1894 



(JLEANINUS IN BEE CULTITRE. 



419 



the spacers crosswise, the same as the flanges 

 meet each other. 

 Denison, la.. March ~M. 



[When friend S. sent us samples of his frame- 

 spacers we were convinced that they had merit 

 enough to warrant a description in this depart- 

 ment. The particular feature of them is, that 

 they can be attached to old frames already in 

 use. Some of the good things Mr. Stephens 

 says of his spacers are also applicable to the 

 Hoffman. Now. you may ask, "Which one do 

 you prefer?" The HoiTman. because metal 

 spacers are and have been more or less unpopu- 

 lar, and we like to have the frames stick a little 

 so as to be always ready for moving. But here 

 iswhat friend Z. T. Hawk thinksof them.— Ed.] 



Ed. (?Zea?iin(/s;— Undoubtedly fixed frames 

 have come to stay. Of these, three classes are 

 in common use — open all round, wholly closed 

 at the end, as the Quinby, and partly closed at 

 the end, as the Hoffman. To one just entering 

 the business of bee-keeping, I doubt very much 

 whether it makes any great difference which 

 one of these styles he adopts: but the apiarist 

 who has a large number of the old-fashioned 

 suspended frames in use has really little choice 

 in the matter if he would avail himself of the 

 advantages of fixed frames. Unless he replace 

 his old frames outright with new ones, at great 

 sacrifice of time, labor, and money, he must 

 adopt some automatic spacer that can be easily 

 attached to the frames he already has in use. 

 There are several of these spacers, of more or 

 less merit; but my old friend Mr. G. W. 

 Stephens, of Denison, la., seems to have hit 

 upon a little device of this kind that leaves 

 nothing further to be desired. It has the triple 

 merits of cheapness, simplicity, and effective- 

 ness. It can be attached to an ordinary sus- 

 pended frame in a few moments, without dis- 

 turbing or mutilating the comb; and if the 

 bee-keeper wants a suspended frame with all 

 the "swing ■' taken out of it he can nail one of 

 these litile pieces of metal to each corner of the 

 frame, and haul his bees over the roughest 

 roads without additional fastening. I have 

 not the remotest financial interest in the device, 

 and only desire to call the attention of brother 

 bee-keepers to what 1 consider a meritorious 

 invention. Z. T. IIawk. 



Vail, la.. March 19. 



[We might suggest that it would be cheaper 

 and perhaps just as good to have the spacers 

 only at the top. Just now it strikes us we 

 should prefer them so, to having them at the 

 bottom also. Spacers at the bottom of the 

 frames always bother more or less in remov- 

 ing and replacing.— Ei).] 



8YKUP FROM A PEHCOLATOR A SUCCKSS. 



I have tried Dr. J. T. Beall's plan of making 

 simple syrup, as described on page 2:i(). I find 

 it works very satisfactorily, and gives a syrup 

 that suits the palate of man as well as bee. 

 Try it on some nice rolls, and see. 



St. Louis, Mo. P. R. Wagner. 



QUKKN8 CRAMPING. 



Question. — Do you ever have queens go into 

 a spasm, or cramp, when catching them to clip 

 their wings, or for any other purpose? I wish 

 to clip the wings of ray queens this year, but a 

 friend tells me that they often have cramps, 

 and die, while this is being done. Knowing 

 that you clip the wings of your queens, I write 

 for information. 



^nsw^e?'.- Several years ago this matter of 

 the cramping of queens while being clipped 

 was brought up; and it was claimed at that 

 time, as your friend claims, that when queens 

 would so'cramp they would die. At that time I 

 did not believe that a queen ever had a cramp 

 from being caught, or ever went into a spasm 

 from such a cause. I have seen scores of 

 queens in the condition which I supposed others 

 called having a cramp, some lying that way 

 from five seconds to two minutes, and always 

 found such a state of affairs to come about in 

 this way: When a queen is caught by both 

 wings so that she can not get around to catch 

 her feet on the fingers she will often curl up 

 her abdomen, opening the vulva at the same 

 time, and, while in this position, catch one of 

 the front feet in the vulva, which at once closes, 

 feeling the foreign substance there, thus hold- 

 ing the foot fast and doubling them up in a 

 little round ball, like a caterpillar. Sometimes 

 they will lie perfectly still like this for two 

 minutes after the wings are clipped, on top of 

 the frames, when all at once they will open the 

 vulva, take out the foot, and run down between 

 the combs as if nothing had happened. I have 

 had them do this several times when putting 

 them up for shipping, but not so often as in 

 clipping; but in all these cases I never could 

 see that the queen was injured in any way 

 whatever. 



However, a short time ago I had an experi- 

 ence different from the above, and the only 

 thing of the kind I ever witnessed. I caught a 

 queen very heavy with eggs, to clip h(M', catch- 

 ing her by all four wings. She doubled up, as 

 above given, caught her middle leg on the 

 right-hand side, as her back was toward me, 

 in the vulva; and when I cut the wings she 

 rolled down among the bees between the 

 frames, lodging' about one inch below the top- 

 bars. I marked the place where she was, fin- 

 ished the rest of the manipulation of the other 

 combs as I desired, when I blew a little smoke 

 over the marked place, and, when the bees had 

 run away, there was the queen all doubled up 

 in a little round heap, apparently dead. I took 

 out the combs again, opening very carefully 

 this space between the combs, where the queen 

 was, so she should not fall too rapidly to the 



