1884 



GLEANINGS IN liEE CVLTVliE. 



'67S 



ENAMELED SHEETS FOR COVERING 

 FRAMES. 



SOME SUGGESTIONS AND CONSIDERATIONS IN UE- 

 GARD TO THEM. 



fHE enameled cloth has often been a great 

 bother to me, because it can not always be 

 kept tight at the edges. If the bees once find 

 their way to the upper surface they com- 

 mence smearing' it with gum, which, in drj'- 

 ing-, shrinks and rolls up the edge of the cloth. 

 Then the bees gnaw the edges, making- them notch- 

 ed, and soon the cloth becomes unlit for its designed 

 use. 



Now, I have a contrivance to remedy this trouble, 

 that I am greatly pleased with. It maj^ not be new, 

 for I see that many a new-fledged bantling proudly 

 sent to j^ou, is pronounced aid. Neither do I call it 

 an invention, for it is only a modification of the 

 shingles, and wooden and tin binding that we have 

 all used. I send you by this mail one of the articles ; 

 and if you judge it to be old or useless, then cast 

 aside that article &nd' this article. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Take some strips of soft wood, about "4, by ?i in., 

 and of suflicient length, and miter them to fit rath- 

 er tightly inside the top of the hive, lying flat on 

 top of the frames. Then take your old enameled 

 cloth and cut off the worst side and end until it is a 

 little smaller than the hive all round— say I4 inch. 

 Place the sticks in a hive in proper position; lay the 

 cloth upon them, black side up, and tack it to the side- 

 pieces only. It is then exactly right to fit when turn- 

 ed over with the black side down. Use very small 

 tacks. Place two movable gauge-pieces in your 

 niiter-bo.v as a measure in cutting the pieces, when 

 you find the proper length. This device is most con- 

 venient with weak swarms, and in cold weather, 

 when there are few bees in the way, and is then es- 

 pecially useful, as it can be made about air-tight 

 with very little care, and effects a great saving of 

 warmth. When not in use it is easy to roll up and 

 store in small comjjass. After a trial of more than 

 a year I write this. Joel A. Barber. 



Lancaster, Wis., May, 1884. 

 I will explain to our readers, that friend 

 B.'s device is four sticks put together exactly 

 like a pictvire-frame ; that is, they tit togeth- 

 er at the corners with a niitered joint. The 

 side-pieces are fastened pennanently to the 

 enamel cloth, while the end-pieces are mov- 

 able. I used something similar years ago ; 

 but Its I dislike loose pieces or sticks tliat 

 may get lost, anywhere about a bee-hive, I 

 discarded strips along the sides, and used 

 only the tin-lined ends. Where one takes 

 care to put these down nicely in place, bees 

 seldom if ever go up along the ends ; and to 

 prevent their notching along the sides we 

 liave the enamel cloth hemmed, and also 

 made on a curve, bowing outward, as you 

 may have observed. This gives a sur])lus of 

 the sheet right in the middle, just wliere bees 

 are most apt to push through. When the 

 sheet is new and first put on, one may be 

 inclined to think it might not stay down 

 ill place. But you can make it do so by tak- 

 ing a litle pains. The next time yoii open 

 the hive you will find the sheet has got set- 

 tled, as it were, into such a position, and 

 goes back there very readily. Letting bees 

 get up under the cover in any hive is a very 



bad feature indeed. We have what I con- 

 sider a very careful apiarist now, but yet I 

 heard the "• bones crack " a few days ago 

 when he went to put on the cover of a Sim- 

 plicity hive. Three or four of the little yel- 

 low chaps had naturally pushed their heads 

 out, and stood on the' bevel. There they 

 were, their poor little innocent bodies 

 quivering in agony, just because of his 

 want of care. When I spoke to him he 

 raised the cover up and fixed the mat ; but 

 by this time the colony, which could have 

 been handled easily without smoke, had be- 

 come pretty furious, and I could not blame 

 them. At another hive, I noticed, when I 

 set a frame back, it touched bottom and 

 mashed bees. When I told him, with some 

 emphasis, that I would not have that kind 

 of work anyhoio, he asked what I would do. 

 I told him I would pull out that frame and 

 measure it. If it was over 9i inches, to have 

 it fixed before going any further. But if it 

 transpired, however, that the hive was at 

 fault, either have the hive fixed by raising 

 the rabbet, or make kindling-wood of it. 



And now, my dear friends, I am sure I am 

 right in saying that we have no business 

 killing and crushing bees. If you don't get 

 quite so much money by going slow and care- 

 ful, where their lives are in danger, you will 

 have more ''clear conscience," which is. im- 

 measurably of more value than money or 

 any thing else that money can buy. In view 

 of this, I think it will be an excellent idea to 

 ado])t friend B.'s device whenever your en- 

 amel sheets get old and ragged around the 

 edges, or liave your new ones made so, if you 

 like. I do like to see a hive that can be shut 

 up quickly, and so securely that not a bee 

 can even look out and make faces at you. 



ITALIAN BEES AND RED CLOVER. 



an old subject reconsidered. 

 See May number, paocs 290, 3(H). 



{HAVE kept Italian bees for 15 years, as many 

 as 40 colonies at a time, in a location where red 

 clover abounds, but I have never yet seen one 

 pound of red-clover honey. I have watched 

 the red-clover fields when they were a sea of 

 bloom, year after year, without finding Italian bees 

 working upon it. I have closely watched the second 

 crops of bloom upon red clover in all of its various 

 stages, and have never seen bees work freely upon 

 it at any time. I have seen bees work some upon 

 the second crop of red clover, but I have found as 

 many black bees, in proportion to their number, 

 working upon it as there were Italians. I have 

 never been able to find enough red-clover honey in 

 a hive to tell what it looks like. Such has been my 

 experience when I hoped and expected It to be oth- 

 erwise. 



I will not dispute, that Mr. Root's bees " do gather 

 hnney in large qnantitics" from red clo%-ei', nor that 

 the failure of his bees to do so is the exception, and 

 not the rule, as he tells us. But, not only from my 

 own experience, but from all that I have seen upon 

 the subject, I firmly believe that nine-tenths of the 

 candid bee-keepers of the country will agree with 

 me, that where Italian bees gather honej' in any ap- 

 preciable or merchantable quantities, from red clo- 

 ver, it is a rare exception and not the rule. Where 



