182 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



October 



colonics, according to tlic niniibcr of 

 combs I have and tiio strength of the 

 colonies. In this way I have no further 

 anxiety in tlie, matter, going to tliese 

 hives for combs as I need tliem or taking 

 them off in the fall in a good state of 

 preservation, ready to be frozen the 

 next winter, thus putting them in shape 

 to keep for a series of years, where iso 

 boxed that no moth-miller can have 

 access to them afterward. Of course, 

 the places for combs during the summer 

 months is in a full colony of bees, where 

 they can be utilized for brood and 

 honey ; but it sometimes happens, 

 through loss of bees or otherwise, we 

 wish to preserve our combs for a year 

 or two for future use, and Mr. Reeve 

 has told us a good way of doing this. 



WHITE COMB FOR STARTERS. 



Near the close of his article Mr. 

 Reeve gives us a second hint well worth 

 remembering, when he tells us how he 

 utilizes his white comb for starters in 

 his sections. 1 have thus used all pieces 

 of white comb for the past thirty years, 

 and consider that this saving alone has 

 been a benefit to me, amounting way up 

 into the hundreds of dollars, if not thou- 

 sands. The man or woman who throws 

 pieces of white comb into the wax h<'ap 

 instead of putting them into the sections 

 as bait comb or starters, does not fully 

 understand some of the things which go 

 tiivvard making a success in bee-keep- 

 ing. Hut to fasten thiun in. I lind a 

 heated iron far preferable to the melted 

 wax plan. Just take a piece of any 

 old steel or iron that is from one-eightii 

 to one-fourth of an inch thick and from 

 two to three inches wide, fastened in 

 some way in a wooden handle, so as to 

 [)revent burning tlie hand. Now heat this 

 iron over a lamp or tire till it will melt 

 wax rapidly, when you will lay th(^ hot 

 iron on the under side of the top piece 

 of the section, the section being bottom 

 side up, and as soon as the piece of 

 comb touches it, quickly draw the ii'on, 

 letting the comb rest on the wood, tlu' 

 comb immediatelv l)ccominif a lixture. 



and so lixed that tln^ bees will not pull 

 or gnaw it off. 



"ANOTHER HILl/S DEVICE." 



The cut, found on page 1G~, takes my 

 eye and looks like a good tiling. As I 

 have not yet tried it. it would not be 

 the part of wisdom for me to say further 

 than that I hope many of our practical 

 bee-keepers will try it. But there is 

 something which I know is a good 

 thing, and which would be well to 

 always use in connection with this HilTs 

 turn table, and that good thing is a 

 robber cloth. This is simply a piece of 

 common cotton cloth, a little larger 

 each way than the top of the hive, say, 

 projecting three inches all around the 

 top of the hive, with a stick of hard or 

 heavy wood, say three-fourths of an 

 inch square, fastened to two sides of the 

 cloth. Every apiary needs from two to 

 six of these, and at all times when 

 handling hives of combs or honey, one 

 should be thrown over the top as soon 

 as the bees are gotten off from them, 

 this keeping any robber from getting a 

 taste of stolen honey, which will prevent 

 bees from getting on such a robbing 

 rampage, as often happens where they 

 ar(* allowed access to the combs till they 

 are scattered by a few whifPs of smoke 

 at the entrance to the honey-house. 

 Try these robber-cloths, brother and 

 sister bee-keepers, and you will always 

 be thankful for having vour attention 

 called to such a simple and easily mad<' 

 implement for the apiary. 



creiner's article. 

 This is full of meat, as usual; but 

 surely, no one will expect me to point 

 out the good things in it after receiving 

 such a thrashing as he gives me in the 

 lattiM' part of it. So I am going to let 

 the good things alone and notije a 

 point on which I cannot think him 

 otherwise than mistaken ; or that he 

 does not qualify his statiunents as he 

 should. I allude to his statement re- 

 garding the proliticness of the Carni- 

 olan queens, and in placing them 

 first on the list as to prolilicness. They 



