684 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUllE. 



Oct. 



When this is tho case, and the air supplj- is dimin- 

 ished or cut oil, the bees become uncomfortable 

 and uneasy, unlock the cluster, and wander around 

 in search of air. ] do not think a horizontal air- 

 shaft so good as a jjerpendicular one for maintain- 

 ing- a constant change in the air. Nature's mode 

 of purit'i'ing the air is by vertical currents that, 

 like an endless chain, move continually. In a bee- 

 hive, with all upwanl ventilation closed, the air is 

 purified by a downward and upward action that 

 goes on slowly but surely all the time. Is it wise to 

 trust to a horizontal passage which is liable to ob- 

 struction or complete stoppage, both from withoul 

 and within? I think not. " Cyula Linswik" and 

 her sister secure ventilation by daily seeing that 

 these horizontal passages are clear. That is consid- 

 erable trouble in an apiary of any size. Moreover, 

 scraping the bottom-board every day with a bit of 

 hoop iron disturbs the bees, who do best when keirt 

 in absolute quiet. Why not have a perpendicular 

 air-shaft thi-ough the bottom-board? JSIy plan of 

 removing the bottom-board and substituting- a hop- 

 per is perfect, because all dead bees, dry f:eces (if 

 they arc dry fteces, as I believe), and all debris, fall 

 out of the hive and leave it absolutely clean, while 

 the air-supply is uniform and constant. I do not 

 need to go near my bees from November to April, 

 or to wake them up at any time by a rude scratch- 

 ing on the bottom-board. I believe a two-inch au- 

 ger-hole through the bottom-board will answer well, 

 but the hive must be raised at least a foot from the 

 ground, or you make a door-way for mice. To tack 

 wire gauze over the auger-hole is to nullify it alto- 

 gether, because it will soon be stopped with dead 

 bees and the dehris that falls from the cluster. J 

 am putting auger-holes in some bottom-boards only 

 by way of experiment, and all my hives arc from IS 

 inches to 3 feet above the ground. 



CELLAR WINTERINC. 



One of the most serious objections to cellar win- 

 tering is that, when this is practiced, old bees usu- 

 ally die in the hive. The cellar is dark; and an ex- 

 piring bee, like an expiring human hcing, seeks the 

 I i(j}it,— the former literally, the latter figuratively. 

 \'ery few bees die inside the hive when wintered 

 out of doors. In the cellar, a lot of dead bees on 

 the bottom-board is likely, if not certain, to cause 

 disease. Another objection to cellar wintering is 

 the difficulty of replacing each hive on its own 

 stand, and I, for one, believe this to be necessary, 

 to prevent confusion. I have no doubt that spring 

 dwindling is partly caused by spring wandering. 



SUCCESSFUI^ WINTERING. 



I do not call it successful wintering, merely to se- 

 cure the survival of a colony. I passed one winter 

 in Manitoba, and managed to survive, but got a 

 rheumatism that has been the plague of my life 

 tor two years. I don't consider that I wintered well, 

 though I lived through it. I want my bees to win- 

 ter so as to come out in spring with clean combs, 

 and brood in all stages, after consuming the mini- 

 mum if honey. If I can get them to hibernate, 

 they will do this every time. Not that I ever ex- 

 IH'ct to winter bees absolutely without loss. There 

 are circumstances we can not control. I have got 

 one or two stocks I do not expect to winter. For 

 some reason or other the (jueens stopped l)reeding 

 early, and even now the stocks are dwindling, with 

 I>lenty of stores on hand. Kvery day I notice a few 

 tiees coming out and taking their last Hight. They 

 tly feebly, make a few circles in the air, then fall to 



the ground, crawl about for a little while, and final- 

 ly give up the ghost. A small percentage of loss 

 must l)e expected. It is so in all business, and bee- 

 keeping is no exception to the general rule. But a 

 colony that goes into winter rjuarlers in a really 

 normal condition ought to be so managed as 

 to come out all right in spring and will l>e, 

 when we fin<l out hmc to dii it. I think we are on 

 the verge of the discovery, if, indeed, it be not al- 

 rea<ly made. Another spring, I firmly believe, will 

 spttle the problem for all time. Wm. F. Cf.arivE. 

 (luelph, Out., ran., f-^ept. 2:?, 18S.->. 



SAWS THAT NEED NO FILING. 



ANOTHF.Ii STEP IN MECII AXIC Al, PII (>(i R ESS. 



fllE single item of liliiig' saws lias long 

 been well nnderstood to l)e an item of 

 no small moment in oni- mefhanical 

 work, and many inventois have stud- 

 ied with a view of maldiis' some auto- 

 matic machine that would take tiie place of 

 the slow and expensive operation of lilingl)y 

 hand. Not only is the operation slow and 

 expensive, but hies are expensi\e. One 

 trouble that stands in the way is, tliat no 

 common day laboi-er could be 'expected to 

 keep a machine for tiling his saw, even if 

 one were invented. Well, the JNIiller's Falls 

 Co., of 74 Chambers Street, N. V., have 

 made a start in the business by making tem- 

 pered saw-blades that are to "be used until 

 they are dull, and then thrown away, and a 

 new blade put in. As these blades are nev- 

 er to be touched with a lile, they are tem- 

 pered much harder than any ordinary saw- 

 blade. Below we give cuts of two different 

 saws, arranged to work on this plan. 



STAR BUTCHER SAW 



miw a ;j?ja;;afaw.aM^vtJ«;;at.jj;;i:M.uM!o;; 



The first is a meat-saw, such as butchers 

 use. The second is a hack-saw, similar to 

 those we have for some lime sold and used 

 for sawing metals. I took one of the hack- 

 saws that were sent me for trial, and gave 

 it to our machinist. I told him the manu- 

 facturers guaranteed each saw to cut off a 

 bar of half-inclt iron SO times. He tried it 

 on a piece of inch shafting. It cut it off al- 

 most as if it were a hoe or fork handle. 

 After the first cut he came to me saying: 



":\Ir. Root, how much is this tool worthy 



I told him the i)rice was Sl.il. 



He rt'i)lied at once, "' Here is your money. 

 And now I want it understood that this tool 

 is mine." 



Do you want to know what the saws cost? 

 The blades only, for the hack-saw, are 5 cts. 

 each, or "jO cents per dozeti. If wanted by 

 mail, add :; cts. per dozen for postage. The 

 blades for the meat-saw are 10 cts. each, or 

 $1.00 i)er dozen. If wanted by mail, add 10 



