1887 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



2:^3 



We left the foul-broody colony till evening. 

 The air being then nearly at the freezing- 

 point, we pulled oft' the Jiive-covei-, tlie chaff 

 cusliion and all the otlier covering, from the 

 bees, leaving them exposed to the freezing 

 air. Our reason for doing this was that the 

 bees might become so chilled as to render 

 them unable to fly while being conducted to 

 the boiler-furnace. On the following morn- 

 ing 1 went down a little after sunrise, and 

 expected to tind the bees pretty well chilled. 

 Not so. As I advanced to take out the 

 frames, a couple of surly little fellows struck 

 me in the face. However, 1 picked up sev- 

 eral frames as quietly as possible, being 

 careful not to cause the bees to fly into the 

 air. and threw them into the boiler-furnace, 

 where their fate was very soon sealed. I 

 had to make two trips in order to take all 

 the bees. While doing so I observed that 

 three or four bees, possibly a dozen, flew 

 into the air. As I felt somewhat apprehen- 

 sive that they might return to other liives in 

 the immediate vicinity of the one I pro- 

 posed ti) lake away. 1 allowed the diseased 

 chaft' hive to stand in its location during the 

 day. Of course. I expected the flying bees 

 to return tt) the old location, which I discov- 

 ed they did do the following evening. I 

 then consigned the hive and all to the flames. 

 Had I taken away that hive as 1 have done 

 on pjevious occasions, I feel sure that they 

 would have entered other hives, and so 

 would have communicated the disease to 

 three or four more colonies neighboring and 

 adjacent to their own hive. This is not 

 mere theory, for sad experience has taught 

 me the truth of this statement. 



CHAFF CUSHIONS. 



We believe our readers have never seen a 

 good cut of the chaft' cushion, which we 

 use and like so well in our apiary. Our en- 

 gi-avers have taken the pains to make a cor- 

 rect picture, and here it is : 



formation iii regard to this chaft' cushion, 

 and, how to make, we would refer to the 

 A ii (' book. 



T TINS, AND IS THKKK ANY LIADILITV TO 

 HKND OUT OF SHAPE V 



I have seen it suggested in one of our 

 journals, that one very great objection to 

 them was that the T tins were liable to 

 get bent. I feel pretty sure that, if the par- 

 ties who ofter this objection woidd try by 

 actual experiments the strength of the 1'' 

 tins they woidd never again say that the 

 tins were fragile. To test the matter we 

 took two T tins and placed them ui such a 

 way that their ends rested on a couple of 

 projections. A weight was attaclied so as 

 to draw equally on the center of both. A 

 light weight was flrst used, and increased 

 as It was found that they would stand the 

 burden. At SO lbs. weight the tins bent 

 sidewise but not d(nvnward. If the T tins 

 had been fastened so they could not have 

 sprung to one side or the other, the same as 

 in the T super, I think they would hold 

 nearly double that weight. 



Now, then, all the weight that each T tin 

 is required to hold in actual usage can not 

 be more than (1 or 7 lbs., and 1 think that no 

 amount of ordinary usage could bt-nd them 

 out of shape, as tlie test above shows that 

 each T tin would hold AO lbs. and more be- 

 fore giving way. 





CHAFF CUSHION FOR THE TWO-STORY 

 CHAFF HIVE. 



The covering is burlap. You notice that it 

 is made square, so as to fit tightly and snug- 

 ly in the corners of the hive. This we re- 

 gard as important, as it prevents cold drafts 

 of air from circulating down into the brood- 

 nest. These chaff cushions should be filled 

 so as to be comparatively loose, as seen in 

 the engravinsr. If they are filled too full they 

 will present a convex smface on ])oth top 

 and bottom; and the corners, in conse- 

 quence, will be drawn out so as to leave an 

 aii--space in the corners of the hive. We be- 

 lieve, from our observations this winter, 

 that too much tightly packed chaft' is rather 

 a detriment than an advantage, because it 

 does not allow the moisture to pass off as 

 readily. Those who desire any further in- 



SINGLE-TlEK CASES AND THEIR ADV.VN- 

 TAGES. 



As there has been a great run on the sin- 

 gle-tier shipping-cases, we have had our en- 

 gravers illustrate what we call oiu- 2-l-lb. 

 single-tier shipping-cases. Our readers will 

 perhaps remember, that about a year ago we 

 gave a cut of what we called the 12-lb. 

 single -tier shipping- case. The former is 

 designed to take the place of the 24-lb. dou- 

 ble-tier case which we have now discarded, 

 though we still sell the 48-lb. double-tier 

 case. For the benefit of some of our new 

 readers, I will reiterate a few of the points 

 named in favor of the single-tier case : 



First, the N. Y. commission men recom- 

 mend them. They are much lighter to han- 

 dle, and. in consequence, are much less lia- 

 ble to breakage during shipment. Moreover, 

 a single-tier case of honey is much more 

 salable, for the reason that it shows off the 

 honey to l)etter advantage than the double- 

 tier. In the former, only the central and 

 l)est portion of the honey is exposed to view. 

 Furthermore, the double-tiei- case is open to 

 the ol)jection lliat. if any of the foj) row of 

 sections become daubed, the lower ones will 

 become soiled with drippings. 



If any of the readers are desirous t)f know- 

 ing the price of any of these implements, 

 we would refer them to our list. 



