200 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



September, 



with spur or rocker. So I settled on 

 the plan of not embedding the wire 

 at all, which was better, but certainly 

 very far from perfect, as occasional 

 sheets broke loose from the top bars 

 of the frames, while en route to the 

 out yards. So at last I have found a 

 plan which is more satisfactory than 

 any other. 



The wire is embedded with spur or 

 other tool (I prefer the rocker) then 

 a camel's hair brush, dipped in melted 

 wax is quickly run over the wire 

 lengthwise, which securely waxes the 

 wire in place, and so strengthens the 

 sheet of foundation that there is nd* 

 breaking or sagging at the wires, and 

 as the wires help to support the weight 

 of the sheet there is no trouble from 

 the foundation breaking loose along 

 the top bar. 



We are now using a similar plan, 

 which is even more rapid. The Onder- 

 donk wax spoon, with a small slit in 

 the end of the bowl or sharp-pointed 

 tin trough is filled with melted wax, 

 the slot fitted over the wire and drawn 

 rapidly across and downward, which 

 securely waxes the wire to the founda- 

 tion. The sheet of foundation is, of 

 course, supported by a board about 

 one-half the thickness of the frame, 

 until the wire Is embedded. 



SECTIONAL HIVES. 



The shallow, sectional hive surely 

 fills the bill here. The young man who 

 is assisting in our apiaries was at first 

 opposed to the divisible hives, but now 

 he likes them, as no fool (or wise man 

 either) could fail to notice the saving 

 in labor in nearly all manipulations. 

 And contrary to the experience (?) of 

 Gill, Doolittle and Dadant, my queens 

 show no reluctance in passing from 

 case to case, nor do the queens dislike 

 to lay near the thin top and bottom 

 bars of the frames. 



Any fair-minded person inspecting 

 our colonies, of which Over one hun- 

 dred are in the shallow hives, would 

 readily admit that the shallow hives 

 contained colonies fully as strong as 

 any on L frames. For extracting, the 

 shallow extracting super, containing 

 either eight or ten frames 5 3-8 inches 

 deep, top bars only 7-8 inch wide, 

 Hoffman end-bars, securely nailea, 

 makes a splendid hive, and we are be- 

 ginning to think superior to the reg- 



ular Heddon hive, which contains 

 closed-end standing frames, which can- 

 not be manipulated nearlj' so rapidly 

 or roughly as the shallow Hodman 

 frame. This conclusion has been 

 reached after a trial of hundreds of 

 cases built on the regular Heddon prin- 

 ciple for several seasons. I have found 

 no advantage in closed-end frames for 

 early brood-rearing, and the develop- 

 ment of strong colonies. They give 

 trouble by shrinking and swelling and 

 cannot readily be used seven in an 

 eight-frame super, or eight in a ten- 

 frame super, for extracting purposes; 

 vvhile the shallow HofPman frame is 

 readily so used. 



We give our colonies unlimited 

 breeding i-oom in spring, and as the 

 flow opens pile on the supers, when as 

 a general rule we do not see them 

 again until extracting the first crop, 

 and again to extract the second crop. 

 These shallow supers are freed of bees 

 by the Coggshall method of flapping 

 the quilt and smoking; the operation 

 takes but little more time to remove 

 a whole super than to shake and brush 

 a single heavy L frame. We hope to 

 try Rambler's "jouncer" this season. 



Boise, Idaho, June 18, 1903. 



CUBAN HONEY IN PHILADELPHIA. 



(M. F. Reeve). 



CONSIDERABLE Cuban comb hon- 

 ey, or what was represented to 

 be such, has been exposed for 

 sale in the windows of the principal 

 Philadelphia grocery stores during the 

 spring and summer. It was in tall 

 sections, some of it being glazed, and 

 was put up in attractive style. It 

 found ready sale, I was told, at 20 

 cents a pound. It was of a light am- 

 ber color and of very pleasant flavor. 

 It would have to be a good article to 

 compete in the Philadelphia market, 

 where the palates of consumers have 

 been familiar for many years with 

 white clover honey. Much honey of 

 this kind comes there from New York 

 State. There was formerly a big yield 

 around Philadelphia, but honey pro- 

 ducers say the lawn mower has kii.ed 

 of? the white clover so that in many 

 sections around the subuHis where de- 

 licious nectar was gathered eveiy year 

 by bees, none is produced any more. 



