550 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July ] , 



comb on the narrow bottom -bars is to bnild 

 some cells along one side of it. in which honey 

 is stored, so that, if you wish to reverse 

 this frame, the projecting cflls at the bottom 

 will touch the projecting cell-? on the bottom- 

 bar of the next frame; this, therefore, interferes 

 with the interchangeableness of the frames. 



I will now suggest a bottom -bar. I have not 

 tried it. nor have my bees, so I can not say that 

 it will be a success; but, so far as I can see. it 

 ought to be! Make it ju«t like one of your all- 

 wood Simplicity-frame top-biirs with comb- 

 guide, only turn the comb-guide uppermost. 

 The sizes I think best are — ^| | 



Let the comb-guide be bare- I ~~ I s 



ly tV thick. If the bees do f 



not make a success of it as it i*, the comb-guide 

 need be put on the frame only until the comb 

 is built, and then the true bottom put on. The 

 thin edge of the comb-guide would allow of 

 comb foundation passing it when stretching, 

 and would be attached by the liees; the -^^ 

 thickness would not affect the comb built over 

 it being used for brood. No alteration is needed 

 to the 8 frame hive, except that a little more 

 room might be given for the follower; other- 

 wise it is perfection. 



Half-story frames are first class. I have 

 always had good results from them. Certainly 

 they are not interchangeable with full-depth 

 frames; but they have so'iuany advantages 

 that I am using them largely, having closed in- 

 stead of Hoffman ends. 



There seems to be but little success in land- 

 ing queens alive from America to Australia. 

 Where is the trouble? Is it the candy, cages, 

 changes of temperature, too hot a place on the 

 steamer for the mails, or what? I received 9 

 queens alive from Italy, out of 10. These were 

 six weeks on the road. They came in small 

 boxes containing small combs of honey and 

 bottles of water, about 200 bees being in each. 

 They came by freight. Could not queens be 

 sent by post with honey and water, as well -as 

 by freight? I think too much attention is paid 

 to small cages to save postage. The candy 

 used is not satisfactory— sometimes too soft and 

 sometimes too dry. lean indorse what R. H. 

 Jervis says on page 33. Even candy we make 

 of powdered sugar fnd honey changes in our 

 climate. Sometimes the same lump is too soft, 

 and perhaps next day dry. 



W. Maitland, N. S. W.. Australia, May IG. 



[Depth of top-bar is not as important as 

 width; yet the former has accined to have some 

 bearing on the matter of the exclusion of biirr- 

 combs. We say " seemed," because we are not 

 sure; but to be on the safer side W'' decided, 

 early in the season, to give tlie full >„'-inch 

 deptii, particularly as some experiments by Dr. 

 Miller seemed to show more favorable results. 

 On account of the dit'ticulity that some seem to 

 experience, of attaching comb foundation to 

 the new thick tops, perhaps it would be well to 

 consider the old top-bar^ inch deep: but the 

 width is surely better 1}£ inches, chietiy on ac- 



count of h?-ace-combs ; l^^ inches hardly bars 

 them out. We should be pleased to hear from 

 our subscribers. 



You will notice that we have already narrow- 

 ed up the projection to the frame, to give more 

 finger-room: see page 4<57. We have al^o al- 

 readv modified the bottom-bar from % inch 

 square to ^4x54. as you will see by referring to 

 the same page. The comb-guide for the bot- 

 tom-bar might be serviceable in sectiring a 

 comb attachment; but it might be too much of 

 a good thing. 



Why did we reduce the thickness of the pro- 

 jection? Because the construction of the 

 Dovetail hive seetried to necessitate it. The top 

 and bottoiri dovetails are }| inch deep. After 

 taking out ]\- for tin rabbet, and ^% for projec- 

 tion, we have just 4^ for bee-space over the 

 frames. But. you may ask, why not have 

 these dovetails \^, like the rest? Because that 

 would make the hive-body 9?^ deep, when the 

 standard L. frame is 9^-^ inch. The reduction 

 of the top- bar projection, from ^t^ to ^, was 

 made some time ago, along when the hive first 

 came into popularity. 



Recently we have not had success in mailing 

 queens to Australia. We scarcely know where 

 to locate the trouble. In some cases the candy 

 was undoubtedly too soft, and in others the 

 great change of climate from the mountains of 

 California to the hot dry climate, was enough 

 to kill the queen. We are sending to day to H. 

 L. Jones, Goodna, Queensland, Australia, two 

 queens— one put up in our export cage, with 

 (iood candy ; and another in a similar cage 

 with tlie same food, hut with a water-bottle — 

 the mouth of the bottle stopped with a sponge, 

 (( la Hutchinson. We will repeat this experi- 

 ment several times through the season, and 

 later on will report results.— Ed.] 



THE STEVENS FI?AME-SPACER. 



In my article in Gleanings. May 15, I think 

 perhaps there was a little too much prominence 

 given the fact that my spacers can be attached 

 to frames already in use. They can be attach- 

 ed to such frames, but it is a little difficult un- 

 less the end-bars are of the proper width to fit 

 the spacers. The end-bars should be exactly 

 one inch wide, otherwise they would have to be 

 renewed. If the end-bars already in the hive 

 are one inch wide, they are all right for my 

 spacers; it will make no difference about the 

 thickness. I prefer end -bars % thick. It is 

 not necessary to change the whole frame unless 

 it is desired to adopt a different top-bar from 

 the one already in use. In that case an entire 

 new frame is better; and then if my spacer is 

 affixed it will speak for itself. While it may be! 

 used on old frames, it will work so much better! 

 on nevv ones made especially to fit it, I feel cer- 1 

 tain it will pay the apiarist to gradually make, 

 the change. 



You say you like to have your frames stick a 

 little so as to be always ready for moving. 

 Theoretically the Stephens spacer will not 

 stick; but in actual use it will to some extent 



