no 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



frames," as mentioned by Bro. D. on page 705, he 

 does me injustice. TIn-ee times I have tested tene- 

 ment hives— twice on an extensive scale. I have 

 never opposed the Simplicity frame. Who would 

 he so weak as to imagine a practical choice, in 

 point of principle, between frames 9>8X17;'8 and 

 A'aXlT'-a? Cf?rtainly, no one. I once opposed call- 

 ing the latter size the standard Langstroth frame. 

 My grounds were well taken, and conceded; and 

 to-day said frame is known by its own true name, 

 the " Simplicity frame." 



You may rest assured that the readily movable 

 shade-board and weight (stone), " readily movable," 

 honey-board, and nonerasive crayons, will all stay 

 by me, till some one points out something that is 

 better, when expense, dispatch, and profit are con- 

 sidered. James Heddon. 

 ■ Dowagiac, Mich. 



May I suggest, now, friends Heddon and 

 Doolittle, that we let this matter drop be- 

 fore it gets into any thing more like a con- 

 troversy, for we certainly have no space to 

 spare? Friend Doolittle did not mean to 

 (;aiTy the idea, I feel sure, that there would 

 be aiiy practical difference in the working 

 of the Simplicity and Langstroth frame, 

 although I must confess he left it in a way 

 that would look somewhat so. 



CLIPPING QUEENS. 



HOW TO MARK THEM, ETC. 



I OU three years I did not practice clipping my 

 queens, and I hardly ever had a colony to 

 swarm; but we had more or less troublein hiv- 

 ing the swarm, in our endeavor to get them 

 tocluster,orto get them downandin the hive. 

 I remember on one Sabbath afternoon, while I 

 was at a relative's near by, that a younger brother 

 came for me, saying, "George, the bees are swarm- 

 ing:" On getting home 1 found others of the fam- 

 ily trying to keep them from absconding, by throw- 

 ing water, clods, sticks, and whatever was most con- 

 \enient, among them, all to no purpose, for they 

 seemed bound to go away. I joined with the others, 

 and after much hard work we finally got them set- 

 tled on a fence-post at the further end of the lot, 

 and with much difficulty we got them hived. 



Now, this was not only hard work, but very an- 

 noying, as we presented a veritable show to many 

 passers-by who had stopped to watch us, and to our 

 neighbors, as we were where we could be plainly 

 seen from the street in front and from the side 

 street. 



On another occasion, before our eyes, almost in 

 our face, out came a swarm led by a queen which 

 Ave considered the most valuable in our apiary, and 

 off tliey went like a streak to the far-off woods. 



On a third occasion, in May of the first ye»r, I 

 clipped my queens. 1 had gone on an errand down 

 street, and on coming back I found a swarm in the 

 air, which had just come out; my two brothers 

 were throwing water among them; mother was 

 beating a pan, and a next-door neighbor was ring- 

 ing a dinner-bell. Well, it was laughable to me, 

 and 1 did laugh. The queen was clii)ped, but I had 

 forgotten to toll the folks how to hive a swarm with 

 a clipped queen. I told them to stop; that I would 

 soon hive them, which I did by picking up the 

 queen, casing her, reuioviug the old liiye, placing 



a new hive on old stand, and as soon as the bees be- 

 gan to return I let the queen run in with them, and 

 all was done. 



We now hive all of our swarms in this way, ex- 

 cepting that we sometimes use a swarm-catcher, 

 and know it to be the easiest, quickest, most con- 

 venient, and handiest way: besides, we never lose 

 any swarms as we did with the old method. Wo 

 now have the other folks so instructed, that, if 1 

 am absent, any of them can hive a swarm. 



We have lost but one clipped queen by swarming, 

 and that one was stepped on by a visitor. 



I don't think that the bees are any more disposed 

 to supersede a clipped queen than any other. If 

 they do supersede one they would do it any way, 

 even if she had two full wings. 



Laying every thing else aside, there is another 

 very important reason why I would clip my queens, 

 and itis this: That I so ciiy) th2m as to mark them; 

 and whenever I see one I know immediately how- 

 old she is. To mark them I clip the right wing of 

 this year's queens obliquely off; of ne.vt year's 

 queens, the left obliquely off; of the next year's 

 queens, the right square off; and of the next year's 

 queens, the left square olf. Thus I have my queens 

 marked for four years; and if I had any queen that 

 I wished to keep five or six years, I would clip both 

 wings; and I assure you this would do the queen 

 no harm, as 1 have had queens with both wings 

 clipped off' close to the body, and they were just as 

 good as any others. It is my opinion, that those 

 who clip their queens, and make complaint that 

 they are then superseded, etc., injure them while 

 performing the operation. 



REVERSIBLE FRAMES AND SECTIONS. 



Although many of our best apiarians use reversi- 

 ble frames, I can not see that, in my method of 

 manipulating the bi-ood-frames, it would be of any 

 benefit to me. I send you to-day a sample of our 

 queen - excluding honey - board. You will notice 

 that the slots are just 1-^3 inches from center 

 to center. I space my brood - frames just the 

 same. I make my sections I'ji inches wide, and my 

 section-rack reversible, which I set directly on the 

 queen-excluder, which lies directly on the frames; 

 thus we have no bee-space, but get our sections as 

 near the brood as possible. When the sections are 

 about half full I reverse my rack, thus getting the 

 comb built as firmly to the bottom of section as to 

 the top. This is of much importance to the bee- 

 keeper who sells his honey away from home, as it 

 is not nearly so liable to break down. It also pre- 

 sents a much finer appearance. 



I beg leave to differ with Dr. Besse and Wm. F. 

 Clarke, although they are in the senior class, both as 

 regards age and experience, while I am in the 

 junior, in the matter of having our colonies go into 

 winter quarters small instead of large and strong. 

 My crpc/ic/icp has taught me to have strong colonies 

 in the fall, if I wish to make the most profit from 

 my bees the next season; and here I would caution 

 beginners in regard to this matter, and say, always 

 keep your colonics strong. 



I heartily indorse sister Culp's method of setting 

 away full combs during the honey season, to re- 

 place empty ones in the fall. 



Geo. F. Williams, 30—77. 



New Philadelphia, Ohio, Oct. 8, 1883. 



Thanks, friend W., for your sample of 

 queen - excluding honey-board ; but I can 

 pot see that your arrangement gives us 



