1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



349 



these combs remain empty, not being used for 

 breeding, there being, unfortunately, no honey to 

 collect. 6. The bees do not carry pollen into their 

 combs. The separation of the honey-compartment 

 in the hive from the brood-nest becomes super- 

 fluous. I wrote to Mr. Koerbs that he promised a 

 good deal. Though I had known him as a successful 

 bee-keeper and fortunate inventor of a very good 

 frame machine, I nevertheless was not oversan- 

 guine in regard to his latest invention. But he 

 offered to give me particulars of his invention if I 

 would give him my word of honor not to divulge 

 his secret. Full particulars were given me, and 

 in addition I received one of Mr. Koerbs' artificial 

 combs completed by the bees, from which tlie hon- 

 ey had been extracted several times. The matter 

 appeared to me very simple, and I thought, " If 

 this new invention should accomplish only half of 

 what Mr. Koerbs expects it to do, we shall undoubt- 

 edly see a great revolution in the manufacture of 

 foundation as well as in beekeeping generally." 



In order to enable bee-keepers to manufacture 

 their own combs, Mr. Koerbs has started the publi- 

 cation of a pamphlet, in which his experience, as 

 also the manufacture of the combs and the mode of 

 using them, are described. Any one who engages 

 to buy of him said pamphlet, at the price of 25 cents, 

 will in due course receive a copy postpaid. The 

 pamphlet would be sent to all subscribers on the 

 same day, in case he could get at least a few thou- 

 sand subscribers. 



But, alas! only 350 subscribers have engaged to 

 buy the pamphlet. Many of the bee-keepers con- 

 demned this way and pleaded for a patent. What 

 should he do? Of course, he applied for a patent 

 in Germanj'^ and Austria, and sold It to Mr. Otto 

 Shulz, oneof the manufacturers of comb founda- 

 tion on a great scale, in Germany. The German 

 and Austrian' bee-keepers will, of course, now see 

 that the great benefit of manufacturing their own 

 new comb foundation is thrown upon the shoulders 

 of Mr. Shulz, and every one will pay the money he 

 asks. We shall have only standard comb founda- 

 tion of the new comb, as no one will be induced to 

 make his own foundation, as he has no right to use 

 it. I do not like patents in bee-matters. And now 

 the secret: The new comb foundation is o?ie-siried; 

 has prolonged cells; one side of a frame is closed 

 with a tin sheet, covered with wax on the inside, 

 worked in foundation. The bees work out the cells 

 to double the length of the brood-ceils, and fill 

 them with honey only. Many of the readers of 

 Gleanings have seen one-sided combs with pro- 

 longed cells, and full of honey, in the old skeps, or 

 box-hives, and many have had combs with prolonged 

 cells on both sides, filled only with honey. I for my 

 part do not doubt that a comb of such qualities as 

 Mr. Koerbs claimed for his would be of great value 

 to every bee-keeper, if he only understands how to 

 use It in the right way. Let us try the matter, and 

 find this right way. C. J. H. Gkavenhorst. 



Wilsnack, Prussia, Germany. 



Dear friend, we are greatly obliged to yon 

 for vour kind letter ; and we feel prond to 

 be able to place any sort of a letter, from so 

 distinguished a man as yourself, before our 

 readers. I presume you are aware that 

 father Quinby made combs with a sheet of 

 tin in the center ; but these combs were 

 used by the bees for rearing brood just as 

 well as any. I do not see what should prevent 



the bees from cutting down these extra-deep 

 cells made by Mr. Koerbs, so that they can 

 use them for brood -rearing. I do not believe 

 the sheet of tin alone would prevent the 

 bees from using them for pollen or brood ; 

 neither can 1 understand why the honey 

 would come out of tliem any easier. If friend 

 K. has succeeded in developing something 

 heretofore unknown, I am sure a few thou- 

 sand names of those who will pay can be se- 

 cured; but we should want the guarantee 

 of some good man like yourself that it is 

 really all he claims for it. Are we to under- 

 stand you that honey and wax are on only 

 one side of the tinVlt seems to me this 

 would be a disadvantage to the bees in stor- 

 ing honey. 



A RECONSIDERATION OF QUESTION 

 NO. 41. 



i'ARM WORK VERSUS WORK IN THE APIAKY, AS 

 CONSIDERED BY MBS. CHADDOCK. 



T NEVER was more astonished than when I read 

 M the answers to Query 41. How can anybody 

 ^l think bee-keeping easier than farming? Of 

 •*■ course, farming in Illinois is not the same as it 

 is among the stones and stumps in some other 

 States. But how can anybody think bending over 

 and lifting bee-hives easier than riding on a sulky 

 plow, driving a mower or a self-binder, running a 

 disk-harrow, or riding on a sulky hay-rake? Nearly 

 every thing that we raise is planted by machinery; 

 and I do not consider holding two leather straps, 

 and pulling them "gee" and "haw" very hard 

 work. I can do it week in and week out, and not 

 feel worn out; but as soon as I go to lifting bees I 

 get stiff and sore, and am obliged to go to bed. 



Two years ago 1 gathered corn (i. e., husked it 

 from the standing stalk, and threw it Into a wagon) 

 for six weeks, and I enjoyed it (I did none of the 

 unloading); and last summer, when our boys got on 

 a strike, I helped with the hay, but not in a very 

 fierce way. Then after hai-vest, when the days 

 were long and hot, and everything seemed as if 

 it must burn up, and the boys had been hauling 

 out manure for four weeks, I went out every time 

 they came in with the empty wagon and helped 

 fill it. I like to work, but 1 have preferences, and I 

 know of a hundred things that I would rather do 

 than fork up manure; but the boys were going to 

 strike again, and I knew what a strike meant. Mr. 

 Chaddock was sick in bed. The boys declared that 

 they would run away if they had to haul any more 

 of that old manure; they said there was no end to 

 it; that there never had been, and there never 

 would be. Now, I understand farm work, and I 

 know just what must be done, and I knew that the 

 manure must go on the wheat-ground before the 

 wheat was drilled in; and to encourage the boys, 

 and show them that hauling manure was just as 

 easy as any thing, I helped them load all the loads 

 for a week or two. The boys brightened up imme- 

 diately, and worked twice as fast when I was there. 

 They had spent a good part of the time leaning on 

 the forks before, and they declared up and down, 

 and stuck to it, that the sun never shone as hot 

 when I was out there as it did when I was not. I 

 suppose I have had letters fromathousand women, 

 asking me what work they had better engage in. 

 In every Instance, when they tell me they are 



