Jan. 18, 1906 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



47 



was given, that you forgot all about the matter just at the 

 time when it would have been of great service to you — a ser- 

 vice sufficient to have saved the life of 50 colonies of bees? 

 To think what that forgetting or lack of attention cost you ! 

 Why, it almost staggers a little bee-keeper like me. 



Fifty colonies lost in the spring through inattention, 

 means a loss of about $5 a colony as to worth of bees, for 

 these colonies would have doubled ; when, calling them 

 worth only $2.50 each in the fall, we would have had 100 

 colonies to multiply the $2.50 by, or $250 for the bees alone. 

 Then had they produced 100 pounds of comb honey to each 

 colony in the spring, as did each colony of mine at the out- 

 apiary, and that 5000 pounds sold at the average price of 10 

 cents per pound, as did mine, this would have given $500 in 

 honey, or a total loss of $750 for the year 1905, and that just 

 from a lack of a little attention, the " cheapest article in the 

 whole apiary management." 



Oh, Mr. Dayton ! Certainly Dr. Miller and myself told 

 you more than once that the best way of feeding bees that 

 were lacking in stores was to exchange a few full combs 

 from the rich colonies into the weak or starving ones. And 

 to think that you paid so little " attention " that you let 50 

 whole colonies starve 1 Oh ! Oh ! I 



Then I have more against you— you, whom the bee- 

 keeping fraternity look up to as an authority; one of the con- 

 tributors to our bee-knowledge ; one of our successful apiar- 

 ists. You say in that article, " I was very busy at other 

 kinds of work," so much so that " I thought I could spare no 

 time so much as to raise the covers, and did not go amongst 

 the hives more than once in 10 days." And this you did 

 when Doolittle had told you over and over again, " that you 

 should leave no stone unturned that would give you a single 

 pound more of honey." Ah, you know the good Dr. Miller 

 and myself have often "warned you beforehand" in these 

 matters. Why did you not heed it, and let those "other 

 kinds of work " give place to the bees, looking after the 

 bees first, and then doing other work, if you could find the 

 time afterward ? Have we not told you that this was the 

 only way you could become a successful bee-keeper ? And 

 now to have you say that we "ought to have warned you 

 beforehand." It almost breaks our hearts. 



But I think I hear you saying, " I did not know where 

 to find these beforehand warnings that you and Dr. Miller 

 have given." Yes, but did I not warn you beforehand on 

 this very point, and tell you when writing of my reference 

 book, how you might be able to find these and other matters 

 at just the time you were most in need of them ? And now 

 I come to the main thing which I wished to speak about, 

 the " before " part being only as a preliminary to show the 

 value of what is to come after, Mr. Dayton's "ought to have 

 warned me beforehand" being what called up the matter. 



How are we to find these beforehand warnings, and 

 all subjects treated out of season just when we want them 

 "in season?" If I am a judge, fully three-fourths of the 

 matter in our bee-papers comes to us at a time when we can- 

 not put it in practice. Not that the bee-papers are to blame 

 for this, for it is but natural that any writer tells about, and 

 is the most interested in, any scheme or work just after he 

 has passed through it ; and after he has passed through it 

 and has had time to get the thing published, it is too late 

 for the same to be of use to others till nearly a year has 

 passed away, and by this time nearly all will have forgotten 

 the matter, unless we have some means of calling it to our 

 minds just when it will be applicable again. Or, as Mr. 

 Dayton so aptly puts it, " I can not use their advice until it 

 happens again." 



My way of calling to mind these things just when I 

 wish to use them is to mark the item I think will help me, 

 by drawing a pencil mark around that part which I think 

 will help me, and immediately picking up a little book I al- 

 ways have at hand when reading the bee-papers (my refer- 

 ence book), having 24 leaves in it, the leaves being dated 

 Jan. 1, Jan. 15, Feb. 1, and so on to the end of the year, 

 when I jot down, under the appropriate date, the matter I 

 have just read about. 



For instance, it is this item in Mr. Dayton's article 

 about out-door feeding which has called out these thoughts ; 

 the matter is applicable to next or any May, in this locality, 

 but is printed under date of Dec. 7, 1905. I turn the leaves 

 to the leaf dated May 1. and there write, "About spring 

 feeding, A.B.J.-p. 840,-05." 



Now, when May arrives, I take down the book and look 

 over all that is jotted down under the date of May 1, and I 

 know at a glance just what I wish to look up as applicable 

 or peculiar to the season we are having then ; or, perchance, 

 something which I wish to experiment on at that time, like 

 this plan of out-door feeding would be. 



When May 15 arrives I take down the book again and 

 find out what is right for the last half of May, and so on to 

 the end of the year, or May 1 of the next year. Things 

 which I have jotted down to experiment with are under- 

 scored, if they have proven valuable ; or crossed off if of no 

 value. In this way I get the cream of all the bee-papers as 

 the years go by, having all the cream of volumes upon vol- 

 umes in this little book, and that called to my " attention " 

 just when I want it for use. C I 



And while this attention may be the " cheapest article 

 in the whole apiary management," in one sense of the word, 

 yet in another sense it is the most valuable possession I 

 have along the "bee-line." 



If Mr. Dayton had been, thus " beforehanded" last 

 spring, it might have been $750 value to him. See? 



Borodino, N. Y. 



* 



Something More About Frame-Spacers 



BY K. H. WAGNER 



I WOULD like to say a few words about spacers, since C. 

 W. Dayton gave us some sketches of his spacers in last 

 year's volume of the American Bee Journal. 

 From Oct. 2, 1894 to June 13, 1895, I made a number of 

 hives (some for myself, but sold more than I used), and in 6 

 of my own and all that I sold I put a spacer of my own in- 



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Li 



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N2I, 



BOTTOM SPACER 



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BOTTOM BOAR 



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CLEAT 



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STAPLES 



vention, but before 2 years had passed I discarded all injmy 

 yard, believing that they (being of metal) were very objec- 

 tionable to the bees. By repeated watching it appeared to 

 me that the bees would run up to the cold metal, rush back 

 or to the side of it, trying to get past it where they would 

 not have to cross it with their feet, but after I coated some 

 heavy with wax they did not appear to notice them very 

 much, and where some were coated near the edge or side of 

 the hive, and others in the center, they showed their prefer- 

 ence by traveling over the wire where it was coated, most 

 particularly in the early morning. This was on the bottom 

 spacer, while on the top spacer I never could detect any dif- 

 ference in the action of the bees. One reason for that was, 

 the bees were more or less disturbed by watching them, as 

 my hives had wooden walls and top so they had to be opened 

 to see them. Another, and I believe the main reason, was 

 that the wire was warmer in the top of the hive. 



I will try to explain where my spacers differ from those 

 of Mr. Dayton. The bottom spacer, No. 1, was staggered 

 at its base (what I mean by that is, the 1st, 3d and 4th loops 

 to receive the frame were drawn toward the entrance, while 



FHAME £NDS 



TOP SPACER 

 |Z~ TOP BAR ^ 



N° 2 



the 2d, 4th, and 6th, etc., were drawn towards the rear of 

 the hive, and a small staple was driven into the bottom- 

 board at each bearing.) 



Another difference was this : The loops were nearly V- 

 shaped, so that they were the width of the bottom-bar at the 

 right height, while the frame would enter easily, yet come 

 to its place by the elastic and springy wire. These spacers 



