1885 



GLEANINGS IN 15EE CULTURE. 



80.5 



Friend D., your plan is certainly sensible 

 in many respects. This queen that you 

 move around is, I suppose, to be the one 

 you have selected to breed from, and, of 

 course, valuable. During a dearth of honey 

 it seems to me there might be some danger 

 to the queen in introducing her so many 

 times ; but if the precautions you give are 

 carefully followed, perhaps there will not 

 be. You have tested it thoroughly, and 

 probably know. Now, instead of making a 

 cage as you suggest, why not take the usual 

 cages we use for shipping a pound or a 

 pound and a half of bees ? Tliese are al- 

 ready at hand in most apiaries. I suppose 

 half a pound of bees would bo enough to 

 start such a imcleus, especially if they have 

 some brood that will hatch out pretty soon. 

 Two things contribute to prevent the bees 

 from going back home ; one is, the treat- 

 ment you give them would tend to make 

 them behave like a natural swarm ; another 

 is, that as they have a laying queen that 

 they have recently accepted tliey would 

 likely stand by her. I can imagine just how 

 these little fellows would start out to work, 

 if the nucleus was formed, say, during fruit- 

 bloom. 



■WIRE NAILS, FOUNDATION - FASTEN- 

 ERS, ETC. 



DR. C. C. MILf.EU TEt.T.S US SIIMK ()!•' MIS KXIMCIU- 



H-WK jiisl iiKidc ill) onk-r lor OT U.S. of wire 

 r nuils of T (lilVcrciit si/.os. ^ liavt- used ii g-ood 



I many pounds of them in the last lew years, 

 and think 1 have learned something of their 

 merits and demerits. They are very superior 

 to oi-dinary nails in one respect. Where the lattei- 

 will S|)lit the wood, on account of cross grained or 

 thin stufl', the wire nail, on account of its shape, 

 goes through without splitting-. This advantage is 

 so great that I would not be without them; at pres- 

 ent prices some Ivinds are cheaper than other nails: 

 for although the price per lb. is gn.-atcr, there are 

 more nails in a pound, mailing the cost per nail less. 

 They are e.\ccllent for clinching; you can't break 

 them. The case with which they bend makes them 

 objectionable for some uses. I nailed a strip with 

 I'o-inch wire nails lor a screen-door to slam against. 

 The constant slamming made the nails gradually 

 bend and pull ou*^. Common nails", on account of 

 their rigidity, would have remained unchanged. 



In their favor, it is stated that " when a nail of the 

 old kind gets drawn out a little, or 'loose,' as we 

 call it, it comes out very easily; but these wire 

 nails, being all of a size, liold their whole length." 

 From this I inferred that a wire nail would hold 

 tighter than a common nail. The fact as stated is 

 correct; the inference, incorrect. In spite of the 

 fact that a wire nail holds its whole length, it takes 

 less force to pull it out, or, in other words, a com- 

 mon nail holds stronger. I had hundreds of wide 

 frames, some of them made with wire nails, some 

 Avith others. In some cases where the bees fastened 

 the bottom-bars to the tops of brood-frames, on at- 

 tempting to lift out the wide frames the wire nails 

 pulled out; the others, never. The wire nails, be- 

 ing smoother, start easier. In case the warping of 

 stuff starts a nail, the wire nail will hold, after it is 

 slnrtc', stroiiuci- iliuii \\ common nuiJ; but for or- 



dinary purposes, I should say a common nail holds 

 stronger. An objection is the difficulty of obtain- 

 ing them at hardware stores; but I can always get 

 tliem just right from Medina. But after all is said, 

 I think a beekeeper who has never tried them will 

 be surprised to find how desirable wire nails are, 

 and, after trial, will never want to be without them. 



FOUNDATION-FASTENERS. 



Heddon says h"e would rather have the Parkoi- 

 than the Clai-k fastener, and Mr. Gray's inventive 

 genius has been brought into requisition to improve 

 on the Clark. I do not wonder much at this, if the 

 instructions are followed which are given in Root's 

 price list. I have never seen Gray's machine, but 

 can not imagine what improvement it can be to 

 have the sections thrown out, unless it be to thro\V 

 them into place in wide frames or supers, and I do 

 not understand that it does this. Until I got the 

 Clark I was well pleased with the Parker, but— just 

 here I stopped, and went over to the shop to inter- 

 view the young lady who puts in the foundation. 



"Emma, give me an idea of how the Clark com- 

 I)ares with the Parker as to ease and rapidity." 



" Well, I can put in 2003 starters in a day with the 

 (Jlark, besides other work, and 1 don't know that I 

 can put in 1000 with the Parker. At any rate, 1000 

 with the Parker would tire me more than 3O0O with 

 the Clark." 



Then 1 had her tr.\ !•) use the Clark according- 

 to directions— " As the presser sinks the fdn. into 

 the wood, draw one side of the section forward a 

 little, and this drawing motion rubs the wa.\' in the 

 wood." It seemed to be harder, slower, and in no 

 way better work. As she has put in a good many 

 thousand very satisfactorily, I give herewith 



HOW TO USE CLARK'S FDN. FASTENER. 



Get two fl re-bricks, to heat and use alternately. 

 Common bricks will do, but do not last long, as the 

 heat cracks tliem. Common tiatirons, such as wom- 

 en use for ironing, will do, but lose heat quicker. 

 Lay the fdn. starters in piles In front of the hot 

 brick before you, having the edges of fdn. next the 

 brick, piled evenly. The edge of the fdn. should be 

 warm enough to be pretty soft, taking care not to 

 melt it. Give the presser a (piiek pressure with 

 the feet, Irttiiig it It}/ hack, immrAliatcln. No " draw- 

 ing forward one side of the section a little " is 

 needed. If the starter is small, push it up straight 

 with both thumbs before lifting the section; if 

 large, simply turning it over may suffice; but I 

 notice Emma deftly helps it to its place by lightly 

 touching with the lingers of both hands in the act 

 of turning over the section. I watched her for 

 some minutes at her regular woi-k when she did not 

 know I was timing her, and she put in 7 starters per 

 minute. I then asked her to put them in as fast as 

 she could, and she put in 10 per minute; so it will 

 be seen that, without hurrying, she could put in 

 over 4000 in a day of ten hours. As to the quality of 

 the work, they are in to stay, and a good many of 

 those fastened by the Parker dropped out. 



C. V. Jtir.r.EK, 203-2.58. 



Marengo, Ills.. ' Ai)r. IT, 188.5. 



Thanks, friend M. A little practical ex- 

 perience is just what we Avant. Friend 

 Clark, who invented tlie ("lark foundation- 

 fastener, gave the instructions we printed 

 with it, aiid it has never been changed since 

 he lirst gave us the machine. Very much 

 depends on getting used to these lielps, and 

 von know how often one man decides one 



