392 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUllE. 



May 



liot summer months with good success, but 

 it always seemed as if they needed about 

 two combs to make a start, and even three 

 seems a good deal better. Perhaps the Ij. 

 frame may work a little dilferently from 

 the one you use ; but I l)elieve it 1 were 

 comment'ing the tirst of April to contract, I 

 would not reduce any of then) to less than 

 three combs. If they could not fill the 

 space 1 would let them manage their own 

 way until they could ; and when the little 

 colony gets so strong as to crowd outdooi-s 

 during very warm weather in the month of 

 April, I would be a little slow about giving 

 tliem another <'omb. A severe frost may 

 not only crowd them all into the hive, but 

 perhaps so near the center of their two or 

 three combs it might leave some brood ex- 

 posed. With goad i)acktng about three 

 combs, there ought not to be much danger. 

 There is another point I feel a little unde- 

 cided about. When bees have a little un- 

 sealed larva? on one side of the comb, and 

 cells tilled with pollen right opposite on the 

 next comb, is it ever advisable to move these 

 combs so as to upset the arrangement ? I 

 have watched it quite a little, and it always 

 seemed to me as if it were asking your wife 

 to get breakfast as (jnick as she does ordi- 

 narily, with the cook-stove put in the cellar 

 and the dining-table upstairs. She usually 

 wants the cook-stove not only on the same 

 floor, but pretty nt-ar by the breakfast-table; 

 and the bees plainly tell us they want new- 

 ly gathered pollen about as near the unseal- 

 ed larvte as they can possibly place it. Now, 

 if yon will take an outside comb and put it 

 in" the center, a good deal of hard labor 

 for the little chaps Is caused by the transpos- 

 ing and upsetting. The children will wait to 

 be fed, while the breakfast-table is away 

 around on the other side of the comb — may 

 be a whole comb intervening between the 

 food and little ones. I know they will change 

 things about and get thi)igs haiidy in a pret- 

 ty short space of time ; but I have thought 

 that colonies that were not mixed up in this 

 way made the best bees. 



T. P. ANDRE"WS' HIVE-CART. 



HOW TO MAKE IT. 



f9<HEcartI use in luy apiary (see cut, Jan. 1st 

 ^ Gleanings) was made according- to dlrec- 

 ■i tions given me by a bee-keeping' friend by 

 the name of S. Smith, of Mattoon, 111. The 

 wheels are 28 inches high, and are made of 

 %-inch surfaced pine lumber which should be as 

 much as 16 or IS inches wide. Each wheel consists 

 of three disks of lumber; the central and largest 

 one is 38 inches in diameter, made of two widths of 

 lumber. The others are 12 and 20 inches respective- 

 ly. These two smaller disks are beveled around 

 their circumference to a feather edge, and secure- 

 ly nailed, one on each side of the large disk. The 

 grain of the smaller disks crosses that of the large 

 one, thus giving it strength and thickness enough 

 at the center to hold the bo.ving in very tlrnily. 

 This consists of a piece of ''a inch gas-pii)e, 'S% inch- 

 es long. The axle proper is made of a piece of iron 

 rod, a trifle smaller than the horo of the ga«-pipe, 

 in*o which the a.xle is slipped, and around which the 

 box revolves. Flanges are welded on the axles 



at the inner ends of the boxes. Holes are punched 

 at the outer ends of the axles, and linchpins hold 

 the wheels on. 



The body of my cart is also made of pine lumlier. 

 It is about 4 feet long and about 2ii inches wide. It 

 is made to hold three hives or comb-hoxes at a load. 

 The depth of the body is six inches. The cut is not 

 entirely correct. The cart is not wide enough to 

 take in two hives side by side, but is lung enough 

 to take in three hives. The side-tioards do not ta- 

 per out into handles like a wheelbarrow, but are 

 cut off on a bevel, and are connected by a cross- 

 piece that can be grasped by one or iKjth hands. The 

 axle is made as short as will permit the wheels to 

 turn freely without rubbing against the side boards. 

 A three-inch cross-piece connects the two side- 

 boards. To this the iron axle is fastened by two car- 

 riage-bolts, the heads of which have been cut oft 

 and the ends bent into hooks which grasp around 

 the axle. The cart should be supported in a hor- 

 izontal position by two legs like those df a wheel- 

 barrow placed near the front end. The lumber and 

 iron work of the cart cost about one dollar, and is. 

 in my opinion much, more convenient in the apiary 

 than a wheelbarrow. It is "narrow enough to pass 

 through an oi-dinary door, so that it can be drawn 

 with its load of combs into the honev-house. 



Farina, 111. T. P. Andrews. 



Thank you, friend A. And so it trans- 

 pires that the home-made cart was an " iron 

 ex,'' after all. Your plan of construction is 

 quite ingenious ; and if you draw the cart 

 in wlien it rains, those pine wheels will last 

 a good many years, and do much service. 



A WELL-SPENT DOLLAR. 



A TRUE STORY, WITH A MORAL TO IT FOR THE 

 BOYS. 



ANY years ago there lived in this county a 

 farmer by the name of Mr. W., who had, 

 among other children, a son about fifteen 

 years of age, by the name of Thomas. He 

 also owned a negro boy of about the same 

 age as Thomas; and as these boys were thus thrown 

 together they naturally became very intimate. 

 Among other diversions they learned to play at 

 cards some time before Mr. W.'s death, which event 

 left them as the only prospective support for the 

 family. 



When the season; for farming was at hand, the 

 neighbors began to watch to see how the boj's 

 would work. It was soon apparent that something 

 was wrong, and one old neighbor by the name of 

 Mr. R. made special search to, find the trouble. He 

 was not long in tracing it to the cards; and, after 

 much contemplation, he decided upon the remedy, 

 which he carried out as follows: 



Upon meeting Thomas one day he said to him, 

 "Thomas, I wish to buy a pack of cards— the kind 

 you play with." 



"I declare, Mr. K., I do not know where you 

 could get them," was the reply of the boy. 



" I want them very much ; 1 will give a silver dol- 

 lar for them," continued the old man. 



Now, as this was about twice the value of a new 

 pack, and as the cards owned by Thomas weie 

 somewhat worn, this was too much for him; and, 

 after some hesitation, he replied, " Mr. R., I have a 

 pack, somewhat soiled and worn, that I will sell 

 you for that amount," 



