466 AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL.. 



bees did not object (I did not use such frames on swarms), and the frames handled 

 beautifully. There is now a very little propolis alons their edges. How would it do 

 to apply vaseline to the board designed for end-bars before it is sawed up? 



SwAKMS — High-Flieks AND Low-Fliers. — An old bee-keeper told me that 

 when a swarm on the march is observed to be flying low, it is pretty sure to stop 

 within half a mile or so, while if it flies high there is no use in following it. 



Wet Bee-Brush. — He also told me, and I proved by experience, of the advan- 

 tages of keeping a bee-brush wet when in use. This has been given before in 

 Gleanings, but it pays to bring up such matters periodically. A wet brush is more 

 effectual, irritates the bees less, and does not get sticky with honey. 



Absconding — Peculiar Case. — The same man once had a peculiar case of an 

 absconding swarm. It was found to be queenless shortly after being hived, and he 

 gave it a frame of brood. It stayed until a number of queen-cells were sealed, when 

 it suddenly left bodily, and went half a mile to a neighbor's yard, clustered on a 

 tree for half an hour, then returned to the hive it had just left, and stayed there. 



A Sw arming-Time Pole. — When there are tall trees about the apiary, a handy 

 and simple tool in swarming-time is a long, light pole with a hook on the end. With 

 this, light branches can be entirely torn off with a single pull, if it is applied at just 

 the right place; the boughs may be shaken with it to prevent the swarm from 

 clustering again, and spots inaccessible from the ground may be reached from the 

 middle of the tree. But clipped queens are nicer. 



An Improved Super. — I have tried several of Aikin Bros. & Knight's supers. 

 For keeping the sections absolutely clean, they are very superior. They are in- 

 tended to be used in connection with wood-zinc honey-boards. Some of the sections 

 went from the super to the crate untouched by the knife ; and none required any 

 but a very little scraping. This super uses separators between every two rows in- 

 stead of between every one, though more can be used if desired. That seems a 

 good idea. The honey is straight enough to crate ; in fact, it rarely bulges too 

 much on the side opposite the separator, when there is but one more comb between 

 it and the next separator ; and the sections are nearer full weight. 



Who Can Answer ? — Why don't we ever hear from the Vermont and Nebraska 

 experiment stations ? 



Foreign Bee-Papers.— Those who can do so will do well to read the foreign 

 bee-papers, especially UApicoltore. They may not have many ideas that we can 

 assimilate without digesting first ; their methods and hives are different from ours. 

 But they are suggestive. 



An Experiment. — Here is a desirable experiment : Find the average tempera- 

 ture of the upper corners of the comb-spacers in a number of colonies in closed-end 

 frames during a freezing spell in winter, and compare it with the average tempera- 

 ture of the same in the same number of colonies of the same strength on open-end 

 frames at the same time. It will not do to got the temperature of the center of the 

 cluster ; for the inside bees of (;olonies on open-end frames are doubtless just as 

 warm as the inside bees of colonics on closed-end frames ; but if there is any differ- 

 ence, the crust of inert bees on the outside of the cluster when closed-end frames 

 are used ought to be less thick than on open-end frames ; the vitality of the colony 

 will not be so soon expended, and more brood will be reared in spring. 



