896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



now TO KMPTY THK HEDDON CRATE. 



1. 1 sbouki like to learn how to empty the Heddon 

 case (old style) without breaking- the sections all to 

 pieces. 



2. What is ii dummy in a hive; and how made? 

 Dayton, Mo., Apr. 24, 1888. L. M. Wagner. . 



We liave never had any experience in re- 

 moving sections from tlie Ileddon case. 

 Perhaps some one who has experience can 

 enligliten you. After contracting the brood- 

 nest from ten to six or eight frames there 

 will be a space left by those frames which 

 have been removed. Before putting on the 

 honey-board and the surplus case this space 

 should be filled with a division-board, or 

 '' dummy," as it is called. A dummy is, 

 therefore, sometliing to fill up the space 

 previously occupied by frames. Unless this 

 space is so filled, the bees are pretty apt to 

 build combs in there, even if a thin division- 

 board be used to separate the brood-nest 

 proper from this vacant space in the hive. 



HOW TO MELT OLD COMBS OFF FROM MIRED 

 FRAMES. 



How long do you consider it advisable to keep the 

 same brood-frames, built on foundation, in the 

 brood-chamher, for brood-rearing, and how can the 

 combs be most easily removed from wired frames, 

 for melting? M. W. Moe. 



Denver, Col., Apr. 31, 1888. 



Keep the brood-combs just as long as they 

 are even and good. We should never destroy 

 them simply because they are old. Age does 

 not necessarily impair their usefulness ; on 

 the contrary, it rather toughens them. 

 Combs may last ten or fifteen years, depend- 

 ing, of course, on the usage they have had. 

 If you have wired combs that are uneven, 

 W(n"m-eaten, full of holes, or otherwise unfit 

 for use, put them in the solar v/ax- extractor. 

 We know of nothing better to take old 

 combs clean off from the v^ires and leave 

 the frame fit for new foundation. We tried 

 some old combs in the solar wax-extractor last 

 summer. Although old Sol takes his time 

 to do it, he charges nothing for his services, 

 if we give him any kind of a chance. If the 

 comb is very old, it may be necessary to lift 

 tlie lid of the extractor, and crowd the co- 

 coons out from between the wires with a 

 small stick. 



FIGHTING INSECTS. 



I will send a few suggestions for fighting insects. 

 For potatoes, walk through the rows, turning the 

 leaves with a sticK. The eggs will be found in clus- 

 ters of from ten to thirty, and are easily destroyed. 



The cabbage butterfly lays her eggs on the out- 

 side of the outer leaves. These are more easily 

 destroyed than the worms. 



Keep the currants so well pruned that every leaf 

 can be seen. Watch carefully for any that are per- 

 forated. On these you will find the newly hatched 

 worms. By destroying a leaf you will destroy 

 worms enough to mutilate and render disgusting a 

 whole bush, it you look the bushes over three 

 times a week your currants will be safe. Of course, 

 it is better to catch the parent insect before the 

 eggs are laid, if you can. I do not know the moth 

 that lays eggs for currant worins. I should be glad 

 to learn how to save the bushes from the worm 

 that bores through the stalk. L. W. 



Delavan, Wis., May 5, 1888. 



With Replies from our best Authorities on Bees. 



All queries sent in for this department should be briefly 

 stated, and free from any possible ambiguity. The question 

 or questions should be written upon a separate slip of paper, 

 and marked, " For Our Question-Box." 



Question No. .52.— Do recersihle frames produce 

 the results claimed; i. e., ivhen reversed, cause the bees 

 to place the honey in the sections"^ 



I don't know. Geo. Grimm. 



Not with me. H. R. Boardman. 



I never tried it. E. France. 



Not according to my experience. 



Paul L. Viallon. 

 I know but little about reversible frames. 



O. O. POPPLETON. 



I presume they usually do. I know that some- 

 times they don't. C. C. Miller. 



Reversible frames for the purpose set forth are 

 largely things of the past. G. M. Doolittle. 



Not always. With a large hive and a small queen 

 it will make bad matters worse. P. H. Elwood. 



I can not say from personal experience; but from 

 what I have learned, I think they do. 



Mrs. L. Harrison. 

 This is one of the new methods which promised 

 more in theory than it has proven in practice. 



L. C. Root. 

 I take no stock in reversible frames, and my ex- 

 perience does not prove the result claimed for 

 them. Chas. F. Muth. 



Yes; the bees do not like to leave their honey 

 near the entrance, below the brood, for it is not so 

 safe there. Dadant & Son. 



Not always; but if the brood-frames are filled to 

 the bottom with brood, reversing will do as claimed. 

 I have tried it. Dr. A. B. Mason. 



They do, if reversed at the proper time and under 

 the right conditions, all of which have been ex- 

 plained in the journals. W. Z. Hutchinson. 



I have valued reversible frames because they 

 were filled completely with comb, which was fas- 

 tened on all sides, and they, when properly maniij- 

 ulated, will send reluctant bees into the supers. 



A. J. Cook. 



I had not confidence enough in reversible frames 

 to try them. It is tolerably plain, however, that, 

 when bees will leave honey in bi'oken comb placed 

 outside their door they will not move that inside 

 merely on account of its position. They will move 

 it when they want the space for brood. 



E. E. Hasty. 



Yes, if done at the right time. Not only this, but 

 they more than pay for their extra cost, from the 

 fact that with them we can get the frame complete- 

 ly filled with comi), leaving no lurking-place for 

 bees. 



Friend Root, I hope none of your readers will im- 

 agine that my standing firm for reversible frames 

 is because I have a patent hive in which they sup- 

 pose invertibility to be the main feature. Such is 

 not the case. It would be to ray interest in dollars 

 and cents, if it should prove that inverting is de- 

 structive to the brood, because in my divisible 



