944 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15. 



agine a common gallon oil-can cut down to hold 

 about 2 qts., and the top elongated and turned 

 to one side about a foot; a handle put on the 

 opposite side; some holes in the bottom for the 

 draft, and you have it. I think if any one were 

 to attack a cross colony with this kind of 

 weapon he would cry aloud, and roar lustily 

 for an assistant to bring a Bingham or Crane 

 before he would take out many frames. 



There were eight different honey-knives 

 shown. One was evidently for uncapping, and 

 much like a Bingham in shape, only smaller, 

 and the others were for transferring from box 

 hives. Presumably, the two shown in the cut 

 were about 18 inches in length. 



The wax-press is explained by the picture. 

 The wax being in a cloth, and put between the 

 boards, the two handles were brought together; 

 and, being hinged at the lower end, of course 

 gave pressure. 



The extractor looked antiquated, and remind- 

 ed one of the old Peabody style in use 30 years 

 ago. The combs were put into a kind of long 

 thin box havine a double back — the inside one 

 of coarse screen, placed a short space in front of 

 the other; no eearing — simply a bent iron for a 

 crank, and a large flat pan at the bottom to 

 catch the honey as it runs down from the comb- 

 basket. The only way to get this out, that we 

 could discover, was to dip it out. Would it not 

 be a fine dauby iob to handle a crop of 30,000 

 lbs. in this way '? If this was a fair exhibit of 

 bee-keeping in Russia, we Americans could 

 show them a few kinks in the business. 



One frame hive was shown, something like 

 the old American, having an empty chamber 

 for sections over a brood-nest all in one box, 

 and doors to open to the section department. 



.JAPAN'S KXHIHIT. 



There were only a few things shown with the 

 apicultural exhibit from that country. They 

 consisted of some honey in glass jars, some bees 

 in alcohol, and a hive. How T did want to taste 

 that honey, and have some one tell me how the 

 hive was worked! But the bright-eyed Jap in 

 charge said he knew nothing about bees, so I 

 had to content myself by using mv eye-J only. 

 The hive, as you can see, is a divisible one, and 

 certainly is one step in advance of a box or 

 cylinder. It was about 1.5 in. square, and each 

 section about 5 In. deep, clamped together by 

 two uprights, one at each side, and a cross-bar 

 at top and bottom, in long mortises, tightened 

 by a wedge, which does not appear in the cut. 

 Each section was braced diagonally from cor- 

 ner to corner, and the corners dovetailed or 

 locked rather. The wood was something like 

 cedar, and the board about % thick. The en- 

 trance was through round holes in the bottom 

 section. Now, perhaps Ernest will say, "That 

 is a point for me," for it goes to show that the 

 Japanese bees work up. Well, let him have it 

 if he wants it. The bees were little weazeny 



things, any way, and nowhere with Wisconsin 

 bees, that work sidewise best. 

 Ithaca, Wis., Oct. 25. 



TIERING UP. 



PUTTING ONE SECTION- SUPEK UNDER ANOTHER 

 AN UNWISE PRACTICE. 



Bij John Handel. 



Bee-keepers usually advocate, and I suppose 

 almost all practice, that laborious way of rais- 

 ing the nearly finished case of sections and 

 slipping the empty case under. They seem to 

 take it for granted that, because the bees usu- 

 ally require some coaxing to get them up into 

 the first case, the same will be true with the 

 second. This I began to doubt a few years 

 ago; and while experimenting along this line I 

 came to the conclusion that, whether the new 

 case of sections is placed over or under the case 

 that is three-fourths finished, the bees usually 

 abandon the old case too soon, and commence 

 work in the new. Bees act in this respect like- 

 other stock. After a number of pigs have been 

 confined to a yard for a long time, the fence 

 may gradually tumble down; but the pigs. even 

 though they be crowded, seldom try to get out. 

 But, oncp out, it will take a pretty good fence 

 to hold them. So with the bees. After being 

 confined to the brood-chamber for months they 

 do not notice that the bars are left down, so 

 that, even if considerably crowded for room, 

 it will take time before they venture upstairs. 

 But, once out of the rut, no other inducements 

 than clean sections with starters in them are 

 required to make them go higher. I have 

 coaxed strong colonies into the sixth story by 

 placing the empty ca^e on top of the one three- 

 fourths filled: and after the honey-flow, when 

 I took the honey ofl". T found almost all of the 

 sections light weight, with the comb seldom 

 built down to the bottom of the section, show- 

 ing conclusively that too many bees abandoned 

 the old case to begin on the new, leaving a few 

 to finish up as best they could. 



Savanna, 111. 



A CHAT ON EUROPEAN MATTERS.— NO. 2. 



By Charles Norman. 



Whether the French and Swiss bee-keepers 

 use what we call the Heddon hive-stand, I do 

 not know. The majority of them, at any rate, 

 seem to prefer having their hives on legs. 



A coiTespondent, in order to prove the pref- 

 erence for the low frame, writes: "At the begin- 

 ning of the winter the group of bees dwells 

 near the entrance, at the lower part of the 

 frames. On deep frames the warm air ascends 

 to the top, and the bees do not profit by it. On 

 low frames the group is nearer the top of the 

 hive, and in the warmed air; therefore, econ- 



