GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 



the cases of sections, and no propolis placed upon 

 the top and bottom bars, except at their ends. ! 



I want no case with slats to support the sections. ! 

 The bees will put propolis along the edges of the 

 bottom-bars of the sections where they rest upon 

 the slats. The width of the sections can not be 

 varied, without taking out the slats and changing 

 their widths and positions; and it would be difficult ; 

 to remove the sections, while the slats might sag | 

 under the weight of the hon^y. 



]n regard to side storing versus top storing, it ap- j 

 pears to me in about this light: If you squeeze an 

 orange, the juice must go somewhere; and if you 

 squeeze (contraci) the brood-nest until the queen 

 can keep it full of brood, the honey must he stored 

 "somewhere" (mtsidc of the brood-nest; and if 

 there is no space at the side, it is of necessity stored 

 above; and by tiering up, there is no dilliculty in 

 giving all the room that is needed. But let us sup- 

 pose, for the sake of argument, that a little more i 

 honey can be obtained by the side-storing method, 

 would it not be more profitable, and very much more 

 pleasant, to put a few more bees in the i.piary, and 

 then adopt the simple top-storing, tiering-up plan, 

 which conres the nearest to running itself of any 

 system with which I am acquainted? 



W. Z. Hutchinson. 



Eogersville, Mich., March 21, 18S1. 



I know there is great difference in locality, 

 in regard to this matter of propolis, friend 

 II. ; but I did not know there was a locality 

 where bees brought so little that it would not 

 injure smoothly planed wood. Perhaps you 

 would say thnt the varnish with which they 

 cover the inside surface of both smooth and 

 rough work is not propolis ; but in our local- 

 ity it is a substance that discolors the wood, 

 and renders the sections unsightly and un- 

 salable ; and more than that, they very often 

 daub their propolis, too, all over the smooth 

 surfaces. During the height of the clover 

 season, sections may be taken off as soon as 

 sealed, so as to be almost free from this glue, 

 or varnish ; but at a special time in July, 

 during the basswood bloom, or about the 

 time it closes, they begin to bring in propolis 

 in enormous quantities, daubing the quilts, 

 enameled sheets, sections, brood-frames, and 

 every thing else, in such a way that, when 

 you go to handle a hive, your lingers often 

 get stuck together so yon are almost depriv- 

 ed of the use of them. This surplus propolis 

 is not confined to Medina, either ; for I have 

 seen it in different States, and bee-keepers 

 have written about it in almost every State 

 in the Union. Still,! know tliere are local- 

 ities where comparatively little of it is 

 found. If the brethren are content to have 

 sections put on their tables after the bees 

 have traveled over the woodwork and var- 

 nished it, by all means let them do so. We 

 seem to have got to the matter at last, that, 

 with the Ileddon system, we must dispense 

 with separators (or make a separator for 

 each single section, which I should say was 

 not to be thought of), and also consent to let 

 the bees varnish over the bottom-bars of 

 our sections. 



Away back in 1870, the plan of supporting 

 sections in the way Ileddon does, was de- 

 scribed and illustrated (see page 4, Jan. No., 

 187G), and a good many of us adopted it. 

 quite extensively. In our own apiary we 



used it two seasons. It was then abandon- 

 ed, as I supposed, by universal consent, be- 

 cause so much scraping had to be done on 

 the bottom-bars of the sections. The ar- 

 rangement figured there was by folded tins; 

 but Mr. J. E. Moore, of Binghamton, N. Y. 

 (see page b2, Apr. No., 1876), gives us full di- 

 rections, with bill of stuff needed, for mak- 

 ing the Ileddon crate, using strips of Bussia 

 iron instead of tin. About a year ago friend 

 Heddon sent us a slatted honey-board to be 

 used under the sections, and this might be 

 usfed in combination with the plan of sup- 

 porting mentioned above ; but I should con- 

 sider it rather too much machinery. I know 

 tliere are those who still persist in using this 

 old and abandoned idea; but I have always 

 thought their locality did not abound in pro- 

 polis as ours does, or they would not use the 

 arrangement very long. 



In regard to bning able to vary the width 

 of sections : After We once decide on the 

 proper width, I can not see any very great 

 reason for having different widths. Still, it 

 maybe easily accomplished with the wide 

 frames, for we can make these any width we 

 choose. ^Vith the combined crate we can 

 also have any width we choose by replacing 

 the bottom-bars with such a width as seems 

 desirable. 



In regard to side and top storing, perhaps 

 it may be best to take a rising vote on it, as 

 it were. Suppose somebody prepare a table 

 containing the names of the great honey- 

 producers of the land, and see how many 

 have discarded side storing entirely. These 

 are momentous questions ; for not only do 

 bee-keepers want to know, but manufactur- 

 ers of hives and sections would be very glad 

 indeed to know how they should make their 

 hives and sections to offer the greatest ad- 

 vantages to honey-raisers. It might be well, 

 however, in considering these questions, to 

 take a view of the ground that has been gone 

 over in the back volumes of our bee-journals. 



WIRING FRAMES FOR FOUNDATIOIV. 



ALSO SOMETHING ABOUT A MACHINE FOR DOING IT. 



wTis wonderful, what a general turning 

 J^ there has been toward wired frames. It 

 — ' is but a short time since the idea was 

 first suggested, and now the custom has be- 

 come so universal, of having all brood- 

 frames strengthened by wires, that only yes- 

 terday we sent an order to the wire manufac- 

 turers for a wliole ton of No. 30 tinned wire. 

 When we first began to wire combs, plain 

 iron wire was used, and it was very soon re- 

 I)orted that the l»ees disliked the wire ; and 

 where larvic rested against it, the action of 

 the food on the wire produced rust, killing 

 the larvte. Very soon, however, C. R. Car- 

 lin (the same friend who gave iis the founda- 

 tion - cutter) suggested that we use tinned 

 wire ; and in just a few weeks, reports came 

 from right and left that the tinned wire 

 worked all right, and that good healthy bees 

 were hatched right on the wires. That the 

 coating of wire may be perfect on every inch 

 of it, the ton we are having made now is to 

 be double tinned. The wire is beautiful to 

 look at as it comes in coils from the factory, 

 shining like burnished silver. As the coat- 



