l88t 



(JLEANli^GS IK BEE CULTllRE. 



511 



board will i)resent the appearance of X, Fig-. 6, only 

 there should be four ilivisions instead of thi-ce, as 

 shown. 



TO MAKE A BEAIMNG-BOAHD FOR WIUE FRAMES. 



Take a piece of plank 2 X S^s, and 10 inches long. 

 Cut two pieces of boards 17 inches wide, 4 long:, and 

 I4 thick. Nail these o!i to the edges of the plank, 

 having- the grain of the timber in the boards run 

 crcsswise of the grain in the other, which will give 

 much greater strength to the board. When nailing 

 together, allow the plank, which forms the bottom, 

 to e.vtend one inch beyond the side-boards at both 

 ends, as shown at W, Fig. ti. This forms a sort of 

 box with open ends, 2 inches deep inside, 17 inches 

 long, and Hi wide, outside measure, which is a little 

 scant the inside dimensions of the wide frame. It is 

 now ready for use, except that each bearing-board 

 should have two dowel-pins in the bottom, to fit into 

 the holes h, h, in bed-iiiece. Fig. a, to prevent it from 

 moving out of its place when in use. (ireat care 

 should be exercised to get those dowel-pins in the 

 right place; and perhaps the surest way to do that 

 would be to set the bearing-board on to the 'bed- 

 piece, place a super on it, bring the follower down 

 to the super, to see if they meet just right; then 

 pass the point of a bit up through the bed-piece and 

 bore into the bearing-board, being careful not to let 

 it move while doingthis, and it can not be far out of 

 the waj-. The dowel-pins should be driven tight 

 into the bearing-board, but tit loosely in the bcd- 

 jiiece, so as to be readily removable. 



To remove sections from wide frames, the frame 

 with sections must be laid down upon the bearing- 

 board flatwise, with the separator on the under 

 side. The presserfeet of the follower bear upon 

 the ends of the wide frame, which slips down out- 

 side of the bearings; and the separator goes down 

 inside between them, and the sections will be left 

 free and clear, resting on top of the bearings. The 

 operation is performed in much less time than it 

 takes me to describe it. 



The process of emptying the T supers is also very 

 simple. Set the super upon the bearing-board; 

 place one foot upon the treadle, and bear down. If 

 every thing is in proper order, the sections will all 

 be out of the super before you hardly realize what 

 is being done. 'J'o insure success, every thing 

 should be made with .some degree of accuracy. 



.TOSHUA fJlM,. 



Seymoui-, Outag. Co., Wis., May :.'4, ISST. 



THE NATIONAL BEE - KEEPERS' 

 UNION. 



WHAT IT It 



AND WHAT IT HAS IfONK FOR THE 

 BEE-KEEPEK. 



E are glad to note, that the National 

 IJee-Keepers" Union has fully dem- 

 onstrated its usefulness and its abil- 

 ity to defend the rights of its pat- 

 rons. Through this medium of 

 strength the bee-keeper has more tlian once 

 been enabled to accomplish what he could 

 not have done single-handed. While we do 

 not favor trades-unions in general, we must 

 say that the Bee-Keepers' Union, uuder the 

 present etlicient management, iuis done good 

 work for the cause it represents, and that, 

 too, without theevil results which have lieen 

 so characteristic of other trades-unions. It 



is with pleasure, therefore, that we make 

 the following extracts from the Second An- 

 nual Report : 



To review the work of the National Bee-Keepers' 

 Union at the end of the second year is a very itloas- 

 ing duty, for we do not discover any thing which 

 could have been done more satisfactorily— the re- 

 sults having been all that could be desired. 



THE UNION VICTORIOUS EVERY TI.ME ! 



In all the attacks against the pursuit of bee-keep- 

 ing-, which the National Bee-Keepers' Union has 

 deemed it expedient to vindicate, it has scored a 

 victory! What no individual apiarist could have 

 achieved single handed, it has satisfactorily accom- 

 plished in a short time. 



In the face of this showing, it is strange that any 

 bee-keeper should hesitate to become a member ol' 

 this organization. It ought to have thousands of 

 members where it now has only hundreds. It is to 

 the interest of every apiarist to become a member. 

 Nay, it is not only that, b\it it is a duty, which, if 

 neglected, will operate to his or her disadvantage. 

 As the Union will defend only its members, who be- 

 came such before any lawsuits were commenced 

 against them— all should take time by the fore- 

 lock, and join the Union at once! 



MAILING QUEKN-BKP:S AND ATTF.NDING WORKERS. 



The first thing which demanded the attention of 

 the Union during the past year was the action of 

 the postmaster at Griffin, Ga. who refused to re- 

 ceive a queen-bee in the mails, because of the at- 

 tending workers, the postal regulations permitting 

 only queen-bees in the mails— not drones or work- 

 ers! 



The Manager of the I'nion, Prof. Cook (Vice-Pres- 

 dent), and the Hon. Edwin Willits, each made an 

 appeal to the Postofflce Dejjartment at Washington 

 to have his action overruled. It was only a technic- 

 ality; but as necessary attendants were essential 

 when mailing queen-bees, it was a vital point to 

 apiarists. 



The General Superintendent of the Railway Mail 

 Service ordered the regulations to he revised so as 

 to read, " Queen-bees with necessary attendants," 

 and so advised the postmaster in Georgia, the Man- 

 ager of the Union, and others. Since that time we 

 have heard no complaint on that score. 



SENDING QUEENS TO CAN.\DA. 



Complaint was made that queen-bees sent to Can- 

 ada bad been stopped at Suspension Bridge. This 

 was referred by the Manager of the Union to the 

 Superintendent of F'oreign Mails, and that difficulty 

 was promptly removed. It was occasioned by the 

 offlciousness of the postmaster at Suspension 

 Bridge, N. Y.. and he was notified to " let the bees 

 pass."' So ended that trouble. 



CALIFORNIA FRUIT-BEE.S TROUBLE. 



The Bohn case, mentioned in my last Report, was 

 appealea to the Superior Court. The decision there 

 given was on technicalities, and practically ended 

 the difficulties. The expenses of the suit and ap- 

 peal amounted to $384..i0; of this the Union has 

 paid one-half and Mr. Bohn the other half. In this 

 case the resistance of the Bee-Keepers' Union was 

 too much for the fruit-growers— and that trouble 

 which was proclaimed by a Nebraska apiai-ist to be 

 too much for the Union to compete with is now all 

 conquered, the raisin-growers admitting that they 

 were mistaken. 



Foolish warfare against bees seems to be the rage! 

 The idea that fruit suffers because of the presence? 

 of bees is simply- ridiculous. The good they do in 

 fertilizing the iru it-trees far outweighs any possi- 

 ble evil that ma.\ follow their presence. 



REMOV.M, OF UKES FROM CITIES .\ND VILLAGES. 



M. Darling, of Waterbury, Conn., was sued for 

 *r)0() damages l)y a neighbor, and to compel the re- 

 moval of his bees. The case was instigated by mal- 

 ice and jealousy, and was dismissed as soon as it 

 was discovered that he was backed up by the Na- 

 tional Bee-Keepers' Union. The expenses were.*.")0, 

 of which the TTnion paid one-half. 



S. W. Rich, of Hobart, N. Y., was sued by a jeal- 

 ous and disagreeable neighbor for $1,500 damages, 

 and also to compel him to remove his apiary out- 

 side the city limits. This suit is defended by the 

 Union, and is as yet undecided. 



C. C. Richardson, a gardener, was sued for keep- 

 ing honey-bees on his land in Tipton, lud., alleging 

 that they were a nuisance. This was also de- 



