1887 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



429 



seems to me a line thing for a man in the supply- 

 business to ptiblisli a ])rice list, and a journal too, if 

 he is able; and it usuallj' comes to pass in that way, 

 though some who have undertaken to issue a bee- 

 paper apart from the supply-business have found it 

 necessary to add that also, and to do the very thing 

 they had so much condemned in others. 1 do not 

 believe that the great multitude of bee-keepers And 

 fault with such arrangements. It is, as I think, 

 chiefly some publishers, or their sj^npathctic 

 friends, who complain; and I hope I am not un- 

 charitable in attributing to them an envious spirit. 



Other things being equal, the bee-keepers pre- 

 fer a paper that comes to them all redolent of wax 

 and sawdust, of honey and the honey-comb, echo- 

 ing the clang and buzz of the planer, the saw, and 

 the anvil, the throb and jar of the press, the stir of 

 men and women at work, and the hum of happy 

 bees, and that which ennobles the whole, a voice 

 of daily prayer and praise, and counsel and encour- 

 agement in general business, and in all that af- 

 fects our homes and social life, in virtue and piety 

 a helper and a guide. I say, the people, the men 

 and women, the boys and girls, prefer such a pa- 

 per and love it, while few, comparatively, would 

 have any thing like the same interest in articles 

 of a more impersonal style, however scientific and 

 correct and useful, and perhaps rather theoretical 

 than practical. D. F. Savage. 



Casky, Ky., Feb. 7, 1S87. 



A DEVICE FOR REMOVING SECTIONS 

 FROM -WIDE FRAMES. 



HOW OUR CALIt-ORNIA FHIEND WM. MUTH-RAS- 



MUSSEN DOES IT. 



f^ HE description and picture in April Gi.ean- 

 §)'' iNGS, of Dr. Miller's method of removing 

 < sections from the T super, as well as the 

 same description which I had previously 

 read in his own book, but did not quite un- 

 derstand until now, lead me to send you an article 

 which I wrote for the Pacific Rural Press nearly two 

 years ago, describing my device for removing sec- 

 tions from wide frames. As many bee-keepers, no 

 doubt, like mj^self, are using wide frames, and, 

 having once invested in them and got used to 

 them, do not care or feel able to change for what 

 may or may not be a better arrangement, perhaps 

 my device may be of interest and usefulness to 

 them. You will notice that ray device operates 

 very much like that of Dr. Miller's, only that the 

 sections must be taken off before the wide frame 

 can be removed. The only objection 1 find to it is, 

 that the space between the guide-back and the 

 nearest upright occasionally gets clogged with wax 

 or propolis. Instead of hinging the uprights to 

 the bottom-board, as mentioned in the article, to 

 facilitate cleaning, the guide-back with guide-posts 

 attached might be made removable for this purpose. 

 Against wide frames, as got from you, I have on- 

 ly this objection — that they are not exact, being 

 generally too large, and leave too much space for 

 propolizing. In many there is as much as one- 

 eight to three-sixteenths of an inch space between 

 the under side of the top-bar and the top of the 

 upper tier of sections. Next winter I shall over- 

 haul them all and form them over a block of just 

 the size of six sections, with merely play enough to 

 insert and remove the sections without crowding. 



Tn favor of wide frames, I must say that, after 

 using them for five or six years, and gradually in- 

 creasing their number, until I now have about 700, 

 I have yet to find the first cell of brood in any sec- 

 tion placed in a wide frame, and 1 do not think I 

 could find one cell with pollen in 1000 sections. I 

 use no honey-board, but simply have a bee-space 

 between the brood-frames and wide-frames. I use 

 full sheets of worker fdn. in the sections, and I 

 find that it pays me, as my combs are perfect, 

 plump, and full weight; whereas the first year' 

 when I used only narrow starters, nearly every 

 comb fell 3 to 4 oz. short of a pound. 



Wm. Muth-Rasmussen. 



Independence, Cai., Apr. 18. 1887. 



Below we give the article referred to: 



One of the difficulties in the production of comb 

 honey is to get the sections out of the wide frames 

 without injury, and with as little loss of time as 

 possible, to prevent the bees from uncapping the 

 cells, which they will do if they are given time 

 enough. If the separators and the wide frames 

 could be made so exact that the former could clasp 

 the latter and keep their place without falling off, 

 the separators might be removed and the bees 

 brushed off before they had time to do any harm. 

 But such accuracy seems to be out of the (juestion; 

 besides, separators are now made of such thin, 

 flimsy material that the turned-over ends have no 

 strength in them, and it therefore becomes neces- 

 sary to nail them permanentlj' to the frames. This 

 increases the difficulty of removing the sections, 

 and to obviate this difficulty 1 have devised, and all 

 through the present season used, the following 

 implement, as shown in the engraving: 



MUTH-K.\SiMUSSEN'S DEVlCi;. 



Two boards, I'Z'i inches long, S's inches wide and 

 Ji inch thick, and one board of the same length and 

 width, but flre-eighths of an inch thick, form the 

 uprights with the thick board in the middle, and 

 spaced so that they will slip easily through the 

 frame, between and outside of the separatbrs. 

 They are joined together and held in place at each 

 end'by a strip ^i inch thick, I's inches wide, and S% 

 inches long, let into the uprights, flush with the 

 bottom. 



A one-inch dressed board, 16\i inches long and 

 nine inches wide, is provided with two strong 

 cleats underneath, and to one edge is nailed a thin 

 board, which forms the guide-back, and projects 

 three-eighths of an inch above the uprights. To this 

 back, and coming even with its top edge, arc fast- 

 ened two upright guide-posts, five-eighths by sev- 

 en-eighths of an inch thick, the narrow side nailed 

 to the board. To the two outside uprights, even 

 with their bottom edge, and projecting inward, are 

 nailed two strips of ordinary frame-material (not 

 shown in the engraving). By these strips the up- 

 rights are fastened, with nails or screws, to the one- 

 inch board in such a position that, when a wide 

 frame is laid on top of the uprights, the bottom bar 

 of the frame will slip easily down between the 

 guide-back and the nearest upright. 



TO USE THE IMPr^EMENT. 



First brush off all the bees you can, trim off any 

 comb or honey sticking under the bottom of the 

 frame, again lirush off the bees that have come out 

 from under the separators, then lay the frame 

 down on the uprights, separators downward, bot- 

 tom of frame between the two guide-posts, and 

 snug against the guide-back. Now press on the 



