1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1383 



I would not advise any brother bee-keeper to try 

 a large number of hives in this manner as a first 

 experiment, as the locality might have something 

 to do with the success of the plan. One of the 

 very best features of all is the fact that hives 

 treated as above will come out in the spring with 

 at least three more frames of brood than hives at 

 like period that did not have the holes through 

 the frames. The bees always till in all of these 

 pop-holes before the close of the apple-bloom. 

 Sandusky, W. Va. 



[The arrangement of having a hole through 

 the center of the brood-combs has been used to a 

 greater or less extent for a good many years. If 

 we are correct, father Quinby away back in the 

 60's practiced it. The trouble is, it results in 

 the mutilation of combs; and while, as you say, 

 the bees will fill it up again at the next honey- 

 flow, they are likely to put in drone comb. But 

 with the ordinary Langstroth frame we question 

 whether such holes are necessary, provided there 

 be left a bee-space over the tops of the frames. It 

 is the general practice now to use sealed covers, 

 and this will leave a clear bee-space so the bees 

 can go back and forth. If absorbing cushions 

 are used it is the general practice to use corncobs, 

 sticks, or what is known as the Hill device, over 

 the center of the cluster. The purpose of these 

 is to hold the cushion up, leaving a clustering 

 space over the tops of the frames. The sealed 

 cover with a bee-space, the Hill device, or its 

 equivalent, will render such mutilation, in Lang- 

 stroth frames at least, unnecessary. — Ed.] 



GETTING COMBS BUILT SOLID TO 

 THE BOTTOM-BAR. 



More About Splints for Staying Founda- 

 tion. 



BY DR. C. C. MILLER. 



J. W. Kalfers sends some questions that he re- 

 quests me to answer in Gleanings, which I pro- 

 ceed to do without repeating the questions. 



I have had experience several years with several 

 hundred divided bottom-bars. The chief advan- 

 tage is that you can very quickly and easily have 

 your foundation securely fastened to the bottom- 

 bar and have an exact fit. But it is no better 

 than to cut the foundation to an exact fit and wax 

 it to a plain bottom-bar, if you are willing to 

 take the trouble. Indeed, I doubt if it is quite 

 so good. Bees are inclined to have a passage be- 

 t«een the comb and the bottom-bar, and it's a 

 little easier for them to gnaw such passage with 

 the divided bottom-bar than where the founda- 

 tion is waxed on a plain bottom-bar. 



My bottom-bars are the same width as top and 

 end bars — l}i inches. While this width has ad- 

 vantages, I'm a bit suspicious that bees are more 

 averse to building comb down solid to it than to 

 something narrower. Perhaps such wide bottom- 

 bars seem to them like the floor of their dwell- 

 ing, and they want the floor free to walk over. 



Some of my combs are built solid to the frame, 

 bottom, sides, and top, and are a comfort to look 

 upon. But too many have more or less of the 

 foundation gnawed away over bottom-bars, be- 



cause given at a time when little or no gathering 

 was going on. At such times bees have leisure 

 to make a passage under combs, so as to make 

 things as they, not you, think they ought to be. 

 If rushed at taking care of the honey that is com- 

 ing in, they haven't time to do any gnawing, and 

 the comb is built down to the bottom-bar. So 

 make sure to give frames to be built out at a 

 time when honey is yielding if you want them 

 built down to the bottom-bar. 



When putting in foundation with splints, the 

 foundation is not waxed to the end-bars. There 

 is no trouble in getting the bees to build solid to 

 end-bars if the foundation touches, or if it nearly 

 touches, the end-bars. Indeed, I do no waxing 

 at all, for the up-to-date kerf-and-wedge method 

 of fastening to top-bar is used. Of course, wax- 

 ing to the top-bar is just as good, but more trou- 

 blesome. In no case would I wax to the end- 

 bars; but I would have foundation securely fas- 

 tened at top and bottom. 



Even when divided bottom-bars are used, it 

 might pay well to run melted wax along the bot- 

 tom-bars to make it harder for the bees to gnaw 

 a passageway. 



New combs built on splints ought not to be 

 more likely to break in the extractor than wired 

 combs. If any difference, they ought to be less, 

 for the splints are more rigid than wire. 



To avoid the trouble of new combs breaking 

 in the extractor, I know of no better way than to 

 favor them a little until they begin to grow old. 

 Put a heavy new comb into the extractor, and 

 turn rather slowly until the honey from one side 

 is perhaps half emptied. Reverse, and empty the 

 second side. Reverse again, and complete emp- 

 tying the first side. Of course, if you want to 

 take the trouble, you can be still more careful, 

 reversing more times, and emptying less at each 

 reversing. 



Marengo, 111. 



BEE-KEEPING IN THE BRITISH 

 ISLES. 



A Description of the Methods and Ap- 

 pliances Used. 



BY JOSEPH TINSLEY. 



Bee-keeping in the British Isles, which includes 

 England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, is carried 

 on under conditions far different from those in 

 America, owing to the climatic conditions. I 

 do not believe there is a single bee-keeper who 

 depends entirely upon his bees for a livelihood; 

 but many combine market-gardening, poultry- 

 keeping, etc., with it. As an illustration show- 

 ing the fickleness of the climate, take the past 

 season. I am the recognized lecturer and expert 

 in the county of Stafford for the Staffordshire 

 Bee-keepers' Association; and in my trips to in- 

 spect hives and give advice I have seen many api- 

 aries totally devastated on account of insufficient 

 honey to keep them going in the months of June 

 and July, which are generally consideied our best 

 months for the gathering of the nectar. 



I should, first of all, explain that England is 

 divided into 52 counties, or divisions, and in al- 

 most all of these divisions there is an associa- 

 tion which is composed of a number of bee-keep- 



