. of lead, using the first proportion for all suc- 

 ceeding coats. 



stopping journals when the time is out. 



My attention was called to the wrapper on Glean- 

 ings for June, by the printed notice. I was surpris- 

 ed that the year had passed so soon. I like the ring 

 of that notice; it says to me that you intend to make 

 Gleanings necessary to every one who is interested 

 in bees, and that you know the value of your work, 

 and are willing to let it stand or fall as it may de- 

 serve. I wish that every other publisher would 

 adopt the same plan; it would result in either fail- 

 ure or a paying business. I like to feel that the 

 book or any other thing is mine, because I have 

 paid for it; that no one can dispossess me (or ask 

 me if it will be convenient to settle that little bill to- 

 day). G. H. Leal. 



Susquehanna, Pa., June 3, 1880. 



Thanks for both items, friend L. I am 

 especially glad to know you catch the spirit 

 of the last as I intended it, because some 

 have thought it was a little rough. I certain- 

 ly had no such intention, but only that we 

 may have every thing kept up straight and 

 clean, and no misunderstandings. Several 

 friends have lately complained, and some of 

 them pretty sharply, because Gleanings 

 was stopped when they had a balance to 

 their credit. Now the subscription clerk 

 has no possible means of knowing that you 

 have a balance in your favor, unless you tell 

 her so; and, if she did, has she any right to 

 use it to pay for Gleanings, unless you so 

 direct? Some of you would talk pretty hard, 

 if we should use your money to pay for 

 (Ilkanings without being told to do so. 

 We are your servants, it is true, but we have 

 no right, in virtue or that office, to use your 

 money for any purpose until you give us an 

 order to do so. 



MRS. COTTON'S HIVE. 



Well, friend Novice, I have two of Lizzie Cotton's 

 famous hives in my yard. A gentleman in a neigh- 

 boring town wants two swarms of bees, and fur- 

 nishes his own hives, and they are Lizzie's. There 

 is nothing new about the hive; in fact, the idea is 

 old; it is simply a large hive with six brood frames 

 in the center. There is room for a set of boxes on 

 each side of the brood combs, and space for top 

 boxes. A board covers the frames. Our friend 

 ■who brought them is very confident that they are 



just the thing. "Why!" said he, "all you have to 

 do to prevent swarming is to put on the boxes, and 

 cut out the queen cells, and you have got them ev- 

 ery time (?)." 



If Mrs. Cotton has failed to respond to remittan- 

 ces of money sent her in the past, she has now 

 adopted different tactics, and sends a small model 

 hive by mail, like the above, for .ft. 00 I believe. If 

 the purchaser is well pleased as in this and another 

 instance I know of in our county, perhaps it is all 

 right for Mrs. C. to introduce her hive in this man- 

 ner. J. H. M iRTIN. 



Hartford, N. Y., June 1, 1880. 



DIVISION BOARDS AND THEIR USE, AND FDN. FOR 

 NEW SWAKMS. 



I now have my chaff hive painted and all ready for 

 a swarm, and want to know what I am to do with 

 division boards. Do I take them out when I put in 

 the colony, and lay them away till fall, and then re- 

 place them again? Certainly there is not sufficient 

 room for all the brood frames, if divisions are left 

 in, and I am sure it will be very awkward to crowd the 

 frames together when full in the fall, to pat in the 

 division boards. 



I have some foundation comb; shall I put it in the 

 empty frames before I introduao a swarm? 



Dr. Shaver. 



Stratford, Ont., Canada, June 7, 1880. 



Division boards are never used at all, at 

 any season, unless you have a colony so 

 weak that it cannot fill the lower story. In 

 winter, a colony can often be crowded on to 

 6 or 7 combs, and still have all the stores 

 they need in the combs; in which case, they 

 winter better with the brood nest thus con- 

 tracted. If we could have all strong stocks, 

 at all seasons, we should have no use for di- 

 vision boards at all with the chaff hives.— 

 Put sheets of f dn. in your frames before hiv- 

 ing new swarms, by all means; they are the 

 next thing to empty combs, and you will see 

 what friend Doolittle says, on another page, 

 in regard to the value of those. 



SUBSTITUTE FOR WIRE CLOTH IN MAKING HONEY 

 EXTRACTORS. 



Take good strong cord, such as the merchants use 

 for wrapping twine, and net it together like a fish- 

 ing seine, making the meshes l j or %, in. wide. This 

 I immerse in melted wax and thoroughly saturate 

 before applying, and I find it to be equal to wire 

 cloth, and far cheaper for thousands who are re- 

 mote from places where wire cloth is bought and 

 sold. 



HOLLY HONEY. 



I see that our southern honey is all classed among 

 the darker and cheaper grades. I send you by to- 

 day's mail a sample of holly honey, extracted last 

 spring, and ask you to judge. . 



SOURWOOD 



Is just beginning to blossom with us, and preparing 

 for a large bloom. If you desire seed, I could sup- 

 ply you with any amount, as we have it in endless 

 quantities. Soon the hilly portions of our forests 

 will be white with its blossoms, and, should the 

 weather be favorable, I expect to realize a large 

 yield. W. F. Roberts, M. D. 



Clinton, La., June 7, 1880. 



Very likely the waxed twine will do very 

 well, but I am afraid, friend R., when you 

 get some very heavy combs or some very 



