G12 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



I)raclic<ilile to contract brood chambers to any 

 {fcoat extent without limiting- tlic (jucon, and then 

 ] niiidc my first wooden qucen-cxcluding- rack, and 

 at the same time tacked narrow strips ot perforat- 

 ed zinc on a slatted honey-board. The latter work- 

 ed very nicely, and, in tact, the wooden one did 

 very well, as also a rack prepared with long- strips 

 of tin; but the metal could not be held properly 

 with brads, and so last season I conceived the idea 

 of making- saw-cuts in the edges of the slats with a 

 thin circular saw, and inserting- the zinc in them. 

 This plan of using the zinc, I found to work per- 

 fectly; and I believe that I was the tirst to conceive 

 the idea, as well as to construct a honey-board of 

 this kind. Certainly I was the first to make it pub- 

 lic, and think I am fully entitled to give the inven- 

 tion to the public as I have done. After testing- the 

 invention I sent a hive to the Michigan State Fair, 

 having- such honey-boards, and it is just possible 

 that my friends there who claim to have been orig- 

 inal in conceiving such use of the zinc had there 

 seen my invention and forgotten about it. I be- 

 lieve, however, that these friends do not claim to 

 have constructed such a honey-board before this 

 time— only to have conceived 4he idea. 



After a number of trials I found that the strips 

 of zinc work the best when cut wide enough to 

 make three rows of perforations. The slats were 

 made nearly as wide as the strips of zinc. My new 

 hives have all been made narrow, to hold only 7 

 brood-frames in each case, so that the honey-boai-d 

 is only lO's inches wide. It is essentially the new 

 Heddon honey-board, made substantially as friend 

 Hutchinson describes on jiage 527. As I now con- 

 struct it, it has i of the strips of zinc, giving 13 

 rows of tlie perforations for the bees to pass 

 through; but in the honey-board, made with 7 slats 

 to correspond with the frames, I could get only 8 

 strips of the zinc in, making only 8 rt)ws of the per- 

 forations. 



In the C. B. J. for June 23, this honey-board is 

 illustrated; but if made as there described, part of 

 the perforations will be useless, from the zinc sink- 

 ing too deep into the saw-cuts. Again, the use of 

 the cross-bar in the middle is unnecessary, as there 

 is sufficient rigidity of the board without it; and I 

 make the slats only 5 - 33 of an inch thick. In 

 cutting- up the sheets of zinc we cut out every 

 fourth row of the perforations, leaving the solid 

 strips of zinc whole. In making this new honey- 

 board I have used friend Root's new perforated 

 zinc with success, and am ableto recommend it to 

 bee-keepers as perfectly adapted to the purpose 

 designed. 



THE CAKNIOLANS. 



Dr. Morrison inquires about the quality of the 

 workers of the queens he sent me last fall. She 

 proved to have mated with a Syrian drone, as he 

 had anticipated; and the workers, though well- 

 marked hybrids, were fully as gentle as Italians. 

 The queen was very prolific, and filled the equiva- 

 lent of eleven L. frames with brood, and then led a 

 swarm June 9th. Sections had been adjusted, and 

 a start in them made. The swarm was very large. 

 After filling a space equal to 8 L. frames they be- 

 gan in the supers, and have made to date, in blacli- 

 walnut sections, 40 lbs., and the parent colony as 

 much more, and they will raise the amount to 100 

 lbs. They reared about .50 queen-cells and an innu- 

 merable quantity of drones, although they had not 

 much droue-corab. All were jet black; unci as I did 



not wish them to cross with my white queens I 

 opened the hive and destroyed them. The comb 

 honey produced was capped very white, but not 

 whiter than that made by my own strain, some col- 

 onies of which have already made 12,5 lbs., and will 

 probably reach 150, which I consider a large yield 

 for an exclusively white-clover district. 



The queen obtained from Gleaninc.s office at 

 the same time as Dr. Morrison's, was striped and 

 very ])retty. Her workers appeared like Italians, 

 with an occasional black bee. The drones were al- 

 so like Italians, with some quite dark. This queen 

 also led a swarm about a week later, was .very pro- 

 lific, and left 48 queen cells. Both colonies were in 

 the new Heddon hive, and every one of the queen- 

 cells was built from the edg-es of the bottom-bars, 

 so that, on separating the hive, we found them all 

 sticking straight out, ready to be cut off. It beats 

 the Alley plan of getting queen-cells, all hollow. 



The swarm having friend Root's (lucen has made 

 only 20 pounds of surplus, and the old colony noth- 

 ing, although all the frames were reversed, and the 

 brood raised against the sections. These bees are 

 evidently not fair representatives of the Carnio- 

 lans; but Dr. IVlorrison's are good workers, and I 

 have reason to think the Caruiolans are generally. 

 It has boon alleged, tliat they are given to much 

 swarming, but I doubt it. The yellow specimens of 

 the race that now and then crop out should be de- 

 stroyed. Especially ought all yellow-marked drones 

 to be destroyed by the breeders of these bees, and 

 the race kept ])ure. Du. G. L. Tinkhu. 



New Philadelphia, O., July 8, 1886. 



We are much obliged for your candid and 

 impartial opinion of tlie Carniolans. How- 

 ever, as Dr. Morrison's queen was crossed 

 with a Syrian drone we can hardly deter- 

 mine whether the results would have been 

 equally good had the progeny of the queen 

 been pure Carniolans. We are glad to note 

 that the crosses of the Carniolans are not 

 cross. As your experience witli the strain 

 of Carniolans which we have in our ainary 

 coincides with our experience, we think we 

 were right in saying that they were inferior 

 workers. We are glad to hear that the 

 strain Dr. Moi'rison keeps has done much 

 better. 



Please accept our thanks, doctor, for the 

 beautiful workmanship on your queen-ex- 

 cluding lioney-board sent us. We may 

 have an engraving of it made. These lioii- 

 ey-boards, made partly of wood and partly 

 of zinc, promise to be an important imple- 

 ment in the apiary ; and since the subject 

 is up, we give below an article from friend 

 Heddon, which we extract from the Canadi- 

 an Bee Journal of July 7. Dr. Tinker al- 

 ready alludes to the cut of a honey-board, 

 given in the C. li. J. for June 2o. It seems 

 that many minds are working on this very 

 tiling; and altliough the different experi- 

 menters liave different ideas, as usual, we 

 think we shall ultimately come along to 

 what is pretty nearly common ground. Be- 

 low is the article from friend Ileddon: 



HONEV-BOARDS. 



Referring to your "Own Apiary," page 24,5, where 

 you illustrate a queen-excluding honey-board of 

 combined wood and metal surface, I will say that 

 we are experimenting on an extensive scale with 

 these boards, the idea of metal strips -being let into 

 grooves in the sides of our honey-i)oard slats hav- 

 ing originated with at least four different persons a 



