M 



GLEA:5«ri:ffGs In b:£e cULtuke. 



Apft. 



those partition walls. This proved to be quite an 

 impi-ovement. I decided that bees like large 

 frames better than small ones. A neig-hbor of 

 mine was using large 2-lb. "California" sections 

 without separators, and with only a small scrap of 

 comb as a starter. He got as nice comb honey, and 

 tbore of It, than I did with my expensive separa- 

 tors and extra work. In 188:J I changed to ~-lb. sec- 

 tions and adopted a case to hold them, similar to 

 the old-style Heddon case, only with three apart- 

 ments instead of four. 



I believe these large sections were entered more 

 promptly and filled more rapidly than the smaller 

 ones; but, not mentioning the common objections 

 to large sections, our object was not yet fully ac- 

 complished. A new start must be made in each 

 separate apartment, or cross-row. "Bait "combs 

 could not well be used as an enticement, for it will 

 not answer to place a section filled with coml) by 

 the side of one with only a starter, without a sep- 

 arator, which could not be used in this cnse; and if 

 we have comb in all the sections of one cross-row 

 it does not serve as an enticement for any other 

 row, as there is no direct communication between 

 the rows. 



In 1883 I conceived the idea of opening up com- 

 munication between these cross-rows by making 

 entrances between the sections at the sides, like 

 those at the top and bottom. I accordingly went 

 back to the 1-lb. section with open sides, and con- 

 trived a case especially adapted to their use which 

 has since developed into what I now call the " ad- 

 justable" case. The chief object of this change 

 was to combine the advantages of large frames 

 with those of small sections. 



One important advantage is, that after work is 

 once started anywhere in the case, the bees gradu- 

 ally work through into the next row, and on to the 

 ends of the case in the direction the combs run, 

 which is the natural way for bees to work; whereas 

 with the closed sides, work must be started in four 

 places, and then progress " across the grain." 



Another advantage claimed is that of a more per- 

 fect ventilation, facilitating the ripening process. 

 Practice proves that the objects sought are realized. 

 The main object is the same as that sought by the 

 many expensive and complicated contrivances 

 under the heads of "reversible frames," "contrac- 

 tion dummies," " invertible hives," and " divisible 

 brood-chambers " with the queen-excluders, which 

 these things necessitate. In brief, it is to get hon- 

 ey stored in sections rather than in brood-combs. 

 With full 10-frame L. brood-chambers, without con- 

 traction, inversion, or queen-exclusion, but with 

 open-side sections above, I have found, throughout 

 a good honey-tlow, the (jueens holding their posi- 

 tion up close to the top-bar, leaving always plenty 

 of empty cells below and around the brood. From 

 such colonies I have had good yields of comb hon- 

 ey with but few swarms, and at the closfe of the 

 season I have found scarcely honey enough in all 

 the ten brood combs to winter the colonies. 



I do not claim that the use of open-side sections 

 will give us all the advantages claimed for contrac- 

 tion and inversion; but with them there is not the 

 necessity for the unnatural extremes of compul- 

 sion, to which many are now resorting. 



The unfavorable reports from open-side sections 

 are evidently the result of improper construction, 

 poor workmanship, or the want of a suitable case 

 to hold them. They should be pressed close togeth- 



er, especially from the etids of the case; and for 

 easy manipulation the case should be capable of 

 enlargement. Oliver Foster. 



Mt. Vernon, Iowa, Mar. 5, 1888. 



Friend F., before I ever thought of put- 

 ting four one-pound sections in an L. frame, 

 I had made some experiments similar to 

 yours. I found that, by tiering up Simplici- 

 ty hives and letting tlie bees build full-sized 

 combs, and till them with honey, they could, 

 under favorable circumstances, store enor- 

 mous tjuantities, and I made some large 

 yields in this very way, cutting up these 

 brood-frames full of white comb honey to 

 retail or put on the table. The next thing 

 was to divide the brood-frame into eight 

 square cakes. Doolittle and others had al- 

 ready been using a wide frame holding 

 larger sections one tier deep. I first tried 

 to get along without separators ; but as my 

 sections were full two inches wide, 1 had 

 trouble. The quantity of honey stored was 

 satisfactory, but some of the sections were 

 fat and some were lean. I very soon decid- 

 ed that separators were detrimental to the 

 rapid storage of honey ; but it did not occur 

 to me that a part of this objection to separa- 

 tors might be because the frames were press- 

 ed tightly together, dividing the whole hive 

 into deep '' pigeon-holes," as it were ; and 

 I confess that, with your explanation, it 

 seems to me very likely that more honey can 

 be secured with open-side sections than 

 where the openings are only at the top and 

 bottom. We should be very glad indeed to 

 get reports from others who have tried both. 



FLOKIDA FIiOWEKS. 



THEIR FRAfiRANCE, ETC., AS DESCRIBED BY MRS. 

 CHADDOCK. 



X^ AST night we received a beautiful bouquet 

 1^1 from Mr. Irving Keck, of Bowling Green, 

 Ji*T Florida. It was made up of orange-blossoms, 

 "*" grape-tlowers, honeysuckles, yellow jessa- 

 mine, roses, and a bud of the pomegranate. 

 Orange-blossoms' just think of iti We have been 

 reading of orange-blossoms all our lives, but never 

 saw nor smelled any before. At first when we 

 opened the box we thought that Mr. Keck had 

 made a mistake. You know all the people in Flori- 

 da have been busy sending fruit and fiowers and 

 presents of all kinds to Mrs. Frances Cleveland, and 

 we thought this must be one of the bouquets in- 

 tended for her that had gone astray, and come to 

 us; so we hunted up the wrapper and read the 

 address again: "Miss Jessie B. Chaddock, Ver- 

 mont, 111. ;" then we doubted no more, but fell to 

 enjoying the flowers, without restraint. 



The yellow-jessamine flowers are the same kind 

 that the bees gather the poisonous honey from that 

 kills those who eat it. What adrcadful strong smell 

 it has when held close! No wonder that the bees 

 never work on it when they can find any thing else. 

 All last evening till bedtime, all our rooms were 

 full of the fragrance of orange blossoms. Last 

 night we put them in the cellar to keep them from 

 freezing, and to-day we are inhaling them again. 

 This afternoon the husband of a sick woman call- 

 ed, and he admired the flowers so much that we di- 

 vided the bouquet and sent half of it to his wife. 

 She has been sick for eight months, and is tired of 



