1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



757 



A NOVEL HONEY EXHIBIT. 



A High-class Business Deserves a High- 

 class Display. 



BY JOHN BAILEY. 



Tlie reason why I like to make a good exhibit 

 or display of my bees, honey, and wax is because 

 it lielps to advertise my business, because it in- 

 troduces honey to the public, and because it helps 

 to sell my honey. It also helps to increase the 

 gate fees at our exhibition. Part of my exhibit 

 is not visible, such as the observation hive and 

 the tin and glass packages, of which 1 had about 

 fifteen different kinds. The wax horsehead on 

 top was made in a mold, as were all tlie cones, 

 etc. I like to have the display of honey high 

 enough to show abo\ e the heads of the crowd of 

 people. A white background shows the honey 

 well if it is put up in glass, and not too close to- 

 gether. 



Bracebridge, Ont. 



MAKING INCREASE. 



The Somerford Plan Modified; the Alex- 

 ander Plan not a Success During 

 Apple-blossom Time. 



BY J. A. CRANE. 



When I wish to use a colony for making nu- 

 clei 1 remove the queen as directed in the May 

 1st issue, page 577, placing her in a cage on top 

 of the frames. I leave her there three days, at the 

 end of wliich time there should be cells started. 

 I then take one frame with a little brood, and 

 place it in a hive of drawn combs; set the colony 

 off its bottom, and place the hive of drawn combs 

 in its place, letting the queen run on to this one 

 comb of brood. Over this I put a queen-exclud- 

 er, and set the hi\e of brood on top, and put on 

 the cover. The bees will finish the cells just as 

 well as if the queen were caged for the ten days, 

 and a new colony will be started below, so that, 

 when the cells are nearly ripe, we can take the 

 brood and bees from the upper story, and form 

 nuclei without having to leave a single frame or 

 any of the bees that are on them. If the colony 

 was very strong theie will soon be a good work- 

 ing colony on the old stand. By this method 

 we are able to make one more nucleus from a col- 

 ony than by the original Somerford plan. Any 

 hive which we intend to use in this way we build 

 up before caging the queen, so that there is a 

 large amount of brood in every frame. I let the 

 queen start about all the frames, and then set the 

 fullest ones on the outside of the brood-nest, and 

 in a short time have them all practically full of 

 brood. 



I make my nuclei by the Somerford plan, and 

 sometimes stuff the entrances with grass, but 

 oftener close them with a stick for three or four 

 days. When I open them I push the stick so as 

 to let only one or two bees pass at once for a cou- 

 ple of days, then open two inches. I have had 

 brood in seven frames within fourteen days from 

 making the divisions, and the bees storing in ex- 

 tracting combs in thirty days. 



Last season I tried the Alexander method of 



increase during apple-blossom, and instead of the 

 (]ueen making a start toward a brood-nest below 

 the excluder, the bees jammed the lower story 

 full of honey before there was a patch of brood 

 as large as my hand. They refused to carry it 

 above after I gave them extracting-supers, and, 

 after a little, swarmed. I think it would have 

 worked all right on a slow honey-flow, but I 

 shall not try it again during apple-blossom time. 

 Marion, N. Y. 



D. E. MERRILL, OF THE W. T. FAL- 

 CONER MFG. CO., JAMESTOWN, 



N. Y. 



BY E. R. ROOT. 



As announced in our last issue, Mr. D. E. Mer- 

 rill died on the 16th of May after lingering be- 

 tween life and death for six days following a par- 

 alytic stroke that he received at Bemus Point, on 

 Lake Chautauqua, whither he had gone with 

 some friends. 



D. E. MERRILL. 



Mr. Merrill had not been in good healtii for 

 five or six years. Two years ago he received a 

 slight stroke of paralysis, but apparently recover- 

 ed. A couple of weeks ago with a party of 

 friends he went up the lake, stopping at the place 

 mentioned above. While at dinner, and without 

 any warning, the fatal stroke came. 



Mr. Merrill was 49 years of age, and leaves a 

 wife and three children. He was prominent in 

 Masonic circles, being a 32-degree member, and 

 a member of the Royal Arcanum. In a social 

 way he was connected with various clubs, and in 



