110 



GLEANINGS IN BEE dULTUEE. 



Feb. 



In a card received since, tliis friend writes, 

 telling how he accidentally made the dis- 

 covery. It reads as follows : 



Mr. A. 1. Hoot:— On page 944, Dec. 15, T see Mr. M. 

 M. Baldridge gives the use of salt brine to prevent 

 sticking to the dipping-boards. Jn the spring of 

 188;} my brother and I purchased of jou a fdn. ma- 

 chine. Your directions were, to use starch, which 

 we tried: also soap; but sticls it would, till we gave 

 it up in disgust. Later on, some sheets of wax fell 

 into a pork-barrel, and we found to our delight that 

 they ran through the mill like a charm. We then 

 used salt thereafter, and we never again had foun 

 dation stick. Finding that friend Baldridge had 

 trouble with the sheets sticking, I gave him the 

 secret. Let the people have it. It is worth money 

 to any one having fdn. to make. E. A. Morgan. 



Columbus, Wis., Dec. 28, 1887. 



Friend Baldridge, thinking the "secret" 

 was too good to keep from the brethren at 

 large, " let the cat out of the bag." 



A CHEAP AVAY OF GIVING SALT TO BEES. 



Oh, yes ! The little evaporated particles of 

 salt which will adhere to the foundation 

 will in no way make it less acceptable to 

 the bees ; but if the theory is true, that the 

 bees require salt, then the value of the 

 foundation so made is enhanced. 



T-TIN SUPPORTS ; A CONTINUATION OF THE 



SUBJECT DISCUSSED ON PAGE 22, 



JAN. 1st ISSUE. 



Since my description of the T super in the 

 January issue of Gleanings, in the depart- 

 ment of Our Own Apiary, we have had some- 

 thing like a score of suggestions. I have 

 not taken time to reply to each one individ- 

 ually, but I will take space here to answer 

 two or^three of the suggestions. It will be 

 remembered, that I was not satisfied with 

 the T-tin rests. I made a remark, some- 

 thing to the effect that we would hail with 

 joy a device which would hold the T tins 

 just as securely, and yet at much less ex- 

 pense. As a partial solution to this problem, 

 I mentioned my experiment in the use of a 

 piece of strong strap iron, bent in the middle 

 at a right angle. This was not feasible, be- 

 cause it would pull out too easily when 

 driven into the bottom edge of the wood. To 

 overcome this difficulty, quite a number of 

 friends have suggested 'making a T-tin rest 

 of strap iron, cut and bent as in the sub- 

 joined engraving. The prongs 

 are intended to be driven 

 through the side near the lower 

 inside edge of the side of the T _ 

 supei-, leaving the lower step, so to speak, to 

 suppoit the T tin, Hush with the bottom 

 edge of the T super. Three of the little 

 pieces of iron, so bent, are to be driven 

 equiilly distant on each of the sides. I im- 

 mediately instructed the f( reman of our 

 tinning department to make me several of 

 these, after the above description, of heavy 

 strap iron, light strap iron, and of heavy 

 tin. Samples of this I drove into the T- 

 super sides in the manner I liave already 

 described ; but I found that, instead of 

 driving in securely, they had a tendency to 

 split the wood. Moieover, it was only oc- 

 casicmally that I could succeed in driving 

 one squarely into the wood. It would bend 



and kink up. p]ven if it were practicable to 

 drive them into the wood, it would necessi- 

 tate an expensive die to punch them out, and 

 then two folds would require to be bent 

 with a common tinner's folder, to make the 

 steps, as it were. Considered from all points, 

 I think we shall have to discard these also 

 as impracticable and expensive. 



Two or three other friends seem to have 

 misapprehended the real purpose of these 

 T-tin rests. One or two say, " Why not make 

 saw-cuts in the T-super sides, and crowd 

 the upright part of the T tin into the saw- 

 cut T' thus: 



XXX 



The T tins are then to be nailed down. I 

 admit, that this would hold the T tins very 

 securely; but bear in mind, that they would 

 be stationary, and not movable, when so 

 fastened. The office of the little pieces of 

 strap iron, as described to you on page 29 

 was to support the T tins, and yet admit of 

 their easy removal. The reason for not 

 having them stationary is fully discussed on 

 pages 217 and 221, inclusive, of last year. 



Gleakincs in Bee Cultdre, 



Published Semi-Monthlt/. 



EDITOR AND PUBLISHER, 



nyEEX)I2sr-£w, OHIO. 



TERMS: $1.00 PER YEAR, POSTPAID. 



! ■ ♦ •> 



For Chtbing Rates, See Pint Page of Heading Matter. 



Whosoevei' will save his life shall lose it.— Matt. 16: 25. 



We have to - day 7732 subscribers. You see, 

 friends, we are getting nearer the 8000. Perhaps 

 we should say right here, that we are printing 9000 

 copies of our journal each issue. The rest, over 

 and above our regular list, go out as sample copies. 

 Our advertisers really have the advantage of a 

 circulation of 9000. 



LOOK OUT FOR HTM! 



We are obliged to warn our readers to be careful 

 about sending bees, queens, or supplies of any kind 

 to William Connelly, of Ogden, Boone Co., Iowa. 

 He has a way of excusing himself, by saying that 

 the goods were for a cousin of his, by the same 

 name, who has gone away, etc. Investigation, how- 

 ever, shows that no man but himself has for years 

 lived there under the name of William Connelly. 

 We have employed a man to look up the matter. 



FRIEND SECOR'S POEM. 



I WANT to suggest that the little poem on page 

 100 seems to be just in harmony with the spirit of 

 that convention, and, in fact, in harmony with the 

 spirit of all the conventions I have attended this 

 winter. Had friend Secor been present at Utica, he 

 would have found just as bright intellects, just as 



