188G 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



705 



shine here in Louisiana lliat I tUin'l know how many 

 pounds it could melt inathiy. If Prol. (\iolv will 

 make a hopiier retlector iuivin^' tlie sides wide 

 enoiijjli, and pitched a proiier slope, and ])ainted 

 white, I think he will be iilile to concentrate a high 

 degree of heat within the box. 1 have to handle 

 iny pan with a cloth to keep Ironi burning- my fin- 

 gers. C. M. HiGCINS. 

 Hahnville, La., Aug-. :?, 1880. 



IS THEliE ANV SUIiSTITUTK FO\l OlfAPEVlNKS AS 

 SIIAIIK? 



Would you be so kind as to tell nie ii' there is any 

 shrub or vine besides the fj-rapevine that will shade 

 the hive, and be f(nag'e lor the bees? Where could 

 I obtain seed or plants, anil about what cost? 



.1. H. S. Ckonk. 



liLirsersvillo, Ont., Can., .Tuly 31, l!-'80. 



Fi'ieiul Cronk, llioic, ure many plants and 

 vines that will answer abnnt as well as 

 grapevines. We iiret'er }i;rap(wines beeause 

 they are permanent, and also handsomer 

 tlian any other i)lant that we know of. be- 

 sides the fruit they bear. Siinllowers, lima 

 beans, tomatoes trained on trellises, and a 

 good many other plants, are used under cer- 

 tain circumstances. 



some Carniolan queens with bronze-colored abdo- 

 minal rings thftt T havc^ not seen in any other race: 

 there are others raised from the same mother, that 

 1 could not distinguish froiTi flue Italian queens, 

 and still others 1 could not distinguish from our 

 "black" queens. I believe I can not be deceived 

 about a colony of Carniolan wotkevK—l &m sure I 

 can not. S. W. Morrison, M. D. 



().\ford, Pa., Aug. 3,1880. 



l"ASW:NlNn SECTIONS TOOKTIIKU WITH A TWISTED 

 ST KING. 



Bees are doing exceeibngly well. I have never 

 seen so good a honey season. 1 have been trying 

 friend Doolitlle's plan of i)ntting queen-cells in a 

 tunnel shaped wire cage, .ind it is a success. I 

 have alstj been cutting my sections, to let the bees 

 through evei-y section without going back into the 

 brood-chamber; but I don't know yet the result. 

 Can you lell me how to fasteii sections close to- 

 gether so as to stay V 1 have been puzzled a good 

 deal; but 1 will tell you how I did it. 1 use 31 sec- 

 tions on a rack. I set Tina row, and take a strong 

 manilirt siring and tie around to hold the glass in, 

 then take a small stick and twist the string as 

 tight as it will bear, and fasten it; and when the 

 3 rows are completed I set them on a rack and 

 twist a string around the whole and press them to- 

 gether. This keeps them very close together, but 

 it is too much work. K. S. Hanson. 



La Otto, Noble Co., Ind., July 5, 188fi. 

 Your plan of tying up sections with a 

 stout string, to hold glass and all together, 

 is quite old. and 1 believe the objection to it 

 is usually about like youi's. See the plans 

 for cases and crntes in our own price list and 

 the price lists of other dealers in supplies 

 as well. 



DISTINGUISHING DIFFERENT RACES OF QUEENS. 



Referring to your eonclusion on page tiU, thati 

 can not alwa\ s distinguis'h the ditlerence in appear- 

 ance between Carniolan quteiis and hybiids, I ad- 

 mitit; and, further, 1 can't always distinguish be- 

 tween Carniolan (uncns and Italian queens. Fur- 

 thermore, you know y(ju can not alwaya distinguish 

 between Italian queens and our common black 

 queens. The fact that some imported Italianqueens 

 are darker and meaner looking than same black 

 queens has certainly long ago been established be- 

 yond question; and if it has not, I should like to 

 have the pleasure of putting some specimens in 

 your hands, to decide by ((ppcacrKice.s. There are 



won't ACCEPT A QUEEN, BUT BUILD QUEEN-CELLS. 



I found a colony that T can not get to accept a 

 queen. I caged an Italian queen in their hive in a 

 Peet cage, and they refused to accept her all the 

 time. They ball her every time she gets out, and 1 

 have her to cage again. They build so many 

 queen-cells that T got tired of cutting them oiU. 

 The second day after I had queened them I found 

 03 (jueen-cells on one frame of fdn. There were tit 

 on one side, and a good many on the other 

 frames that I didn't count. These were blacks, but 1 

 don't think your Holy-Land, Cyprians, or any other 

 kind, can beat them building cells. C. F. Grubb. 



Ilridge, Davidson Co., N. C, .July 1, 18t0. 



Sometimes a colony of bees seem deter- 

 minetl to rear a queen of their own, instead 

 of accepting one. In that case we generally 

 humor them ; that is, we often conclude that 

 we shall get along about as fast to let them 

 do it in their own way. 



A MACHINE FOR CLEANING PROPOLIS OR AVAX 

 FROM THE TOP-BARS OF FRAMES. 



I send you a rough model of a scraper to clean 

 Avax and propolis from frames without removing 

 them from the hive. The handle is T inches long, 

 and the edge I'i inches long. I took a piece of a 

 saw-blade for the edge and made the pocket of tin. 

 about three inches deep; it will hold all there will 

 be on almost any hive. From 7(1 hives T got enough 

 to make wax enough to pay for two or three 

 scrapers. If the frames are all wood they will be 

 firm enough to scrape without holding; but if they 

 have metal corners they will have to be held with 

 one hand. If you think this is worth giving to the 

 public, they are welcome to it. John Woolsey. 



Bedford, N. Y., July 33, 1886. 



I will explain to our readers, that the mod- 

 el referred to is a piece of tin, bent in such a 

 way as to make a sort of pocket. The wood- 

 en handle refeired to is set into the pocket, 

 and fasteneil by means of wire nails from 

 each side. When you draw it over the top- 

 bar of a frame, the wax and propolis roll up 

 and go into the pocket so as to amount to 

 quite a saving of time. The question now 

 arises, Do we want our top-bars scraped off 

 clean ':' Many bee-keepers, and friend Doo- 

 little among the rest, say they do not want 

 the top-bars scraped otf — at least friend 1). 

 said so some years ag<i when he paid us a 

 visit. If left on, it gives the bees a passage 

 over the tojts of the frames ; and while there 

 is a honey-yield it will be tilled in almost at 

 once, even "if scraped off. Of course, these 

 remarks apply to hives where a cloth or en- 

 amel sheet is used oxi'V the frame. With 

 honey-boards like Jleddoirs and others' I 

 believe the top-bars are kept clean ; and if 

 the honey-board is kept down in place, prob- 

 ably no accumulations are found on the 

 top-bars. 



