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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



355 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELL>S. 



THE SIMPLICITY SIMPLIFIED. 



T HAVE 13 colonics of Italians in two story 

 1^ Simplicity iiives, iiiaiie by G. B. Lewis, f also 

 ]ir g'ave E. A. Arinstronfr an order for 50 of his 

 ■*■ new reversible cases, made the size of my hive, 

 holding "8 sections each. Now, 1 have changed 

 the upper and lower stories into brood-chambers, 

 making- ^6 hives out of 13 by dressing off the bevel 

 edge and tacl<ing on strips to bring them up again 

 just Vi bee-space above the brood frames, and then 

 all is ready for the super. My covers are made like 

 Dr. Miller's, except mine have a '2 bee-space strip 

 around the inside edg«, corresponding with '/i 

 space on the super. I use Simplicit.y bottom-boards, 

 making them long enough for alighting-boai-ds, 

 and all in one piece. I also have as many slatted 

 hone.y-boards as hives. One side up they are 

 break-joint; the other side is one continuous pass- 

 age. 



My hives and supers are painted three coats, 

 pure white; the edges of honey-boards are jet 

 black; all above the black line is mine, and all be- 

 low belongs to the bees. I would say, also, that, 

 while my supers are reversible, 1 am not compelled 

 to reverse, nor do I expect to practice it, having al- 

 ready tried it sufficiently to convince me that it is 

 nearly always impracticable. The cases would be 

 better if made plain on three sides, and open only 

 on one, costing less and accomplishing the same. 

 The good things about the case are the T tins, the 

 wood separators^ wedges, and the simplicity of 

 manipulation. ' T call my hives now the Simplicity 

 simplified. W. (J. Secor. 



Greenfield, 111., Apr. 6, 1887. 



AN A B C SCHOLAR TELLS HOW TO EXTEMPORIZE 

 A BUZZ-SAW OUT OST AN OLD FANNING-MILL. 



I saw in Gle.aninos that Walter S. Pouder tells 

 something about rigging up a huzz-saw. I will 

 tell you how I made a hand-power saw. Take an 

 old fanningmill, having two good cog-wheels. 

 Remove the hopper and put on a saw-table. Under 

 it place a $3.50 mandrel. On the wooden mandrel 

 of the mill put a pulley. Belt the latter to the 

 saw-mandrel pulley. Your saw-table is now com- 

 plete. Take hold of the crank and turn as if you 

 were cleaning wheat, and your buzz-saw will just 

 bum. Your pulley ought to be 1.5 inches in diame- 

 ter, with a five or six inch saw. It will run 

 very easily, and you can rip up any thing where 

 the saw will reach through. I have two of these 

 saw-tables in use. One has a $3..50 mandrel and a 

 5-inch saw, and the other one has a $4.00 mandrel 

 and T-inch saw. With one hand I turn the mill and 

 with the other hand I put the boards through. I 

 prefer the table where the 5 inch saw is on. It runs 

 much easier than the 7-iiich saw, because the table 

 where the "-inch saw is run on must have a larger 

 pulley, and so it will run harder. My 7-inch saw 

 makes over 3000 revolutions a qiinute at ordinary 

 turning, and I can rip up an inch board in a great 

 hurry. I make all ray bee-hives with these saws, 

 and lots of other work besides. I think saws run in 

 this way work pretty well for beginners. 



Douglas, O., Mar. 38, 18«7. H. D. Friend. 



WHY WERE THE BEES TORN TO PIECES? HUTCH- 

 INSON'S PLAN «)F SWARMING. 



Our bees have just had a fly, and three of them 

 were engaged carrying out parts of bees. They 

 were torn all to pieces, while the rest were bringing 

 out bees not torn to pieces. The entrances are i of 

 an Inch deep. We opened one of the hives, but 

 could see nothing wrong. Can you tell me the 

 cause of the bees being torn to pieces? We re- 

 ceived OU lt)S. of comb honey per hive, sjjring 

 count, almost all from white clover. There was no 

 bass wood bloom this past season, while in 1885 it 

 was our only source. Bees are mostly kept in box 

 hives here. The Hutchinson plan of hiving swarms 

 works ver.v well with us. In one instance they 

 came out and clustered. On opening the hive the 

 newly made combs were tilled with eggs and pollen. 

 We put in a frame with honey, and rehived them, 

 and they were all right. I suppose, on account of 

 no honey in the brood-nest, and the queen not 

 getting any thing to eat, the bees were starved out. 



Moundsville, W. Va.. Dec. 11, 1886. C. C. Schwob. 



Friend S.. I can not tell what tore the bees 

 to pieces, unless it was mice; but if your 

 entrances were no wider than S of an inch, 

 I do not see liow the mice could get in. I 

 have seen a sort of worm among the dead 

 bees, suck out the juices, and leave them a 

 gcod (leal in the shape you mention. Was 

 not this tlie way it came aboutV 1 can not 

 quite imagine how you or friend Hutchinson, 

 or anybody else, could so arrange your hives 

 that the iioney went into the sections so 

 completely as to starve the queen and bees. 

 I never saw a comb of brood yet that did 

 not have more or less honey and propolis 

 scattered about in it somewiiere. 



WHAT C0WPENS.\T10N SHALL WE RECEIVE FOR 

 TAKING CARE OF ANOTHER'S BEES? 



I should like to inquire in regard to the customary 

 wages of those having the care of bees. I expect to 

 take charge of an apiaryof 133 colonies in chaff hives. 

 I shall have to put together hives, frames, sections, 

 make fdu., extract honey — in fact, do every thing 

 connected with the business. What I wish to know 

 is, what would be reasonable wages for six mooths, 

 commencing the first of April? Or if I should do 

 the work for a share of the season's income in hon- 

 ey, what should be my share, the owner furnishing 

 every thing? In either case I am to board myself. 



In hiving swarms last season it happened two or 

 three times that the queen was lost. I noticed that 

 those swarms built out their fdn. and filled up with 

 honey as fast or faster than those that had queens 

 and reared brood. Of course, a swarm left in this 

 condition would soon begin to grow weak. But 

 could not this habit of bees be taken advantage of 

 where honey is desired instead of increase? I have 

 a plan in my mind which I will state. To make the 

 matter plain we will suppose we have but two col- 

 onies, which we will call Nos. 1 and 3. The plan is 

 to remove the queen from No. 1, and, as fast as 

 they fill their combs with honey, take it from them 

 with the extractor. To keep No. 1 up to full 

 strength, give it capped brood from No. 3, using 

 the extractor also on No. 3, in this way getting a 

 large yield of honey without increase of colonies. 

 If, on the other hand, comb honey be more desira- 

 ble, use sections largely in the brood-chamber of 

 No. 1. These thoughts may not be new to you, but in 



