1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



261 



If your hives are only two or three inches from 

 the ground you will soon find out that you would 

 like to^do as Jones docs. Brown may have an iron- 

 clad back, but you will not find many who can stoop 

 down over hives all day, wishing they had some- 

 thing to sit on for a while. Paul, L. Viallon. 



Marion Harland, in that excellent book, " Com- 

 mon Sense in the Household," says, " I lay it down 

 as a safe and imperative rule for kitchen use, Never 

 stand when you can do your woih as well while Hit- 

 ting." It's a good rule for bee-keepers, if you make 

 it '* as well and as rapidly." The man who sits 

 part of the time will accomplish more, because he 

 does not waste strength in standing or stooping 

 which can be utilized in solid work. 



C. C. MiLLEH. 



If I get tired working with the bees, and have 

 time to sit down to rest, I prefer to go and sit in the 

 shade, instead of sitting down and working over a 

 bee-hive. If Jones will come and work in my crew 

 of honey-slingers, and tind any time or place to sit 

 down and keep the work moving right along as 

 lively as those who are on their feet, then I shall 

 be mistaken. Very likely a man working over nu- 

 cleus hives, raising queens, could find it practical 

 to sit a part of the time; but working over our big 

 hives extracting honey, 1 don't think any one could 

 make it pay to sit down to work. E. France. 



I always sit down when working over a hive, and 

 I'll wager a sum that I'll handle as many colonies as 

 the next man. I have, with one assistant (who did 

 the running and carrying), done all the work on 900 

 colonies, except the hiving of swarms, and I think I 

 did it well too. A man must have a back of cast 

 iron to examine colony after colony, lift heavy 

 combs and boxes, with the hot July or August sun 

 overhead, and all the while maintain a "Grecian 

 bend" attitude. The first thing I do on approach- 

 ing a hive is to lift the cover-box from the hive, set 

 it up edgewise on the side of the hive, sit down on 

 it, then go ahead. When I am througli with the 

 work on the hive I go to the next and the assistant 

 replaces the cover-box. Geo. Grimm. 



Well, friends, when I started out to read 

 tlie above, I began to think it was going to 

 be all on one side. Heddon, however, 

 comes right down emphatic ; and our good 

 friend France backs him up pretty well. 

 Dr. Miller thinks the bee-keeper ought to 

 sit down, and no wonder. If 1 were as big 

 as he is, I think 1 should sit down a good 

 deal oftener than I do, very likely, whether 

 I wanted to or not. Well, Ileddon, who 

 weighs about the same as I do— may be a 

 little more— and very likely gets over the 

 ground about as I do, would have no pa- 

 tience with one who has to sit down. May 

 be if friend Ileddon and I should hire out to 

 somebody by the day, so that we were oblig- 

 ed to put in a solid ten hours or more, stoop- 

 ing over the hives, perhaps we should think 

 difterently, and perliaps have a little more 

 charity. Dadant says there is a reasonable 

 mean, and I think he is riglit. There is 

 quite a difference between a man who sits 

 down because he is too lazy to stand up, 

 and the one who has done so mucli during 

 the day that it is due, both to himself and 

 his employer, that he should save his 

 strength by sitting down a little ; therefore 

 I tl)ink it is hard to hiy down rules. Let a 



man do as he chooses in such a matter, and 

 gauge his pay according to the amount he 

 accomplishes. 8ee an article touching on 

 this from George Grimm in next issue. 



(^)UESTiON No. 44 — r havCi a lot of sections with 

 starters in them, which the bees did not draw out. 

 Woiild you use them, or put other starters in them the 

 coming s eason? 



Geo. Grimm. 



W. Z. Hutchinson. 



Dadant & Son 



Dr. a. B. Mason. 



Mrs. L. Harrison. 



C. C. MlI.tiEH. 



Use. 



Use them. 



Use them, if clean. 



I would use them. 



I would use them. 



I always use them. 



I would use them as they are. 



James Heddon. 

 Use them, if not discolored or soiled. 



H. R. BOARDMAN. 



Put others in. I have tried old ones. 



P. H. Elwood. 



All that are in good condition I would use as they 

 are. L. C. Root. 



I would use the sections with the old starters in 

 them, if clean. Chas. F. Muth. 



I should use Ihem, but would alternate in the 

 crates with sections having fresh foundation. 



O. O. POPPLETON. 



If you use them, warm them up before putting 

 the cases on the hive. They are just as good, if the 

 wax is softened. A.J.Cook. 



If the starters are quite large, very hard, and 

 badly daubed with propolis, take them out; other- 

 wise use them next year. E. E. Hasty. 



I am in the same boat, and should like to know. 

 It is a big job to cut out several hundred and put in 

 new. I think I shall try both plans. E. France. 



I should use thcra.itnice and clean, even if all 

 the rest of the fraternity said no. Little of this 

 craze regarding unfinished sections will be heard of 

 ten years from now. G. M. Doolittle. 



It may make no difference, but I have always 

 made it a duty to cut them out and put in fresh 

 ones. Such starters seem to dry out so much that 

 I never used them, and can speak only from opin- 

 ion and not experience. Paul L. Viallon. 



Well, friends, your replies are just about 

 what ] should expect. If the foundation 

 put ill the year before is apparently in good 

 order, use it ; and 1 don't know but I would 

 use it even if it were not in very tiptop or- 

 der. Elwood says, put in others. I am a 

 littlp surprised at this ; but very likely he 

 has had more experience in the matter than 

 any of us. Friend Poppletoifs idea of al- 

 ternating them would, I think, certainly 

 obviate any tendency on the part of the bees 

 to refuse to commence work. 



Question No. 45.-/8 it profit<^''l^ '" w*'^ ilro)ie 

 foundation in the surplus apartment for either ex- 

 tracts or comh homy? 



No. 



No. 



Doubtful. 



None at 4II. 



I think that it is. 



O. O. Poppleton. 



Geo. Grimm. 



W. Z. Hutchinson. 



Paul L. Viallon. 



Mrs. L. Harrison. 



I much perfer the worker size. 



G. M, Doolittle. 



