264 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Ant. 



WASTE FELT VS. CHAFF, FOR PACKING. 



Friend Root:— I want to talk to you a little more 

 in reference to the sample of packing I sent you, in 

 hopes it may be of some benefit to some bee-keeper 

 in this vicinity and other places where fur-hat fac- 

 tories are easily accessible. You reply, the great 

 objection to it is the expense, and on that account 

 you prefer chaff, especially wheat chaff. In this lo- 

 cality we can't get wheat chaff, as comparatively no 

 wheat is raised in this vicinity, and the best chaff 

 we can procure is oat chaff, which I have always 

 used until the last one or two seasons. But after 

 using this waste— like sample sent you— I think it 

 much superior ; and the only objection I have to it 

 is, that the fur and hair stick to the clothes, and it 

 is quite a bother to get it off. As far as the expense 

 is concerned, it costs no more than chaff. It is the 

 waste from the shaving machine, use in the manu 

 facture of fur hats, and is composed of fur and 

 hair. Now, if any beekeeper in the vicinity of a 

 fur-hat factory will go to the factory and get this 

 waste to pack his bees in, I am sure he would de- 

 cide with me that it far excels chaff. It costs 

 nothing. The manufacturers are generally glad to 

 have it taken away. S. H. Hickok. 



Bethel, Conn., Feb. 9, 1889. 



We have no doubt, friend EL, but that the 

 waste from hat-factories will answer as well 

 as chaff; but the great objection to it is, 

 that there are very few bee-keepers indeed 

 who are so situated as you are, to get this 

 kind of packing ; and the number of bee- 

 keepers who can not get some sort of chaff 

 is comparatively small. 



THE WORK OF MICE IN THE HIVES. 



I went into the winter with 16 colonies, after unit- 

 ing and giving, as I supposed, plenty of stores to 

 carry them through; but I find I am taken right 

 back where I was one year ago, as I have nine colo- 

 nies left to date, all very strong and fair. We are 

 told in the ABC that mice are enemies of bees. 

 We try to guard against them, but mice had been 

 in no less than five colonies of the 7 lost— the first 

 time that a mouse ever got into a colony of my 

 bees. You see, the entrances get large by the ac- 

 tion of the weather, and the passing of the bees in 

 and out. That thing will never occur again with 

 me; however, I thiuk on the whole more stores 

 have been required to bring bees thus far than any 

 other winter since I have had bees. 



Hinckley, O., Mar. 15, 1889. A. A. Webber. 



THE WARNER PARALLEL GAUGE; QUESTIONS CON- 

 CERNING IT. 



Are the rods or screws of Warner's improvement 

 to saw-tables, for regulating the gauge, long 

 enough so that the gauge can be set as much as two 

 feet from the saw with a gauge 354 inches wide, or 

 how long are they? I often use the parallel gauge 

 to cut off with, and want to cut my bottom-boards 

 two feet long; does this attachment still work well? 

 Do you still sell them, and at what price? 



Le Sueur Center, Minn. R. Kendall. 



Friend K., the screws in the Warner par- 

 allel gauge, such as we send out, are 26 

 inches long. The gauge itself can be set 24 

 inches from the saw ; but if so arranged it 

 will not come near enough to saw sections, 

 brood-frames, or other thin stuff, without 

 putting a straight piece of plank of suitable 

 width on the face side of the gauge. On our 



regular section saw-tables, such as we use 

 in our factory, the screws are shorter. 

 When so arranged, the gauge can come in 

 contact with the saw itself, if necessary, or 

 be set back 22 inches. The Warner parallel 

 bar and screw attachment is the best ar- 

 rangement of the kind we have ever used. 

 A few quick jerks of the chain will cause 

 the gauge to be set at any point. One of its 

 chief merits is, that it can be adjusted to a 

 hair's breadth, if not exactly at the point de- 

 sired. With the old parallel gauge it was 

 very difficult to get an exact adjustment. 

 We use these screw gauges in our factory 

 exclusively now. We sell them with screw, 

 chain, and every thing complete, for $5.00. 



TO INCREASE THE SIZE OF WORKERS BY INCREAS- 

 ED SIZE OF CELLS NOT A SUCCESS. 



Some time since there was a good deal of discus- 

 sion as to whether we could not increase the size of 

 worker bees by making comb foundation a little 

 larger than the regular size. Last spring in look- 

 ing over my hives I found in one of them that had 

 a good deal of drone comb a queen (I have had 

 them before that would not lay a drone egg nor 

 make any preparations to swarm during the 

 swarming season) that had not laid a drone egg; 

 but being pressed for room she had filled three 

 drone combs with worker brood— no mistake; 30 

 years in handling bees has made me familiar with 

 the difference between a worker and a drone. 

 Those workers were no larger for being raised in 

 drone-cells. 



HOW TO MAKE SMOKER-LIGHTERS. 



A great convenience in the apiary, is rolling up 

 paper balls the size of marbles, putting about an 

 inch of oil in, in a quart can, filling it up with the 

 paper marbles, and you have the best and quickest 

 lighters for your smokers that you can possibly 

 have; by making them the size of a large egg, you 

 have a good one for the kitchen stove. A Mr. Wil- 

 son said to me a few days ago that you can clean 

 your smoker of soot very easily if you put some 

 salt on the fire which you make to clean it. 



Los Gatos, Cal. S. S. Butler. 



You are right about the matter of enlarg- 

 ing bees by giving them larger cells. Facts 

 similar to those you have given have been 

 sent in repeatedly ; but for all that, every 

 little while somebody invents over again 

 the idea of enlarging the cells. 



EXCLUSIVE TERRITORY. OVERSTOCKING, AND 

 WHO IS TO BLAME FOR IT? 



1 fear my article on " exclusive territory " is not 

 quite understood by the readers of Gleanings. 

 Numerous propositions have been made from time 

 to time by different people to secure exclusive ter- 

 ritory by legislation. I was bitterly opposed to any 

 law that would work injustice to the poor, there- 

 fore I wrote my article on "exclusive territory." 

 I said the only fair way to secure such rights was 

 by purchase, rather than by legislation. I do not 

 believe in monopoly of any kind, where it will oper- 

 ate against the poor, not even patent bee-hives. 

 Personally I have no faith in the feasibility or ad- 

 visability of exclusive territory. I think it would 

 be cheaper to move to a location where there are 

 not so many bees than to try to buy out the neigh- 

 borhood. Bee-keepers are themselves much to 

 blame for the overstocking of some locations.CA 

 man gets a new variety of chickens, and he makes 



