1901 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



51 



constructed, aud to be understood and appre- 

 ciated it needs to be seen. Still, our artist has 

 succeeded in making a set of engravings that 

 show its manner of construction, as well as 

 its exact modus operandi. 



The operator siis down in a chair, as shown 

 in the small engraving, wilh a pile of section- 

 blanks in his lap. He picks up a blank, puts 

 it in the machine as shown, and with the left 

 hand brings down the slide with a blow. As 

 the block D comes down, the corner block C 

 precedes it, crowding the 5;ecti:)n down into 

 position. The fingers BB then draw the two 

 ends together, bringing them almost in con- 

 tact, when the block D bangs the ends togeth- 

 er. As D moves up it picks up the section 

 and gives it a toss into a basket. The whole 

 thing is done so quickly that its exact manner 

 of operation can not be seen. All one sees is 

 the sections being spit out of the machine as 

 fast as the hand can move up aud down. 



Mr. Mintle writes us that he has overcome 

 the defect of breaking sections by substitut- 

 ing a lever movement for the hammer action ; 

 but the improved machine I have not yet seen, 

 and therefore can not certify as to its merits. 



There is another objection ; and that is, it 

 is considerably more complicated than the 

 Hubbard, requiring a very nice adjustment of 

 all the parts. And then there is the danger 

 that it will get out of order. The Hubbard 

 has only two moving parts, and can be operat- 

 ed by any man, woman, or child without in- 

 struction and without experience ; nor can it 

 possibly, with ordinary usage, get out of or- 

 der. Its speed, while probably not as great as 

 that of the Mintle, would probably come with- 

 in 2-5 per cent of it, and it might equal it. 





REGARDING BEE HIVES. 



A rap at the door, and on opening it I find 

 Mr. Jones, who says, "Good evening, Mr. 

 Doolittle. The evenings seem so long now 

 ■that I thought I would run over a little 

 while and have a chat with you." 



" Glad you came, Bro. Jones. And what is 

 the chat to be about ? for I see by your looks 

 that you have something on your mind." 



" Well, you know I found two swarms of 

 bees in the woods this fall ; and if they winter 

 through I wish to get them into hives in the 

 spring, as a start for an apiary. I want to 

 make the hives this winter, and I was wonder- 

 ing what size would be best for them." 



"When I first commenced keeping bees, 

 Langstroth, Quinby, Gallup, and others rec- 

 ommended a hive holding about 2000 cubic 

 inches as the right size ; and if you expect to 

 make only a box, without any frames in it, I 

 should say that the size recommended by ' the 

 fathers' would not be very bad for you, es- 

 pecially if you calculate to go into the busi- 



ness for only a little honey for your own use. ' ' 



"But I think I wish to use frame hives. 

 What number of frames did the Langstroth 

 hive take or hold? " 



"Mr. Langstroth made and advocated a 

 hive holding ten frames, about 16)4 by 8)4 in- 

 side measure, which would give about 2175 

 cubic inches iii.'ide the frames, or 1450 square 

 inches of comb." 



" Well, was that all right ? " 



"As the size of the brood chamber has 

 much to do with the average yield of section 

 honey, perhaps it would be well to look iuto 

 the matter a little." 



"Section honey! Why, is that different 

 from the box honey of the past? " 



" It is just the same, only the box honey of 

 the past was honey stored in boxes holding 

 two or more combs, and weighing from four to 

 fifteen pounds, while the section honey of to- 

 day is stored in little boxes or sections, each 

 one of which holds only a single comb, the 

 section box and all weighing only about a 

 pound." 



" I think I understand. But how are you 

 going to look into the matter of hives ? " 



" To look properly into the matter of hives 

 we must begin with the queen, or mother-bee, 

 only one of which is allowed with each colony 

 of bees, except at times of after-swarms." 



"What has the queen got to do with the 

 matter ? " 



" The queen is the mother of all the bees 

 there are in a colony, hence lays all of the 

 eggs from which the bees are produced. As a 

 rule she wid not occupy more than 800 square 

 inches of coub for aay length of time ; there- 

 fore you will see that, if you use ten Lang- 

 stroth frames, you will have 65(» square inches 

 of comb filled with honey and pollen." 



" Well, what if I do? Isn't that all right? " 



"If you want honey only for family use, 

 this may be all right ; but from your wishing 

 to start with frame hives I took it for granted 

 that you wished to produce honey for market. 

 In case we hive a new swarm in such a hive 

 we shall have from 500 to 600 square inches of 

 comb, filled with the best of honey, which 

 would be from 25 to .'JO pounds. So each year 

 you would have this nice honey in your hives, 

 instead of having it in the sections, and turn- 

 ing it into cash." 



" But would not the bees need this for win- 

 tering? " 



' ' In case of a very poor season such large 

 hives sometimes have honey for wintering 

 when smaller ones do not ; but with the small 

 ones, very few lack in stores, when there is a 

 yield of honey sufficient to have any stored in 

 sections. When a shortage does occur, the 

 bees can be fed sugar syrup, which is fully as 

 good for winter stores as honey." 



" But how about the pollen you mentioned a 

 while ago ? " 



" In order not to get any pollen in our sec- 

 tions it is best to allow 200 square inches of 

 comb for that, and the honey the bees always 

 will have in the upper corners of the combs. 

 So allowing this we have 1000 square inches of 

 comb, or about 1500 cubic inches, as the right 

 size for the brood-chamber, regardless of what 



