58 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 1^ 



I believe bee-keepers have been mnkinij;- a 

 great mistake in their house bee-cellars by 

 not giving' the bees fresh air, and lots of it. 



N. B. — I forgot to say that rats have been 

 getting- among our bees. We arranged with 

 a man who owns a ferret to come and clean 

 all the rats from our premises. He has 

 done this to our complete satisfaction, and 

 he says it will be some time before they get 

 back to trouble us. For particulars see 

 page 81. Cats — well, man}' of them, to use 

 plain English, are nasty around factory 

 buildings, and only a few of them will 

 tackle rats at best. 



GLASS FOR SHIPPING-CASES — A BRIGHT IDEA. 



It is well known by all bee-keepers that 

 glass, during the last j^ear or so, has taken 

 several sharp advances. Although it has 

 slumped a little within the last few days, 

 the reduction in price is so slight that the 

 problem of glass is still something serious 

 to be considered. But, happilj', our friend 

 F. A. Salisbur3', of Syracuse, N. Y.. has 

 struck upon a bright idea. He learns that 

 there are quantities of glass from old nega- 

 tives rejected by the people for whom they 

 were taken, that can be had of many of the 

 photographers for the mere asking, provid- 

 ing, of course, the artist has the assurance 

 that no print will be taken from such nega- 

 tives. The standard size used by the aver- 

 age photographer, and from which cabinets 

 are made, is 5X7. Mr. SaHsbury conceh'ed 

 the idea of gathering up a quantity of these, 

 quartering them with a glass-cutter so that 

 he would have four lights 2'^ X 3 '-2, or 

 enough glass for one whole shipping-case 

 with four rows of sections. This is the 

 wdy' he got at it: 



' He took some strips of section wood and 

 cut the same in lengths equal to the width 

 of the glass, and of the same thickness, and 

 wide enough to make the proper spacing-. 

 Now, then, he slides a glass into the groove, 

 and then a piece of the wood, or " button," 

 as he calls it; then a glass and another but- 

 ton; still another glass and another button. 

 In this waj' he gets in four little lights. 

 The space between the lights is closed up 

 by the wood, which, coming directly in 

 front of the upright edges of the sections, 

 helps to set off the honey to advantage — the 

 little strips of wood, or buttons, covering 

 up the often propolized section and the un- 

 sealed cells next to the wood. The result is 

 at once neat and pleasing in its effect. 



Mr. Salisbury finds that the trade, as 

 well as bee-keepers generally, pronounce 

 the four-light negative-glassed honey-case 

 as neater in appearance than the old-style 

 case with one long glass showing all the 

 defects of the boxes of honey. Of course, 

 when the glass is only 254 inches wide the 

 top and bottom grooved strips for the glass 

 must be wide enough to take in the width. 

 There are some who would feel that this 2''2 

 width is too narrow; but as negative glass 

 can be obtained so cheaply one can afford 

 to cut it with soine waste. The 3X4 size 

 would make only a small waste; that is to 



saj', one can cut two glass lights out of one 

 negative. But there mciy be places in the 

 rural districts where negative glass can 

 not be obtained. Then go around to your 

 hardware stores and gather up all the scrap 

 g-lass they will let you have. In some 

 places they will be glad to have you take it 

 away for it; in others you can get it for a 

 small price. This, of course, would be in 

 all sorts of shapes. But with a little prac- 

 tice one can, with a glass-cutter, convert it 

 into squares rapidly and easilj-. 



Mr. Salisbury sa3's he can quarter 5x7 

 negative glass at the rate of 12 lights per 

 minute, or 600 for one hour, or what I 

 should suppose about 5000 per day. His 

 5X7 glass cost him 7!2 cts. per 100. Cutting 

 and washing at 20 cts. an hour would cost 

 6-3 cents, or a total of only 14 cents for 100 

 lights, 56 cents per 400, or which would be 

 equivalent to only 56 cents for 100 shipping- 

 cases. The regular glass for 24-lb. single- 

 tier cases, four rows, for 100 cases, is listed 

 in the supply catalogs at $2.50, or nearly 

 five limes as much. But suppose there are 

 rainy days or bad weather when one's 

 time is not worth 20 cents an hour. Then 

 the 56 cents will be cut down still lower, 

 or, in other words, what one saves he actu- 

 ally earns. 



Those who have honey now to crate should 

 trj^ the experiment of negative glass, and 

 thus work against the glass trust. 



Oh, yes! I forgot to mention that glass 

 for negatives is necessarily perfectly clear 

 and white, without spot or bubble, or the 

 photo-suppl}' manufacturers would not use it. 



HOW TO CLEAN NEGATIVE GLASS. 



Mr. Salisbury explains that the trick is 

 very simple. Into a kettle of boiling water 

 he pours a quantity of potash; then throws 

 in all the glass that can be submerged; al- 

 lows it to soak a little, pulls it out and 

 rinses it. The removal of the photographic 

 film is very easy. 



1 1.. -i 



The cut shows first a shipping-case with 

 one long: glass; next, one with old 5x7 neg- 

 atives quartered; and, last, 3X4 glass from 

 the scrap obtained at a hardware store. 

 The picture hardly does justice to the new 

 idea. 



