1880 



GLEANLNGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



377 



GIVING PLAINER IMKK IMIW FOR A B 



C SCHOLARS. 



f RECEIVED the fda. and wire promptly by ex- 

 press. I was anxious, having- waited till a late 

 " day before I decided to furnish my brood 

 chambers with fdn., and went to the ollice frequent- 

 ly expecting bees to swarm. 



DO BOXES RETARD SWARM INO? 



But I had only one swarm, as my bees swarmed 

 late this season. I followed directions, and when 

 bees began to hang- out, put on thp caps. The result 

 is I have a fine lot of cap honey, but whether sup- 

 plying caps, retards swarming I do not know, nor 

 much care, for I keep bees mainly for profit, and 

 try to make them pay their way. But bees are 

 swarming finely at last, sending out large colonies, 

 and leaving: plenty of bees in the parent stock. 



At the risk of being prolix I must say a few words 

 about fdn. It may be you will put this In the Grow- 

 lery, or, perhaps, under the following caption: 

 inexperience; alias stupidity. 



If I am not mistaken, in your directions for fasten- 

 ing fdn. into the wired frames, you say nothing 

 about fastening to top bar; so I merely rolled it in 

 according to directions as I understood them. The 

 result was I lost a large swarm of bees, as follows: 

 After putting them into the hive filled with fdn., I 

 put them upon their stand. I then stepped to the 

 house to fit a few pieces of honey comb into a frame, 

 and when I returned the bees were hanging on a 

 bush a few rods off. On examination I found the 

 two front combs had slid down in a heap, which I 

 think was what sent them out. I had to step again 

 to the house to adjust another hive, and when I 

 looked for my bees they had left with no trace of 

 their direction. It is needless to say that since that 

 I have firmly fastened the fdn. to the top bar with 

 beeswax and rosin, and have had no more difficulty. 

 But whenever I had put a frame into hives mainly 

 filled with comb, most of the fdn. had fallen In a 

 heap. Now perhaps I ought not to be surprised if 

 you should say of me, as you did of Mr. Manning in 

 the last Growlery, that I was so inexperienced that 

 I did not fasten to the top bar; but here let me say, 

 somewhat in palliation of my stupidity, that I am 

 not the only one who failed to infer the proper 

 method from your instructions. I know another 

 who made the same mistake, and one, too, whose 

 sagacity, as well as education, is commonly thought 

 to be much ahead of the average. 



Now allow me to say, without the least disposition 

 to find fault, that in my opinion our inexperienced 

 friend of the Growlery was right (though it may 

 have been unwittingly) when he said the fdn. was 

 too small; that is, if he put it In wired frames. Now 

 for the proof: When I discovered it was necessary 

 to use a little of my own judgment, I could not see, 

 on reflection, why the fdn. should lack "' 3 in. of 

 touching either side, as the taut, perpendicular 

 wires would arrest the stretching except between 

 the wires, and the space between each side wire and 

 its adjacent side of the frame is but half the distance 

 between the wires. Therefore the bilge between 

 each side wire and the side of the frame adjacent 

 could be but half the bilge between the wires, unless 

 the wires bend or cut the fdn. That was my con- 

 clusion, and, on the strength of that I proceeded to 

 fill my frames laterally, where before I had cut off a 

 strip to make it lack % in. on each side. After I had 

 begun to fill frames In that way, I received a cata- 

 logue of Scovell & Anderson, in which they instruct 



to "cut the sheets to just fill the inside of frames,— 

 no melted wax or other fastening is needed." 



Now, my dear sir, if frames may be filled from 

 side to side I should be pleased to know it; if not 

 please give reason, and also why it will not do to fill 

 trom the top to the bottom. I know the difficulty in 

 unwired frames, but is the same difficulty found in 

 wired ones? I may say, as a farther proof that 

 frames may be filled laterally at. least, that I have 

 just examined the frames so filled after the bees 

 have got them in an advanced stage of completion, 

 and And them all right. In fact, the only place 

 where there is much variation from a plane surface 

 is at the bottom where there is a space left, which 

 seems to me to prove that it may be better to fill the 

 frames according to Scovell's catalogue. But, be 

 assured, I shall on no consideration fail to fasten to 

 the top bar, and also fasten different places at sides 

 and bottom, if I conclude to till the frames. 



Reese, Mich., June 25, 1880. L. D. Gray. 



PUTTING FOUNDATION INTO WIRED BROOD 

 FRAMES. 



I have given the above principally to show 

 how heedlessly some of the mends read 

 their price lists. On page 8, right under the 

 picture of the wired frame, are these words: 

 " The fdn. fills the frame completely," etc., 

 yet, friend G., you' have been wasting your 

 time and spoiling your work, aye, and losing 

 your swarms, by cutting down the sheets as 

 the price list directs where no wire is to be 

 used. More than a million of these price 

 lists are in the hands of the people, and I 

 have tried to make them answer all the new 

 questions as they come up as far as I possi- 

 bly can, but a great many times I hnd they 

 are not consulted, or consulted too hurried- 

 ly. If any one orders fdn., L. size, and does 

 not mention that he wants it for wired 

 frames, we always send the size to hang by 

 the top bar, short at each end, and still more 

 short at the bottom, and of just such a size 

 as we have learned by large experience to 

 answer best. Fdn. to completely fill the 

 frame, without wires, would be almost an 

 utter failure. Your fdn. fell down off the 

 wires, friend G., not because you did not 

 fasten it to the top bar, for this is all a waste 

 of time, but because you did not have it fill 

 the frame completely, according to your print- 

 ed instructions, and, I fear too, because you 

 did not warm the sheets in the sun, or by a 

 stove, as your directions also say. The 

 sheets, as we send them out for the wired 

 frames, a little more than fill the frames, if 

 any thing, and the girls put them in. before 

 an open window fronting the sun. The pile 

 of fdn. lies directly in the sun. The sheet is 

 rolled securely on to the wires, and then 

 with a quick motion of the fingers, the warm, 

 soft wax is drawn up against the side bars 

 and top and bottcm bars of the frame, un- 

 til all ''bulges" and hollows are stretched 

 out. It is then put into the hives, and the 

 first work the bees do is to go around and 

 securely wax down these outside edges. I 

 do not know how I can make the matter 

 plainer, and, if I could, our friends com- 

 plain, and I fear justly, too, that the cata- 

 logue is already too large. We have made 

 an index to it, and are all the time at work 

 remodeling it, to see if we can not make 

 it help you more still. 



