1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



381 



think, you will like on trial, and believe it worth il- 

 lustrating. You can use or make no use of it, as 

 you choose; but it strikes me as being the simplest 

 plan of any yet made known. 



Bees are doing well now, but the season has been 

 very backward for them, owing to constant rains in 

 March and April. J. E. Pond, Jr. 



Foxboro, Norfolk Co., Mass., May 30, 1884. 



Well, friend P., yours has the merit of 

 novelty, if nothing else. We could easily 

 make such a frame with metal corners, and 

 I am inclined to think the frame would stand 

 pretty steady too. The upper corners at one 

 end might need a spacing-strip, unless the 

 arms were very accurate, and the frames 

 very true. In that case I think it would 

 work all right, and the frame would be just 

 as well one side np as another. The idea 

 seems to be a compromise between the sus- 

 pended frame and the standing frame. 



ANOTHER REVERSIBLE FRAME. 



Since the revei-sible frame is receiving so much 

 attention, I take the liberty of submitting my plan 

 for the same. Into the bottom, at each end, are 

 driven small brads or nails on which the frames rest. 

 Probably the main obj ection to this method of revers- 

 ing the. frames will be the spacer, which is made of 

 tin, and tacked to the end-board. By this plan any 

 hive can be changed to a reversible-fi-ame hive in a 

 very few minutes by simply cutting off the support- 

 ing arms, putting in a spacer, and driving the brads 

 into the bottom-board. 



A QUESTION. 



Is it not true, that the brood lie on their backs, 

 and hatch out lying in that positionV If so, if the 

 frame be reversed, hav^e the young bees the power 

 to change their positien so as to accommodate 

 themselves to the new " order of things"? If not, is 

 it not a disadvantage to have the frames reversed? 

 J. Arthur Stagg. 



St. Paul, Indiana, May 19, 1884. 



I do not think it is true, friend S., that the 

 brood lie on their backs ; but if it is, they 

 can lie in other positions, for in transferring 

 we turn the comb all sorts of ways, and the 

 bees hatch out all right. I am sure this will 

 be no disadvantage when reversing the 

 frames. Your device is quite ingenious, but 

 your frames at the top will be at fixed dis- 

 tances, or pretty nearly so, and then the 

 bees would wax the frame into the spacer so 

 it would be hard of removal. If the frames 

 were made to go loosely into the spacer, the 

 tops would be tipping about nntil the liive 

 was crowded with bees and honey, and then 

 they would be waxed so it would be hard to 

 get them out as before. Again, when you 

 put the last frame down, how are you to 

 know the bottom stands just about where it 

 ought to be on the head of the nail or brad V 

 The idea is ingenious, but I do not believe it 

 can be made a success practically. The 

 Iletherington reversible frame is the simplest, 

 in my opinion. 



TARTARIAN CHERRY-TREES FOR HONEY. 



I suppose many of you have noticed that 

 bees get honey from early cherries, quite a 

 few days before apple-blossom. Where they 

 are short of stores this is a great iielp, and I 

 have often wished we had a cherry-orchard 

 in our apiary. Well, our friend who writes 



below has advertised black Tartarian cherry- 

 trees at so low a figure that one of our nur- 

 serymen remonstrated, saying that budded 

 trees could not be pioduced at any such 

 price. I wrote to friend Kingsley, and he 

 answers as follows: 



HOW TO PROPAGATE TARTARIAN CHERRY-TREES. 



Take your nice budded trees as they stand in the 

 row, and bend them down to the ground, turning 

 the tops up by placing a light scantling on each 

 side; cover the trees well, except the tops, with soil 

 and keep the tops ti'immed well; each tree will send 

 up from 8 to 13 young trees, which will root well if 

 cut ai)art the following year. Ti-ees raised in this 

 way are in every respect as good as budded ; and 

 after the tree is grown, the sprouts which come up 

 around are as good as any. I don't claim that my 

 trees are raised as scientificalljf as this; but 'tis up- 

 on the same principle, and are fully as good. 



I think other trees could be easily propagated the 

 same way. I know that the trees I offer are good; 

 I tried them before I offered any for sale, and saw 

 them bearing. Chas. Kingsley. 



Benton, La., March 17, 1884. 



After reading the above I submitted it to 

 neighbor 11. , who is quite a fruit-grower as 

 well as farmer, and he says they have raised 

 nice bearing trees in the same way ; and if 

 he were to have his choice he would rather 

 have such trees than the budded ones. If 

 there is an objection to them, we should be 

 pleased to have further facts. One thing is 

 certain — we want more cherry-trees for our 

 bees. 



what may be DONE BY LIBERAL FEEDING. 



Last fall I started with 4 swarms of bees in old 

 common box hives, two of them well fed with 

 honey, two others full of comb, with very little hon- 

 ey. Into the large hive I put another swarm of bees, 

 both together about filling the hive; gave them last 

 fall 35 lbs. of granulated sugar made into syrup, at 

 the rate of a pint of water to 3 lbs. of sugar. Dur- 

 ing the severe cold weather we enveloped them in 

 blankets, well sheltered fi-om the north wind; in 

 March we commenced feeding again with warm 

 syruj); fed about 6 lbs. May 10th I looked them 

 over and found the hive full down to the bottom- 

 board, with two or three quai-ts of bees in this 

 chamber. It was not only the heaviest of 7 hives, 

 but, by actual count, three bees to one over any 

 other hive. I look for the first swai-m from this col- 

 ony; took their other swai-m the first of April, with 

 from 1 to 5 lbs. of honey each ; fed about 6 lbs. each ; 

 to-day they are full to the bottom-board. Apple- 

 blossoms are abundant, as also pears and plums, 

 cherries, etc. My bees are increasing rapidly; 8 out 

 of 10 colonies of bees in this neighborhood are dead ; 

 many have lost all— 10 to 15. W. C. Baily. 



Chatham, N. Y., May 33, 1884. 



COMBS SYo FEET LONG, ETC. 



There is an old colored man here who has 5 colo- 

 ies. He found three bee - trees last summer. I 

 helped him cut two of them. There wore sheets of 

 comb in one of them 8' 2 ft. long, and 3 inches wide 

 at top, and about 13 inches at bottom. We got 7 L. 

 frames full, and one 3-gallon bucket as full as we 

 could carry it, and about ^i bushel of empty comb. 

 The other was not so good, as the tree burst open 

 and threw the bees and honey all out on the ground, 

 but we got a good swarm of bees. J. W. Martin. 



Greenwood Depot, Va., Feb 18, 1884. 



