1887 



GLEANINGS LN BEE CULTUllE. 



591 



chang-eable, and readily taken ofl' if desired, and no 

 bee-hive will be complete in the future without 

 one. A. A. Fbadenburc. 



Port Washington, O., June 30, 1887. 



Friend F., your bridge foi- liive-eiilrances 

 is exactly wliat we iisfd ten or twelve years 

 ago; and it' I ;ini not mistaken they were 

 descril)ed in Gleanings. Tlie wariiing of 

 the l»oards under the sun an<l rain w;is one 

 great objection. We jiiit in (tieats to i)re- 

 vent this, but they got to be tioublesonie. 

 "Whenever a hive \v;is to lie n)o\ ed tlr.'y 

 would be lloiiping iiiound; and when t;il\en 

 oil' lliey wi're thrown nsid;'. and got to kidd- 

 ing about the iipiai) so thai we tin;ill\ Itan- 

 ished them entir.'ly, iir.'l'erring the sand and 

 sawdust, witli salt sprinkled over tlie latter. 

 when weeds tlneatened to intiude. 



A r..\LVANU' CIIKRKNT KOK ASSISTING IN WIUINC! 

 KOUNUATION. 



I don't think we in Australia can teach you 

 much about bee-keeping; but we have a way of 

 fastening foundation into wired frames, that 7 have 

 not seen mentioned in any American books or 

 journals. It is McEllery's method, and I Inclose 

 a clipping from the Australian Bee-Kespei'n Jour- 

 nal, showing how to do it. It is a good thing. 



H. Lindsay Mit-lek. 



Warrnambool, Victoria, Aus., May Iti, 1887. 



KI.XING FOUNDATION IN WIRED FRAMES— MC- 

 ELLERV'S METHOD. 



The methods usually adopted for fixing founda- 

 tion in wired frames are either to rub the wires in- 

 to the foundation with a grooved button-hook, or some 

 tool of the kind, or to press it in with " Blood's 

 roller " (an American device), or, better, with Mr. 

 Root's " rocking tool," an instrument like a portion 

 of the periphery of a wheel, with a few sharp teeth 

 on it. Each tooth is rolled on to the wires, and 

 imbeds them in the foundation. Foundation fixed 

 by any of these methods is apt to part from the 

 wires and curl up in very warm weather, or when 

 used for newly hived swarms. The fact is, there is 

 no real union between the wax and the wires un- 

 less the wires are heated. I have tried several 

 plans for doing this, but none so satisfactory as 

 warming the wires with a galvanic current from a 

 good large single-battery cell. The mode is very 

 simple. Lay the foundation on a board which fits 

 inside the frame; now lay the frame horizontally 

 over the foundation, so that the wires lie nice and 

 evenly on the foundation; take the wires from the 

 two poles of the battery, one in each hand, and 

 touch the two ends of each frame wli-e for a 

 moment, one end with the positive and the other 

 with the negative wire of the battery, and the 

 frame wire becomes heated, and melts its way down 

 to the septum or mid7-ib of the foundation; touch 

 each wire of the frame in succession in this way, 

 and the whole is fixed (juicker than by any of the 

 other modes, and so firmly that you can tear the 

 foundation away only by piecemeal. If your bat- 

 tery is not strong enough to beat the "wire the 

 whole width of the frame, do it in steps, and you 

 will find even then yovi can do it more (juickly than 

 by any of the other i)lans, with the satisfaction of 

 knowing that the wires are as firmly attached as is 

 the case with the foundation where the wires are 

 imbedded during the process of manufacture. 



WHAT BECOMES OF THE FEW REMAINING BEES 

 AFTER HIVING A SWARM. 



Some of my friends and myself have been dis- 

 cussing the questi on of what becomes of the few 

 remaining bees usually left in the tree, or upon the 

 limb, after liiving the young swarm that clustered 

 thereon. Some claim that they return to the moth- 

 er hive; others claim that just as soon as the young 

 swarm find that thej' have a home of their own 

 they will visit the tree, or limb, where they cluster- 

 ed, for several days after they have been hived, and 



it is )ny helUf, for the express purpose of calling in 

 all absentw.H which may have been left, and they 

 will return with them to the new hive. Now, Mr. 

 Root, will you be kind enough to give us your opin- 

 ion in regard to them? E. B. Ripley. 



So. Windsor, Conn., July 4, 1887. 



It is iny opinion, friend K.. alter consider- 

 able close obseivation, that the bees scatter 

 and go wherever tlie> iiapix-n to— into tlie 

 parent iiive if it is near l)y ; if more conve- 

 nient, into other hives, and sometimes, if 

 llie new swarm is located so near they can 

 liiid it. liu'y go in a body to join tiieir "com- 

 rades. 



WHAT TO IX) >V1TH l>OLI,EN IN ()I,U C(JMBS. 



(Jan you tell me what to do with combs that the 

 bees have literally packed with pollen? They cer- 

 tainly have no use for so much, and it takes up so 

 much room. K. J. Mathews. 



Riverton, Boli\ ar Co., Miss., June 3;5, 1887. 



Friend M., it is (]uite a difficult matter in- 

 deed to get the i)Ollen out of coml»s uidess 

 you can nuike the bef^s take it out for rear- 

 ing brood; and in this way we have disposed 

 of all we have had in our brood-rearing op- 

 erations, many times needing even more. In 

 our back volumes, plans have been given to 

 throw it out with the extractor, after being 

 softened with warm water, or by steaming 

 the combs. It is a nice operation, however ; 

 for if the pollen is not warm enough it will 

 not come out ; and if you get the combs too 

 warm, the wax will be so soft as to break 

 them out of the frames. 



evidence THAT KING-BIRDS DO SWALLOW WORK- 

 ER BEES. 



I notice in Gleanings, July 1st, page 514, in 

 your foot-notes to I. T. McCracken's article, thHt 

 you would like to hear from the readers in regard 

 to king-birds swallowing bees. Some weeks ago 

 there was a couple of kingbirds sitting on a bush 

 close to the house, and my brother had observed 

 them catching some of the iiassing bees, and men- 

 tioned that we had better shoot them. I said I be- 

 lieved there were no shells loaded with fine shot, 

 and so paid no attention to them for a few hours, 

 when, on stepping out into the yard, I noticed them 

 picking up bees rather too fast to suit me. I then 

 went into the house, found one or two loaded shells, 

 took out the gun, and shot one of the birds. Uiion 

 examination I found that it contained what I 

 should have pronounced the remains of (luite a 

 number of worker bees. It may be that some of 

 the birds get up to the business so well that they 

 just catch the bees in their beak, and, after S(iuee/,- 

 ingoutthe honey, drop it; but my opinion is, that 

 very few birds are so highly educated. 



Bluffton, Mo., July 13, 1887. S. E. Miller. 



yUKEN-CELL PROTECTORS; THE BEVELKD EDGE 

 OR SQUARE .lOINT, ETC. 



I wish to report my luck with Doolittle's (pieen- 

 cell protector. I have used them constantlj' this 

 season in my apiary, and I will say I have the first 

 cell to be destroyed; but I have lost more young 

 (picens after they had hatched from the protector, 

 than by the old process; hut 1 think the cause was, 

 that the bees were not gathei-Ing honey, and they 

 killed them. The tii'st show of honey in sections 

 was the 16th of June. I think the protectors are a 

 prize to bee-keepers, as it is more quickly done, and 



