1894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



831 



•of the honey-bee ; and this taste, I think, is de- 

 rived from the resinous wax in which it is 

 stored. The bees are about half the !>ize of the 

 Italians. Their abdomens are black, with five 

 narrow yellow bauds crossing the back. They 

 •are a very pretty bee. but will never be valua- 

 ble as honey-gatherers. 

 San Jose de las Gajas, Cuba, Oct. 1(3. 



[I had always supposed that a large hive was 

 better for a climaie like that of Cuba ; but for 

 the sake of btandard size 1 should be glad to 

 think otherwi>e. Regarding the size of frame, 

 the Langstroth, in nine ty-nine cases out of one 

 hundred at least, seems to give as good re- 

 sults as any other. While it seems to be as 

 good, its particular shape gives it some peculiar 

 advantages. Hut suppose we say it is no bet- 

 ter ; the mere fact that it is accepted as stand- 

 ard by common consent for nearly the whole of 

 the United Slates, Canada, and Australia, is 

 good reason why it should be adopted by begin- 

 ners and others who are undecided. If other 

 sizes or shapes of frames have decided advan- 

 tages for certain localities, our columns are 

 ■open for their discussion. After all, 1 have a 

 feeling that, if you were to try the same capaci- 

 ty of hive in Langstroth frames, to the extent 

 ■of nO alongside of 50 of your own, you would not 

 be able to detect any ditference.— Ed.] 



NOTES OF BICYCLE TRAVEL. 



By Ernest R. Root. 



On arriving at Manistee I found that my rel- 

 atives had all gone to Lake Onekama, some 

 nine miles further north, and thither I went. 

 This is a beautiful pleasure-resort — a lake in a 

 "valley, connecting with Lake Michigan. It 



"SCOKCHING." 



•was here also that I had the pleasure of meet- 

 ing for the first time Walter Harmer, formerly 

 ■of Manistee — the one who, some years ago, in- 

 troduced the small sections of comb honey — 

 those that I believe he retailed at from one to 

 two cents apiece. Our older readers will re- 

 member that these sections were made of thin 

 shavings, cut with a jack-plane, oft' the edge of 

 an inch board. These were nicely folded to- 

 gether in little squares, and of such a size that 

 about 24 of them would go into an ordinary 

 Langstroth brood-frame. The sections were 

 filled with starters, and then placed in a hive 

 :and filled out with honey. 



Mr. Harmer and a number of others were 

 successful in producing these small sections; 

 and the honey when retailed, if I remember 

 correctly, netted something like 40 cts. per lb., 

 as against 15 or 20 for ordinary comb-honey 

 sections. At the time of my visit at Mr. Har- 

 mer's he was not using these small sections. 

 He found difficulty in getting the bees to 

 always fill them out properly, for much depended 

 upon the strength of the honey-flow to induce 

 the bees to occupy such exceedingly small 

 squares. We tried some of them at the Home 

 of the Honey-bees, and met a similar difficulty. 



Mr. Harmer is now, or was at the time of my 

 visit, associated with his brother in growing 

 fruit on a beautiful hillside overlooking the 

 lake. There is scarcely a finer view to be found 

 anywhere in Michigan, or in any of the other 

 States, than this one at the Harmer fruit-farm. 

 It was here that Walter had his apiary, and 

 here he was experimenting with various new 

 fixings. He was using the eight-frame Lang- 

 stroth hive quite similar to our Dovetail hive. 

 He finds that size of brood-nest large enough 

 for his locality. He was not using self-spacing 

 frames, but a self-spacing device advertised a 

 few years ago by Dr. Wilcox, of Manistee. 

 This device is simply a coarse wooden comb, or, 

 rather, a rake, as long as the inside width of 

 the hive, the teeth of said rake being justK 

 inch square. P'or the purpose of moving, these 

 rakes, or spacing-devices, are set down between 

 the frames, one at each end, and directly over 

 the end-bars. Mr. Harmer left these on during 

 the winter and part of early summer, when 

 they were removed, because he found they 

 interfered with the easy manipulation of the 

 frames; but in the fall they were replaced— 

 first, because he thought they helped to con- 

 serve the heat by closing up the space between 

 the end-bars near the top; and, secondly, be- 

 cause the bees with the frames thus fastened 

 would be ready for moving at any time. 



Mr. Harmer had not produced a large eropof 

 honey, but still a fair one; and what he did 

 secure was of excellent quality, as was attested 

 by some samples he had in a little portable 

 workshop. This latter was so constructed that 

 it could be easily taken down and used at any 

 point where the apiary might be located; for it 

 seems he does not always have his bees in the 

 same place. After looking over some of his 

 five-banders we took a stroll over the fruit- 

 farm, where, as everywhere else I visited, the 

 bee-keeper was making a success of that de- 

 partment. 



Mr. Harmer— or, rather, his brother, who 

 owns the farm— has a peat-swamp on top of a 

 hill, and in the center of this is a pond. From 

 this he draws his water through an iron pipe; 

 and for the purpose of irrigating, a home-made 

 hose is made out of canvas, made as used by H. 

 A. March, and described by A. I. R. in Glean- 

 ings some time ago. It consists simply of 



