Vol. XV. 



FEB. 1, 1887. 



No. 3. 



TERMS : $1.00 Per ANNUM, IN ADVANCK-,] J? i}+ riJ-.! -J n'L n rl i Tl 1 ^ T '^ 



10 or more, 75 cts. each. Single mim- 

 ber, 5 cts. Additions to clubs may be 

 made at club rates. Above are all 

 be sent to one postoffick. 



PUBLISHED SEMI-MONTHLT BT 



\A.L ROOT. MEDINA, OHIO. 



f Clubs to different postofBces. not less 

 than 90 cts. each. Sent postpaid, in the 



.1 U. S. and Caiiadas. To all other coun- 



1 tries of the Universal Postal Union, 18 

 cts. per year extra. To all countries 



L NOT Of the U. P. U., 12 cts. per year extra. 



DK. MILLER'S "T" SUPER, AND ITS USE. 



DISCU.^SED BY TWO OF OUK LARQK HONKY- 

 PRODUCER8. 



R. EDITOR:— I inclose herewith a letter from 

 one of the veterans, M. M. Baldridge. I 

 think so interesting a letter should be giv- 

 en to the fraternity at large, and for their 

 benefit I will also append my reply. 



C. C. MlI^LER. 



Friend Miller:— The "spirit" moves me to 

 write you a few lines about your " Year Among the 

 Bees." I have read the book through recently, and 

 some parts of it two or more times. Many things 

 you say interest me exceedingly; and let me sa3' 

 hci-e, but not by way of flattery, that you have writ- 

 ten a very good work on bees. I have also read with 

 especial interest what you say about the J. super. 

 1 have made them since 1883, but not exactly as de- 

 scribed by you. 1 use uo iron pieces nor loose J. 

 tins. I siniply saw through each side-piece 3 times, 

 and then insert the wide edge of the tins, and drive 

 two =8 wire nails through both sides of each end. 

 This holds the tins ill place at all times. But you 

 have the upright edge of tins only '4 inch deep, and 

 find =8 Uut deep, as it holds the separator too high. I 

 have not used the super enough to know how that 

 is; but others tell me that the separator needs to be 

 on\y 'Z^'i inches wide, when of tin, for the iKi-inch 

 section; that is, a sheet of tin, 14 by 20, will make 5 

 separators, quite wide enough for the pound sec- 

 tion; therefore for the nailed section I get the tins 

 out 1 inch wide, and have the upright part % inch 

 high, as the top and bottom pieces of the section are 

 % inch thick. This gives an open space of i4 inch 

 at both top and bottom. 



I also notice, that, with the J_ super, you prefer 

 wood separators to any other material. Now, I wish 

 you to tell me where you get the wood separators 

 you use; what is their exact width, also thickness, 

 for 16 sections, and what do they cost per 1000 ? 



THE WIDTH OF SECTIONS. 



I see also that you prefer two widths for sections. 



I rather think I should prefer one width (IJi inch), 

 and use separators between all, as I have no troulile 

 to make bees go to work in them at will when in 

 right condition. I like the slatted honey-board very 

 much. I can, however, keep the queen, or brood 

 and bee-bread, out of the sections, even when none 

 is used. But how to do it is the " secret," and is 

 known only to a few. 



REPORT. 



I have been up in Wisconsin the past season, keep- 

 ing bees on shares, and i-eturned only a few weeks 

 ago. I had 178 hives in May to begin with— 150 good 

 ones, but the rest were weak. I closed the season 

 with 230 good ones and 11,000 9>s. of honey— 8(t00 ft)s. 

 being in the comb, in Muth's sections, holding IVJ 

 lbs. each. These VA-fb. sections were on hand when 

 1 went up there, in May last, and so I used them; 

 but hereafter 1 shall use nothing but 1-lb. sections. 

 Our hives in Wisconsin had 3 boxes each, holding 

 10 sections each, with no honey-board. We took 10 

 full boxes from some hives, and should have taken 

 1.') to 20 thousand pounds of comb honey from all, if T 

 had found things there as represented. 



THE VALUE OF ALSIKE. 



1 had a deal of honey from alsike. The present 

 owners of the bees sowed 90 acres of alsike, in Sep- 

 tember, by my directions, and I rather think they 

 will have "lots" of honey next year. Alsike is the 

 best honey-plant, all things considered, I know of; 

 and when folks learn how to raise it properly they 

 will quit fooling with other plants. Marvin has a 

 "heap" of alsike growing a few miles west of this 

 city, all secured by following my directions. There 

 should be a thousand acres— yes, 10,000 acres— of it 

 in the U. S. where there is but one now. 1 saw Mar- 

 vin a few days ago. He says he would have had but 

 little honey this year had it not been for alsike. 



By the by, as you must have seen Betsinger's 

 wire-cloth separators at Indianapolis, what do you 

 think of the idea, when expense and all things are 

 duly considered? Why would it it not be a good idea 

 to have one-fourth-inch holes made through the 

 wood separators, the same as open bottoms for 



