1901 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



225 



along economic lines, not with a view to 

 cheapening the quality of products, as is too 

 often the case in many lines of manufacture, 

 but to learn how to obtain best results with 

 the smallest outlay of capital, remembering, 

 however, that, as a rule, the best material is 

 economical if intelligently applied. 

 Kankakee, 111., Nov. 23. 



[I have long entertained the idea that the 

 time would come when we could use the same 

 foundation that is ordinarily used in sections, 

 in brood frames. The only difficulty, hither- 

 to, has been that such a light weight has a ten- 

 dency to stretch during the time of drawing 

 out, causing drone in place of worker-cells. 

 The solution of this difficulty is in the use of 

 some sort of wiring or stays by which the 

 foundation may be kept from stretching. The 

 A. I. Root Co. has been working on this prob- 

 lem, and is still considering it, and it hopes in 

 the future to be able to turn out an extra-thin 

 foundation, having incorporated in the wax, 

 either before or after milling, a very fine grade 

 of wire in the foundation, the wires being 

 placed about two inches apart, and in such a 

 manner as to hang perpendicularly when the 

 foundation is suspended in the brood-frame. 

 It will take time and patience to work out the 

 problem ; but when it is, bee-keepers will be 

 able, for the same money, to use 3 lbs. of 

 foundation in place of two as now ; and I am 

 not sure but they can do so now if they follow 

 out carefully the plan suggested by Mr. Whit- 

 ney above. But it will be very necessary to 

 follow him very carefully, otherwise there will 

 be a great many drone-cells in the finished 

 combs. 



The scheme of wiring is very similar to the 

 one we advocated and used, known as the 

 Keeney plan, but which we finally abandoned 

 because the foundation had a tendency to 

 bulge in the diamonds made by the intersect- 

 ing wires. "We concluded at the time, it was 

 better to use either parallel horizontal or par- 

 allel perpendicular wires. 



The only plan by which such method of di- 

 agonal wiring may be made practical on so 

 light a grade of wax, is to let the foundation 

 hang free from the wires, without imbedding ; 

 and even then it must be put outside of the 

 center of the brood-nest. If friend Whitney 

 were to have these diagonal wires imbedded 

 into the light-weight foundation he speaks of 

 he would have trouble in the way of bulging 

 at every diamond or intersection of the wires. 

 If the frames hang true, the bees will do their 

 own imbedding as the comb is drawn out into 

 shape, and the result would be beautiful flat 

 slabs of comb. 



Referring to tall v. square sections, I am of the 

 opinion that, if those beeway sections had had 

 four openings, Mr. Whitney would have found 

 the result in favor of the tall box. Or if he 

 had used plain sections, both square and tall, 

 with fences, the difference would still have 

 been in favor of the tall box ; but under the 

 conditions named, I should suppose that the 

 square one would be filled just as well at least. 



There is no denying the fact that a square 

 comb, when cut out, looks better on the plate 



than the tall one ; but when the hone)' reaches 

 that stage in its history, it has been sold. It 

 is not how the honey looks on the plate, but 

 how it looks on the market before it is sold. 



In conclusion I desire to say that this arti- 

 cle, in my opinion, especially that part relat- 

 ing to the use of foundation, is very valuable, 

 and it is high time that bee-keepers were con- 

 sidering whether they could not save many 

 dollars by using the lighter-weight wax in the 

 brood-nest.— Ed.] 



CONTRACTION, AND BELGIAN HARES. 



BY W. A. H. GILSTRAP. 



In Gleanings, page 874, last year, you say 

 in a footnote to Mr. Norton's article concern- 

 ing contraction, "Now, it would be folly, it 

 seems to me, to drop the discussion at this 

 point, and I should be glad to hear from a 

 number of our readers who have been work- 

 ing along these lines." 



At the time, it seemed to me there were 

 some good points coming out about contrac- 

 tion. But you have crowded out information 

 on that point with some things that may be of 

 more value, or the subject of contraction dees 

 not attract the attention that I think it should. 

 Most writers seem to think contraction of the 

 brood-nest should be practiced only with a 

 short honey-flow when managed for sections. 

 I have had no experience with such conditions, 

 but have derived considerable benefit from 

 contraction nevertheless. 



To understand the subject well we should 

 make a careful study of our range and honey- 

 flow, not only as regards honey stored, but in 

 connection with swarming and building up 

 for another season. 



The San Joaquin Valley, which is in the 

 central part of the State, is about 250 miles 

 long by perhaps 50 miles or more in width. 

 Much of it is worthless for bees. Where we 

 get honey it usually runs as follows : Honey 

 enough to promote swarming from about the 

 middle of April till the middle of May ; then 

 a honey-dearth for a month, after which the 

 honey-flow may commence in earnest, but oft- 

 ener it is light at first and increases until Au- 

 gust, and usually quits about the last of Sep- 

 tember. Of course, there are exceptions as to 

 localities and seasons. 



My plan with the Heddon hive is this : 

 Leave plenty of stores in the fall. In the 

 spring, place a case of empty combs, except 

 one comb which should contain brood, on the 

 lower story. By repeating this as often as 

 necessary, until early in August, it is possible 

 to keep swarming down, and have stronger 

 colonies, than by any other method I have 

 ever tried. 



During the last week in August a wood-and- 

 zinc queen-excluder is placed on the lower 

 story, and a case of combs containing no 

 brood, or only foundation, is put on the ex- 

 cluder. The bees are shaken on the ground 

 in front of the hive from the cases that con- 

 tain the brood, and may contain the queen, 

 while the rest of the combs can be suffi- 

 ciently cleared by smoking to take to the 



