728 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. lo. 



On a large shelf was quite a row of his feeders 

 containing nothing but water, and the bees 

 were patronizing them in great shape indeed. 



" Now," said Mr. Boardraan, " I want to show 

 you how my bees are building comb, for I see 

 you have illustrated comb-building, by Mr. 

 Hutchinson. I can show you the same thing 

 right here." 



So saying, he proceeded to light the Crane 

 smoker. 



" By the way," said I, " how do you like it ? " 



'*It is a splendid smoker. At first I thought 

 it a great awkward thing, and did not believe 

 it would suit me at all; but now I like it better 

 than any thing else I have seen. It has the 

 capacity and the blast." 



I then asked him if the rubber, the flexible 

 part of the bellows, gave him any trouble. 



'• Not at all." 



" We have had one or two complaints,'" I said, 

 " and I am interested in knowing how it is doing. 

 The use of rubber in place of leather is quite an 

 innovation, and we used it because it was rec- 

 ommended to us by a bee-keeper who had used 

 it for four or five years. It is more flexible, 

 more impervious to air, and is less affected by 

 dampness or water." 



" Yes," said he, removing one side of one of 

 his hives, "you will notice I do not have to 

 handle a single frame. The bees have done all 

 that comb-building within the last two days, 

 and all under the stimulus of syrup-feeding, as 

 you see." 



Yes, indeed, there was a fine lot of combs 

 building, and all worker too. 



"Oh, say!" said I; " I ought to be going; but 

 I want to know whether you have been using 

 fixed distances." 



" Yes, sir, I have— that is, I have been nailing 

 strips on the sides of my ordinary brood-frames, 

 making them something like the Hoffman. 

 But I yanked them off. No, I must say I do not 

 like fixed spacing for me." 



" Well, how about the burr- comb question? " 

 said 1, putting another one at him. 



"Well, I am not bothered very badly with 

 them, and 1 get rid of their nuisance largely in 

 this way: I space the frames closer together." 



"What spacing does that make?" 



" Somewhere about 1)4 from center tp center. 

 That, you see, is slightly less than l%." 



He showed me that there was a decrease of 

 burr-comb building on hives where close spac- 

 ing was practiced, as against those where the 

 ordinary IH or 1% spacing was used. 



" Say ! I must be going," said I. " How far is 

 it to Toledo?" 



"Sixty-five miles." 



" Whew!" said I; " I have got to make it to- 

 night." And then I mounted the wheel. Mrs. 

 B. looked a little doubtful. I had previously 

 lold Mr. B. that I could not stay more than an 

 hour or so; but his talk was so interesting and 

 profitable, and dinner smelled so good in the 



other room, I could not well resist; and after 

 dinner there were so many interesting things 

 that he had to tell me, that I stayed longer 

 than I expected. I finally mounted the wheel, 

 feeling that I had had a profitable visit. I 

 made a rush for Norwalk. I arrived there in 

 fair time. Another spurt of five miles brought 

 me to Monroeville; and another spurt made me 

 feel pretty much like silting down, for I had 

 struck quite a little sand. I was sweating and 

 puffing away, and at my left I saw a wheelman 

 fussing with his wheel. Evidently something 

 was wrong or broken. 



" Sand rather bad," said I, and passed on. As 

 I did so I felt as if I was not acting the part of 

 the good Samaritan in helping a brother-wheel- 

 ma,n out of his trouble; but I had not gone far 

 when he catight up, puffing like a steam-engine, 

 and telling me his wheel ran hard. 



"My!" said I, "any wheel will run hard in 

 this sand." 



" Well, that may account for it." 



In a moment more I heard his chain going 

 clickety-clack. 



"Here," said I, feeling more like the good 

 Samaritan, " let me fix that." 



I quickly unbuckled my bicycle-satchel and 

 drew forth a package of chain-lubricant and 

 rubbed it on, and, presto! how much better it 

 did run! 



" Now," said I to my friend, " go ahead a lit- 

 tle and I will trail and see whether your chain, 

 or, rather, sprocket-wheels, are out of line." 

 Yes. sure enough, they were. 



Again the good Samaritan dismounted and 

 helped his friend to change the adjustment on 

 one side of the wheel. 



"There," said he, after we had resumed our 

 journey, " the wheel runs a hundred per cent 

 better— thanks to you. Who are you, and where 

 are you from ? " said he. 



" My name is Root, from Medina. Where are 

 you from ?" I said. 



"Oberlin." 



I soon found that my friend knew some of the 



old professors under whom I had studied; and 



we fell to talking about Oberlin, about this and 



that teacher, this and that building, and before, 



we knew it we were at Fremont, where my' 



friend stopped. It was getting toward dark, 



and I was told it was 3,"> miles to Toledo yet, 



and there was a good deal of sand to get over. 



That being the case, I decided to take the train. 



Fortunately one would be in in about an hour. 



I sat down at the depot, mopping off the sweat. 



and wondering whether or not Dr. Mason would 



be at home. 



Continued In our next. 



We have enjoyed a flying visit from Mr. S. T. 

 Pettit, of Belmont. Ont.. one of Canada's veter- 

 an bee-keepers. He is fortunate in beiwg grand- 

 pa to the Holtermann quartette, the rising jun- 

 ior editors of theCanadian Bee Journal, whose 

 pictures appeared recently in this journal. 



