1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



369 



ting on labels with paste. I think I have a 

 way of making paste that is easier and quick- 

 er. It is this: 1 take about a quart of boil- 

 ing water and enough flour to make a thin 

 paste. I mix the flour in a little cold water 

 before putting it into the boiling water, and 

 stir it until well cooked. I then put in one 

 teaspoonful of powdered alum. Paste made 

 in this way will stick labels to tin as tight as 

 beeswax; but it is necessary to label before 

 tilling the tins with honey. This paste will 

 also keep for months. I ha^ e never had any 

 trouble with the labels coming off from my 

 tins. Chris. Gkimoldy. 



Owen Sound, Ont. 



A SCHEME OF MANAGEMENT OF BEES FOR 

 THE BUSY FARMER. 



I should like to submit my case to you for 

 advice. Two years ago I acquired a swarm 

 of bees. I now have three in ten-frame 

 hives, which I run for comb honey and pleas- 

 ure. Now, I am a busy farmer, and don't 

 want to increase any further or buy any 

 more hives. How can I manage them to 

 best advantage? James C. White. 



Sewell, N. J. 



[For a busy farmer we would unhesitating- 

 ly recommend running for extracted or chunk 

 honey, tiering up the hives one above the 

 other, giving the queen unlimited room for 

 egg-laying and the bees for the storage of 

 honey. If a large entrance be given at the 

 bottom, and if the hives are two, three, and 

 four stories high, depending upon the 

 strength of the colony and the season, there 

 will be very little swarming. The extracted 

 honey bottled will bring a fair price at the 

 local markets, probably giving as large a net 

 return as comb honey, with far le3S expen- 

 diture of time and labor on the bees, when 

 the farmer is the most busy with his farm- 

 work. If he can not afford an extractor, let 

 him cut the honey out of the brood-frames 

 and sell it in bulk as it is done in Texas. If 

 he is well known in the vicinity he will have 

 no trouble in disposing of his entire crop. 



The special feature of this large-hive prin- 

 ciple, one tiered upon another, that should 

 appeal to the busy farmer, is the compara- 

 tive absence of swarming, and the fact that 

 the honey can be taken off the hive at his 

 leisure in late summer or in the fall. — Ed.] 



THE SACKET TRANSPARENT WRAPPER FOR 



COMB HONEY; FURTHER POINTERS FROM 



THE INVENTOR. 



I have read with much interest Mr. R. A. 

 Burnett's article in reference to my wrapper, 

 in the Jan. 1st issue, page 39, and would like 

 to state that I experimented a great deal 

 with the same before using or sending it out. 

 The heavier the paper is, the less transparent; 

 and to be of any value it must show to the 

 purchaser just what grade he is getting. In 

 fact, I had No. 1 grade, and with some of 

 the paper I tried I found it did not show the 

 true goods; and I found that, although heav- 

 ier, it did not add very much to the strength. 



As for the envelope or bag idea I had a 

 couple of New York envelop concerns try to 

 make up a bag that would be the exact size 

 of the section. This did not work, because 

 the section was not always perfectly square, 

 while the bag was. By this I mean the sec- 

 tion before filling was true enough; but when 

 squeezed in the super it was a trifle out, and 

 in inserting the box it tore the wrapper. 



Another point was that a bag large enough 

 to take almost any section did not fit tight, 

 and looked messy, and, to my way of think- 

 ing, the beauty of the package is its neat ap- 

 pearance, and to have the paper stretched 

 tight with no wrinkles. 



i have yet to receive a complaint that the 

 package did not carry well, and that, on ac- 

 count of leakage, other sections were soiled. 

 The paper has the strength, and still has 

 transparency. H. A. Sackett, 



East Orange, N. J. 



sealed covers versus ABSORBING CUSH- 

 IONS; SEPARATE OUTER CASES USED 

 THE YEAR ROUND. 



I don't often contradict editors; but on p. 

 1313, Oct. 15, in answer to the question, "Are 

 sealed covers better than absorbent cush- 

 ions?" you say, "Yes." Permit me to say, 

 "No!" An absorbent cushion will never 

 get damp if a little space is left between the 

 cushion and the cover of the hive. If super 

 covers are put over brood-frames and sealed 

 tight by the bees you can find damp musty 

 combs almost any time. 



I use ten-frame Dovetail hives and regu- 

 lar supers. The bottom-board is simpiy a 

 flat board with a wedge under each side of 

 the hive to regulate the entrance. This bot- 



VTEDGES USED TO CONTROL THE SIZE OF 

 ENTRANCE. 



torn- board is made with a little projection 

 in front for alighting- board room. 



To prepare the hives for winter I make a 

 case 22X26X20 inches high, and a gable cov- 

 er out of cheap box boards, and cover it with 

 well-painted canvas or tin, or any thing that 

 will keep out the water. I put an empty su- 

 per on the hive, and over the frames a piece 

 of straw matting or old carpet is put on, 

 separated from the frames by a Hill device. 

 I fill the super with cork dust, chaff, planer- 



