1901 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



176 



home and the bees were climbing up the 

 side of tlieir -hirp onto the top of the 

 eiijpty one above. 



jThere were no bees in the air; they 

 had crawled, and were still crawling up 

 the ^ides of the hives, where, on t6p, 

 W4S tlie dear little queen. I hastened in 

 wijtk the milk, and without gloves, veil 

 orj smoker, I brushed the bees into the 

 enlpty hLv?. D.m'ing the work some of the 

 be^es Hew 4o-a^ nearby:, shrub, the one 

 which had been visited by the scouts the 

 day before, but returned to the new hive 

 which I had placed just in the rear of 

 the old one. After all was quiet I moved 

 the hive to its permanent place and the 

 bees have set up housekeeping. 



The entire proceeding seemed so unlike 

 the habits of bees that I can not but 

 think that the Lord helped me. He 

 knew just how many things I had to do, 

 and how tired I was, and He put it into 

 the heart of the little queen to walk up 

 to the top of the hive and stay there un- 

 til I came baek. 



Again — last Spring we had an odd 

 experience: A small swarm started off 

 one Saturday afternoon and rested on a 

 scrubby patch where the ground was 

 very wet. As it was almost dark we 

 said "Let them go." 



As the sun went down the wind rose, 

 and my husband placed a box up in the 

 scrub, thinking the bees would be blown 

 off their perch. All night the wind blew 

 and howled. In the early morning light 

 I sought the place, and there swung the 

 bees, beaten around by the neighboring 

 branches. My husband got a stick with 

 a crook in the end and drew the branch 

 down, cutting it and laying it in a hive. 

 The bees seemed so glad of shelter that 

 above the wind we could hear a content- 

 ed humming. The runaways have turned 

 out very industrious. Yours, 



Ida Castle. 



Paris Station, N.Y., July 15. 1901. 

 AM>:KirAN Bee-keepek : I am glad 

 to see what I call an extra good crop of 

 honey, for 1901 — that is, as far as central 

 New York goes — for here in old Oneida 

 County there is the largest showing of 

 white clover that I ever saw and bass- 

 wood is now ready with a crop which 

 promises to come up to '97. Where bees, 

 wintered well they are mor-e than bring- 

 ing home nectar from the clover. My 

 bees are wintered on Summer stands, 

 and though in 1900 showed some signs of 

 t)lack brood, this year are looking all 

 right, and I have not seeii any signs of 

 it in this section. My bees are at work 

 in their second siiper. As I use the 



Falcon Chaff Hive, 10-frame, there are 

 36 sections in each super, which, when 

 full, makes one think he has some honey 

 when he takes it to the honey house. I 

 always put the second super under the 

 first when it is about three-fourths done. 

 In this way there is no trouble about the 

 bees entering the super. My supers take 

 the 4 3^x4}^ section, which I get of the 

 Falconer Mfg. Co., and always use the 

 A No. 1. Out of .500 sections did not 

 break but four. I always put them to- 

 gether with a light mallet and in the' 

 Winter, when I have not much to do, fill, 

 them with extra light foundation and set 

 away where the dirt and mice can not 

 work into them. 



This year I am using an 8-frame Dove- 

 tailed hive and for convenience and lots 

 of other things it is far ahead of any 10- 

 frame chaff hive ever made. I can give 

 many reasons and should like to have 

 the subject discussed in The American 

 Bee-keepek. There are many things 

 that would interest many of the readers 

 to have some of our more advanced bee 

 men talk about. Yours respectfully, 



W. E. Head. 



FASTENING FOUNDATION IN BROOD 

 FRAMES. 



Ringdale, Pa., July 24, 1901. 



Not having seen in print my method of 

 fastening fecundation in bro<_id frames, I 

 will tell the readers of The Bee-keeper 

 how I do it. The top bar is passed over 

 a buzz-saw, cutting out a strip equal to 

 one-fourth of the wood the entire length; 

 thus virtually removing one corner of 

 the bar. When the frame is nailed the 

 foundation is placed in this gain and the 

 strip nailed back in its original position, 

 thus holding the foundation securely. 

 A thin board placed upon the work 

 bench against which the top bar takes 

 bearing while nailing, relieves the spring 

 otherwise caused by the end bars. 



A few years ago a young fellow out 

 near Chicago thought of using wood 

 splints instead of wire to keep founda- 

 tion from sagging. Small straws are 

 just as good as wood splints — the first 

 joint of timothy or led-topor any fine 

 straw. They should be first boiled in 

 beeswax, the same as the splints. They 

 may be imbedded in the foundation with 

 a wire-imbedder. or pressed in with a 

 piece of wood cut to a, sharp edge. The 

 straw need not be hot if the foundation 

 is wann and soft. I believe the wood 

 splint idea was condemned some time 

 ago, the wiring method being faster. I 

 should think the splints or straws would 



