232 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. !.'>. 



is covered with alfalfa, wliich at limes grows 

 very rank under the hives that are standing on 

 benches 2 to 3 feet high. Time and again have 

 I seen his horses standing in front of the hives, 

 and eating the alfalfa underneath, without the 

 bees appearing to notice them. I cautioned the 

 owner about the danger to his horses, but he 

 said there was no danger, and I never heard 

 that any of them got stung. 



Bee-keepers are often either too poor or too 

 indolent to provide a proper shade for their 

 bees. When Rambler gets through rambling, 

 and settles down on a place of his own, where 

 he can have his apiary in a nice grove of shade 

 or fruit trees, he will change his views about 

 the viciousness of California bees. 



THE PORTEK BEE-ESCAPES. 



I wish to indorse all that has been said in fa- 

 vor of tlie Porter bee-escapes. I have used two 

 dozens of them during the last two seasons. 

 They are a wonderful help in saving time and 

 labor, and in preventing robbing. I would not 

 do without them, even if they cost five dollars 

 apiece. 



TO FASTEN FOUNDATION IN BROOD FRAMES. 



• Let me say to Mr. Greiner, that I have for 

 years used strips of soft pine, ^xM i"-? and a 

 littleshorter than the inside length of the frame. 

 I cut them out with my circular saw, and call 

 them foundation splints. I always use full 

 sheets, botii in brood-frames and sections. The 

 top-bar of my brood-frame is flat. I have a 

 board on which is nailed another that will 

 loosely fit the inside of the frame and support 

 the foundation in the center of this. Having 

 warmed the foundation so ihut the edge will 

 bend without bi'eaking, I place a fiame upside 

 down on the bottom-board; lay a sheet of foun- 

 dation on the upper board, and slide it t:ovvard 

 me, so that it will about cover the top-bar of 

 the frame. Now place one of the foundation 

 splints on the foundation, ami about even with 

 the edge; drive five 3^-inch wire nails equidis- 

 tant through the splint and foundation into the 

 top-bar. Then turn the fiapie down, so that it 

 lies on the bottom-board; press the bend of the 

 foundation against the edge of the upper board 

 (which should be moistened to prevent stick- 

 ing), to make it square; raise the whole. thing 

 up perpendicularly, and lift otf the frame with 

 its sheet of foundation. It makes a sure job. 

 Everyliody for whom I make foundation wants 

 a set of splints tp fasten it with, and nails too. 

 for that matter. To prevent splitting I dip a 

 handful of splints, at the time, in a bucket of 

 water, and shake the water well off. 



I have tried the melled-wax method, but it 

 was not always saf^isfaetory. I have never used 

 wiring, but am going to try it this year, to pre- 

 vent the kinking of the lower corners of the 

 foundation while the bees are working on it. If 

 the wires could l)o pulled out when the comb is 

 completed, and without injuring it, it would 



suit me all the better. I shall test this the com- 

 ing summer. The wires will sometimes inter- 

 fere with cutting out queen-cells, and as I do 

 not move my bees around I have no need of 

 wires to support the combs. 

 Independence, Cal., Feb. 14. 



[We have sometimes thought that bees stung- 

 worse on hot days, but very possibly this might 

 be due to a lack of sufficient shade on those 

 days. But after all, it hardly seems to us that 

 shade alone would make all the difference be- 

 tween cross and gentle bees. At the time of 

 our bicycle tour through York State we were 

 not very favorably impressed with the gentle- 

 ness of some of the bees of the leading apiarists; 

 and we remember that on some occasions we re- 

 ceived some severe stings in apiaries that were 

 in groves. Some buckwheat honey was coming 

 in, so the bees ought not to have been cross be- 

 cause they had nothing to do but to sting and 

 pry into other folks' affairs. At our home yard, 

 a cut of which appears on p. 923, '91. a portion of 

 the apiary is shaded with grapevines, and an- 

 other portion stands in the corner of the ever- 

 green yard, so that, during the forenoon and 

 part of the afternoon, they have no shade what- 

 ever; and yet we do not discover that the bees 

 are any crosses in one place than in another. 



It seems to us that your plan of fastening 

 foundation to top-bars is crude in comparison 

 with that given on page 375 of '• Langstroth on 

 the Honey-bee." revised by Dadant. The Han- 

 baugh roller will stick foundation, full sheets, 

 to the under side of top bars that are perfectly 

 flat, so securely that the foundation \\ ill tear 

 before it will cleave from the wood. From the 

 experience we have had, we believe it will do it 

 in about half the time, and that without sticks 

 or nails. In calling attention, however, to this 

 method, we do not mean to say that your plan 

 is not a good one.— Ed.] 



NOTES FROM THE '•VATERLAND. 



BKES AS MESSENGERS. 



By Karl R. Maihey. 



A new use for bees has just come to the front: 

 namely, as carriers of dispatches, especially in 

 war. This use of bees has been previously con- 

 fined moi-tly to sporting circles, but is now ex- 

 tended in its application through the efforts of 

 a Frenchman, Mr. A. Teynac. He fastens tO' 

 the back of the bee, by means of a little adhe- 

 sive varnish, a minute piece of paper upon 

 which is written the shortest and most condens- 

 ed dispatch. This paper is fastened on in such 

 a way as not to hinder the flight of the bee; 

 and for additional safely a number of bees are 

 sent out, similarly fitted up with the same dis- 

 patch. He now lets loose the bees, having re- 

 moved, a few days previously, their hives to a 

 distance of some 3 or 'i% miles, and in which 



