384 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELD! 



ADJUSTING THE SPACES SO AS TO PREVENT HAVING 



BITS OF COMB BUILT ON THE OUTSIDE 



OF THE SECTIONS. 



fAVING had some experience in the production 

 of comb honey, I thought I would venture 

 to write you a few items of my past expei'i- 

 cnce. My first expei-iment was to prevent 

 the bees daubing the sections with bits of 

 comb and propolis, as it seemed to be my greatest 

 trouble. I found, by changing the regular space of 

 •^8 inch between the brood-chamber and honey-box- 

 es, or crates, to '.i inch, or just enough space to ad- 

 mit a passage between, I could prevent them from 

 building those little bridges of comb. Next T made 

 my crates deeper, so I had the same space between 

 the top of sections and cover as between the brood- 

 chamber and sections, and I found they would stick 

 their glue, or propolis, around the joints of cover. 

 By following the above plan I can say it gave me 

 entire satisfaction. Jack Ellis. 



Grantslick, Ky., March 2, 1885. 



out, and then they went to work. Oranges are just 

 blooming here, and I am going to see what I can do 

 with thera. I will try for 100 lbs. comb honey. 

 Silverton, Fla., March 9, 1885. A. W. Lindsley. 



Friend L., sliding the Simplicity hive 

 back on tlie bottom-Doard would answer to 

 graduate the entrance so as to permit Avork- 

 ers to pass, but not (pieens and drones, were 

 tlie edge of the bottom and the edge of the 

 hive sufficiently accurate: in fact. I have 

 tried the same' thing. l)ut the wood is too 

 irregular. We either hindered tlie bees very 

 much, or else the (]ueen would find a place 

 she could get through. I fear the edges of 

 your hive and bottom-board would have to 

 be of metal, to make a success. 



A HOME-MADE CIRCULAR HAND-POWER SAW. 



I have been making a hand-power saw by your 

 directions, which works so well I will tell you about 

 it. To drive it I got an old horse-power wheel, 

 about five feet in diameter, fitted a carriage-axle to 

 the bearing, and bolted the axle to two posts. 1 

 turn it by a pin in one of the spokes. When I tried 

 it 1 did not like the bevel guage, for the part of the 

 board that had been cut would cramp the saw. 

 Then I made one to slide in place of the cut-off bar, 

 with a strip at the back edge to rest the lumber 

 against. This works splendidly. I also changed 

 my cut-off bar by having the cross-piece double the 

 front one worked by two set-sci-ews so that it can 

 be changed to any angle. This woi-ks very nicely 

 too. 



Your A R C is the best book I ever saw. T would 

 not be without it lor any thing. 1 have been very 

 successful with bees, and have never lost a colony 

 by wintering. I started with Langstroth hives, but 

 have given them up for Simplicity. E. S. Lea. 



Brighton, Md., March 5, 1885. 



PREVEXTINO UEES FROM SWAR.MIXG OUT, WUrHOUT 

 A DRONE-TRAP. 



When a man has not any frames of brood to give 

 a swarm to make them stay in the hive, why not 

 shove it back on the bottom-board so the bees can 

 just get in and out, oi- use a Jones drone-guard, or 

 something to keep the (lueen in the hive until they 

 get a start at work, and then you can give them 

 more room';' I suppose you have thought of this 

 before, but 1 have never seen it in print. I am 

 here staying through the winter, and am trying to 

 help some in bee culture. It is in its infancy here 

 at present, and Ijccs can be bought in old gums for 

 iS^.OO and $3.50; but I think it will be quite a busi- 

 ness after a time. I can not see way it won't. 

 There are orange groves going out every year, 

 from one to 50 acres, and they yield more honey to 

 the single flower than a bee can carry. I shall try 

 it until the last of May, and then go north. I cut a 

 tree 7 feet through last week, and took out a 

 swarm, and they were not going to stay, and I had 

 to clip the queen. I had one of your hives, and 

 shoved it back until the bees could just go in and 



THE X Y Z OF POTATO CULTURE. 



You speak in the last Gleanings about the ABC 

 of Potato Culture. Now, here in Arkansas we would 

 rather see the X Y' Z of Potato Cultui-e. We can 

 raise potatoes, but the trouble is to keep them. 

 They commence rotting about as soon as they get 

 ripe. If your book will tell us how to avoid this, so 

 as to save them for our seed next year, I think it 

 would be a boon to Arkansas. 



Bees all lived through the winter that had honey 

 enough, and are generally doing well. We are 

 right in the midst of swarming time. 



We have been feasting on strawberries about ten 

 days. Next come huckleberries, and the woods are 

 full of them. Daniel Howard. 



Hot Springs, Ark., May 11, 1885. 



Friend 11., Mr. Terry considers the mat- 

 ter of keeping potatoes, very thoroughly ; 

 and 1 think his plan will do it, without a 

 doubt, if you keep the temperature as low as 

 he directs. Possibly in your climate it 

 might be a tlifficult matter. It could be done, 

 however, by means of ice, but that might be 

 more than the potatoes are worth. By 

 adopting the plan he suggests, however, a 

 very little ice would keep a great many po- 

 tatoes.— If strawberries and huckleberries 

 are plentiful where you are, it seems to me 

 it is the very place I should like to visit. 



HOW MUCH CHAFF DO AVE PUT OVER OUR BEES? 



Just a word cf explanation in regard to the 

 amount of chaff you put over your bees in 

 winter. In reply to Mrs. Axtell, you say, " After 

 putting on this sheet of coarse burlap we put about 

 a peck of loose chaff' around the edges, making it 

 impossible for the bees to i)ush up, and so get 

 around the ventilators in the cover." Now, is this 

 all the chaff you put over thcmV My chaff cushions 

 arc from fi to 8 inches thick, and I have thought 

 perhaps it was too much. Have you discarded the 

 Hill device? I use it and the burlap under my bur- 

 lap cushions. 7— G. E. Hilton, 60—15. 



Fremont, Mich., May 18, 1885. 



Friend IL, I omitted to mention the usual 

 chaff cushions, because I supposed they 

 were uudeistood as a matter of coiu'se. 

 Yes, we still contiiuie to use tlie Ilill device, 

 and I think we always sluiU, so long as we 

 winter as successfully as we have since us- 

 ing it. The Ilill device makes a sort of 

 chamber, as it were, abo\e the brood- 

 combs ; and the cushions we use of late 

 years are all made of coarse burlap — so 

 coarse, In fact, that the chaff rattles through 

 it to some extent, so you see that air has a 



