GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 



ed a brush with libers on both sides. — In re- 

 gard to the ph^n of lianging combs in tlie top 

 of the chaff liive parallel with those in the 

 lower story. I confess that it never before 

 occurred to me that the reversing wires 

 would make this an easy matter. It strikes 

 ule, however, that the reversing wire would 

 have to be fastened back at the proper dis- 

 tance by a little block, or perhaps a tack, 

 placed at the proper point on the top-bar of 

 the frame ; the reversing wire might then be 

 snapped under the head of this tack, or slip- 

 ped clear over it. It can be worked in tlie 

 way you suggest ; the only question is, will 

 it liot be too much machinery? When we 

 are using the upper story of the chaff hive 

 for extracting, or when it is lilled with 

 frames of sections, we seldom handle the 

 combs in the lower story very much.— Two 

 horizontal wires, instead of the manner in 

 which we wire frames, have been suggested 

 several times. But diagonal wires add 

 greatly to the strength of the frame. The 

 perpendicular wires are so much shorter 

 than those nuniing from side to side, that they 

 give greater strength for the same size of 

 wire. We have decided that we want all of 

 our combs made from fdn. securely support- 

 ed by wire of sufficient strength, and placed 

 at the proper points. I hardly think the ar- 

 rangement you mention would be strong 

 enough to ship frames tilled with fdn., which 

 we do quite largely, although it answers all 

 purposes the way friend Hill handles his 

 combs in raising honey and not selling col- 

 onies. 



FRIEND FOWLS' EXPERIENCE DUR- 

 ING THE PAST SEASON. 



A Good Report of some of the New Devices- 

 Reversible Fi'araes, Heddon Cases, Hutch- 

 inson Honey-Board, etc. 



KKVKRSIBI.E FKAMES. 



TI^DITOR GLEANINGS:-! have 200 reversible 

 hI) t'"^ni*'8 i'l usPi hut I can give only a partial 

 p^j report, because I did not have reversible 

 ■*" combs when building up in the spring. But 

 T had them in swarminp- time; that is, I had 

 reversible frames filled with foundation, and I am 

 so well pleased with them that I would have them 

 for new swarms, even if the cost were ten cents ad- 

 ditional, instead of one. Nine or ten days is often 

 enough to reverse the combs, in my opinion. When 

 the combs are filled with brood below and honey 

 above, I reverse them, throwing the new-laid eggs 

 at top, and unsealed honey below. If any is sealed 

 I mash the caps with a knife, sliding it over so as to 

 tiatten without slicing them otf. This is better than 

 to extract, to get out the sealed honey, as there need 

 be no shaking of combs, and no interruption of the 

 day's work. In nine or ten days more the brood 

 will be sealed at the top. I now reverse so as to 

 bring eggs and larviC at the top, and capped brood 

 below, when it will hatch, and the queen will refill 

 the comb with eggs. In nine or ten days the combs 

 will be brood in its difl'erent stages, when I reverse 

 again, and so on through the season. In short, I re- 

 verse often enough so that no bees are allowed to 

 hatch in the upper part of the frames. 



CONTRACTION OF THE BROOD-NEST. 



In hiving new swarms I usually contract the 



brood-nest to four or five S. frames. If more are 

 used, and they are all reversed, the outside frames 

 will be solid Avith honey, and the central ones solid 

 with brood. I haven't had very good success get- 

 ting sections filled at the side of the brood. Before 

 they were finished, the queen would be sure to get 

 into them, and I would have to take them out, ^ut 

 division-boards in their place, brush off the bees, 

 and hang them in the top story of some hive that 

 was working in wide frames. This takes up time. 

 Will friend Heddon tell us if he contracts the 

 brood-nest':' and if so, will he please tell just how 

 he does it'/ 



HEDDON CASES. 



I sent to friend Heddon for a sample case and 

 honey-board, and then had 60 cases and 'M honey- 

 boards made to order. 1 made my hives myself, to 

 fit the cases and to take the S. frame, which I use. 

 I like the Heddon case very much, and never expect 

 to go back to wide frames again. I find a much 

 smaller per cent of bulged and impei-fect sections 

 in those from Heddon cases than those from wide 

 frames, and the work of cleaning for market is 

 much less. Right here, Mr. Editor, it is ray opinion 

 you are on the wrong track. You seem sure that 

 the bees will proijolize the tops and bottoms woi-se 

 when the bees have free access to them. Why, 

 friend Root, any one who has seen my crop of honey 

 will bear me out in saying, that all sections. from 

 wide frames are propolized Korsc, and a large pro- 

 portion of them are ten timesTis bad. 



MOORE'S CASES. 



I had at of the Moore cases in use; and although 

 the sections are cleaner than those from wide 

 frames, they do not compare with those from Hed- 

 don cases, because there is no bee space on top; and 

 every time the enamel is peeled up and replaced, a 

 new line of propolis will be added, exactly as it is 

 on brood frames when mats are used. If I had nev- 

 er used the Heddon case, I should very likely prefer 

 them to any thing else; but in the light of present 

 experience I would have the Heddon case made to 

 fit the Simplicity hive, and have the honey-board 

 with a sink on both sides, and it would be reversi- 

 ble. Do you see? 



HEDDON H0NEY-B0.4RDS. 



Friend H. deserves at least a vote of thanks for 

 bringing this before the public. I think they will 

 pay for themselves in one season, in the saving of 

 time and labor. I think they would be just as use- 

 ful if an upper story with wide frames were used. 

 It is very important, however, that the spaces come 

 over the top-bars of the brood frames. In using 

 division-boards on each side, I got some of them on 

 so as to make continuous passages. I soon found 

 this would not do at all. The bees would flIL the 

 spaces, and fill the under side solid with honey. 

 When arranged just right the spaces will be clear, 

 with but little underneath. 



HUTCHINSON'S PERFORATED HONEY-BOAHDS. 



I had eleven of these in use, and I think they 

 would usually keep the queen down if the saw-cuts 

 were as accurate as the one sent as a sample. I 

 presume the man who cut them moved some a trifle 

 to one side while making the perforations. Such 

 boards, with a few holes too large, are a nuisance. 

 The queen gets above, and, unlike the neighbors' 

 pigs when thej- get into your garden, she is sometimes 

 unable to find the hole she went in at, and, being 

 confined above, takes possession of the sections 



