634 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Oct. 15 



on the end. In this the operat- 

 or assumes a very natural, easy, 

 and comfortable position. The 

 left arm rests upon the knee, 

 supporting the weight of the 

 frame, wnile the right arm 

 merely holds it in a position for 

 exammation. 



After removing a frame we 

 very often lean it against the 

 thigh; another one against the 

 hive, and still another against 

 the other leg. When one is at 



FIG. ().— MAKING A GAP BKTW KEN 



THE FRAMES SO THAT ONE 



CAN BE EASILY REMOVED. 



blade made of good spring"steel, 

 tempered just hard enough to 

 have the resilient qualities of a 

 buggy-spring. 



Such a tool should be either 

 nickel-plated or painted some 

 bright color, like red, so that, 

 when dropped or lost in the 

 grass, it can be readily seen. 

 If painted a bright red it will be 

 in good contrast to green grass. 



HOW TO HANDLE FRAMES. 



Many yard men prefer to 

 work with a sort of stool and 

 hive-box combined; others wish 

 to have nothing to lug around except the 

 bee-smoker and the hive-tool. As most hives 

 are placed on or near the ground, one must 

 either sit down on some object or kneel in 

 front of the hive, to bring himself to the 

 proper working distance. We usually use a 

 hive-cover as shown in Figs. 6, 7, 8, 9. It is 

 always handy, and has the further advantage 

 of a milk-stool in that one can shift his body 

 back and forth on the hive-cover in order to 

 reach frames toward the near or far side of 

 the hive, as the case may be. A seat that 

 does not allow one to shift his body back and 

 forth, necessarily requires more stooping 

 or bending of the back. 



Occasionally it will be found desirable to 

 turn the cover up lengthwise, and we always 

 use it in that manner when we desire to 

 place the weight of the body against the frame 

 that we are crowding over against its fellows. 

 See Fig. 8. In pulling out a division-board, 

 one has a little more leverage if he sits high 

 rather than low. See Fig. 9. But if he mere- 

 ly wishes to separate the frames, then spend 

 several minutes hunting for the queen or 

 looking over the brood, as shown in Fig. 7, 

 one should sit on the narrow side rather than 



FIG. 7.— A COMFORTABLE POSITION FOR ALL-DAY WORK. 



Note that the left arm that supports the weight of the frames rests 

 comfortably on the knee. 



work clipping queens' wings it is sometimes 

 necessary to nave three or four frames out 

 of the hive at once in order to give room for 

 the proper handling of those already in tlie 

 hive. When he works with bees all day he 

 should assume as comfortable an attitude as 

 possible, for at best he will be tired enough 

 at the end of the day. 



A change of position is often restful. After 

 one has oeen working over a number of 

 hives, sitting down on the hive-cover or hive- 

 stool, he finds it convenient to vary occasion- 

 ally the position by resting on the knees 

 close to the hive; and still again he may find 

 it comfortable to vary the monotony by stand- 

 ing upright, bending over only when it is 

 necessary to remove a frame. 



Perhaps it may seem that the operator in 

 Fig. 9 is taking things easy. There are times 

 when only one hana can do good work. If 

 one can assume a comfortable attitude, even 

 though it be only momentary, he ought to do 

 so. 



We are well aware that some of our apia- 

 rists will say they have no time to sit down, 

 much less "loaf on the job," as might ap- 

 pear in Fig. 6. It is our opinion, however, 



