1885 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



103 



LUMPS OK CAKES OF ICE INSIDE OF A CHAFF HIVE. 



Yesterday I examined the bees in the one-story 

 chaff hives which I received from you, and found 

 bees in splendid condition, covering frames nicely, 

 except in one hive, out of which I had talien last 

 fall one frame with honey, and not filled up the 

 space thus made, it being- an outside frame. That 

 space was H inch thiclt with frosty evaporation. 

 Had I better scrape it off and put a frame with hon- 

 ey in its placeV W. A. Tholen. 



Port Washing-ton, Wis., Jan. 17, 1885. 



I would take out tlie ice if I could get it 

 out handily, friend T., and then move up 

 the division-board so as to occupy this space, 

 and fill back of it with chaff. I should think 

 the colony, however, that contained the ice 

 was too weak to fill the brood-nest properly, 

 so as to expel the moisture. Are your cliaff 

 cushions over the cluster sufliciently porous? 

 This is one reason why forest-leaves tlirovvn 

 loosely into the upper story have been sug- 

 gested. The dampness would pass up 

 through them, and go out at the ventilators, 

 unless the colony were very weak. In that 

 case, ice might collect on tlie leaves; but as 

 soon as the weather liecomes warm enough, 

 it would melt and eva|)orate. tlie moisture 

 being carried out by the current of air gen- 

 erated by the cluster of bees beneath it. 



friend WILLIAMS TELLS US A SlTllE WAV TO CIR- 

 tlllMVENT thieves. 



L(!t me tell how I manage to keep thieves away. 

 Fo)- the last seven years, 1 kept a eu|>b()ar<l under 

 tne smokehouse shed, with lioney in it. I let ('very 

 one know it was there; some were too wi-ll bred to 

 ask for it and some bread to eat witli it. and I would 

 rather they would take it tlian inteirupt the hives; 

 and if any one wanted lioney in sickness, it was al- 

 ways ready, without money and witlioiit i)rice, and 

 they came right along and got it. They knew we 

 kept some to give away to the sick; and wlien they 

 offered pay, we told them no; they were welcome 

 to it. I don't know wheth(!r tliat is the best way or 

 not; but that is the way we did, and will do so again 

 as soon as we get fixed in our new home, though 

 there is but little fixing to do, as I am succeeding 

 W. C. Pelham in the bee business, only not in fdn. 

 mills. We are partners in bees and homey. 



Maysville, Ky., Jan. 5, 1885. M. L. Williams. 



Thank you, friend W. I believe your 

 plan will work every time. In fact, I am 

 under the impression that it will be cheaper 

 and surer than shot guns with strings tied to 

 the trigger. I think, however, I would let 

 pjeople pay for the honey when they want it 

 for sickness, if they want to do so ; but let 

 all your neighbors know for miles around, 

 that if anybody has not the money to pay, or 

 would rather steal it than pay for it, they 

 can have it for the asking. People who 

 have a reputation for generosity like this, 

 seldom have their property meddled with by 

 thieves. 



purpose of having staples made of small wire, to 

 fasten wire cloth to queen-cages, door-frames, 

 hives, and to be used in making pint and quart 

 berry-boxes. Please look at a berry-box, and see 

 how the grain of one part of box runs across the 

 grain of the other part, and you can judge how 

 much stronger the staples will make the box, as 

 well as lessen the liability of having one of those 

 rascally cut tacks drop into the cup of a large rasp- 

 berry. We buy cut tacks at 60 cts. per lb. The 

 wire staples will have to be cheap to compete; but 

 when we see how much better they are than tacks, 

 possibly we can afford them. If you will ask the 

 manufacturers to make them, allow me to suggest 

 the No. 21 wire, prongs of staple to be Vi inch long, 

 and the main part of staple to be ^» inch long. 

 Such staples will be just the things for fastening 

 i)uilding-paper, etc. H. M. Hawi^ey. 



Terre Haute, Ind. 



Tlianks. friend II. Somebotly has once 

 before mentioned that a stout iron wire of 

 the proper size, bent so as to conform to the 

 cin-ve of the smoker-tube, would, when 

 heated red hot, clean the tube out in a 

 twinkling.— Two-pronged tacks are already 

 in the market, but they are not strictly the 

 two-pronged wire nail. Our wire nails are 

 made by the II. 1*. Xail Co.. Cleveland. O., 

 and by Ali)ert Field, Providence, H. I. 

 From the large (juantities of wire nails that 

 we i>urchase yearly, we are enabletl to give 

 better retail prices than tliey would probably 

 give any of our custoniers. If I am correct 

 they do not sell less than a l()()-lb. keg of any 

 si/e. I will send your letter to them in regard 

 to the two-pronged wire nails wanted. I 

 agree witii you. tiiat it would be a desirable 

 thing for basket-work. 



CLEANING OUT SMOKER-TUBES WITH A HOT WIRE. 



When my smoker needs cleaning 1 have not time 

 to scrape the sticky soot from the tube; but as " like 

 cures like," heat fills the tube, and a hot wire or 

 small rod cleans it out " quicker." 



A TWO-PKONGED WIRE NAIL WANTED. 



1 should be pleased to be favored with the address 

 pf manufacturers of the wire nails you sell, for the 



wn\-i IS n HEsiDES wax th.\t honev-comh is 



MADE OFV 



I tliui that when all the wax has melted out of it 

 the cells retain their perfect shape if n<it put out of 

 sluipe before the heat is ap))licd. (i. HoitLp:K. 



Hanford, Cal.. Jan. 10, IH^o. 



Friend II.. if you are talking about brood- 

 combs, you probably mean the cocoon that 

 is added to every cell every time a bee is 

 hatched in it. "But aside "from this, it is 

 claimed that the cappings of the purest 

 comb honey do not all render into wax. 

 What this other matter is. no one has yet 

 been able to tell, so far as I know. I think 

 it was friend Bingham, of Abronia. Mich., 

 who said that a pound of clean cappings 

 from comb honey would not make nearly a 

 pound of clean white wax. 



still ANOTHER INVENTION FOR CLEANING SMOK- 

 ER-TI'BES. 



I have been much annoyed by the curved air-blast 

 tube in my smoker getting choked by a vile mix- 

 ture of soot and pyroligneous tar. The only effec- 

 tual cure I have found for it is hot iron. Take a 

 piece of large wire, say one-fourth inch diameter, 

 curved at one end to fit the curve of blast-tube, and 

 sharpened with a file about as you would a cedar 

 pencil; heat this to a red or even white heat, and 

 pass it quickly through the nozzle of the smoker 

 into the blast-tube and out again a few times, and, 

 presto! it is as clear as a whistle. A small number 

 of wire will not do well, as it gets cool too easily. 

 With care not to burn the valve of the bellows, you 



