GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 



have the power of delaying the appearance 

 of the larvae v^'hen the weather or a scanty 

 supply of food may make it desirable. 



THE HOWARD COMB-FIIiLEB. 



DtSPENSINO WITH A FEEDER. 



§OME time ago, perhaps you will re- 

 member, friend Miller described his 

 method of tilling combs with syrup, 

 the same to be afterward placed in 

 the hive. Our attention has been 

 called recently to Howard's comb-filler, in- 

 vented by Mr. J. H. Howard, of Holme, 

 Peterboro, England. Tlie engraving below 

 Shows the device. 



HOWAliJ) ■^ (_'()MB- KILLER. 



It is simply a syrup-tight box, into which 

 a comb of the proper size can be placed. 

 The lid is made removable, so that the 

 combs may be taken out and replaced as 

 fast as they are filled. In the circular sent, 

 which accompanies tlie illustration, Mr. 

 Howard says that the frame is placed in the 

 box, and that tlie syrup, warmed 15 degrees 

 above the surrounding temperature, is pour- 

 ed around the comb until within an inch of 

 the top-bar. The cover is then adjusted, 

 and some half-dozen up-and-down jerky 

 motions cause the comb to be filled with 

 three or four pounds of stores, according to 

 its capacity. After this the frame is taken 

 out and placed in a suitable box to drain. 

 A wet sponge is then used to wipe off tlie 

 surface of the comb so that it will be free 

 from all drippings. As soon as the sponge 

 is filled with syrup, it is squeezed, and the 

 contents allowed to run back into the comb- 

 filler. 



We can not now speak from experience as 

 to the practical workings of this comb-filler. 

 We simply call attention to it, as it may 

 contain an idea worth developing here in 

 America. The engraving, we had repro- 

 duced from a print in Mr. Howard's circu- 

 lar. 



A KED-CLOVER MITE. 



IS IT ANT THING TO BE FEARED? 



gDITOR GLEANINGS: -Allow me to call your 

 attention to the destruction the "clover 

 mite " makes in the red-clover fields. Acres 

 on acres show hardly any blossoms, so that 

 neither bumble nor other bees can g-et any 

 honey. I begin to think that it worked in the white 

 clover as well, and that is the reason we got so little 

 honey out of it. The experience and observations 



of your correspondent would be quite an item to 

 see published in Gleanings. F. J. M. Otto. 



Sandusky, O., Aug. 16, 1888. 



We have asked Prof. Cook to reply, which 

 he does as follows : 



If Mr. Otto will send me specimens of the " clover 

 mite "to which he refers,! will gladly describe it 

 and suggest remedies if possible. Any insect at- 

 tacking our clover is of great interest, both to 

 farmers and bee-keepers. I do not think it can be 

 a mite. The only mite that attacks our plants is the 

 red spider— Tetranichun telarius, which is very com- 

 monly destructive in greenhouses and even to 

 plants outside in dry seasons like the present one. 

 I hardly think this is the enemy in question. There 

 are very commonly in clover-heads long slim insects 

 known as " thrips." Some are yellow, others black. 

 I have wondered if these are the ones referred to 

 by Mr. Otto. If so, I question if they do the mis- 

 chief, as I find them common every year. Possibly 

 the dry season blights the clover, and, as these 

 thrips are present, they receive blame not their due. 

 If the specimens are sent me I can quickly teU if 

 these thrips are the forms which are causing the 

 anxiety. 



There is a very serious enemy to the clover-seed 

 in our country, which has done serious mischief in 

 New York, and is spreading to other States. It is 

 the clover-seed midge. It belongs to the same fami- 

 ly and genus as does the famous and dreaded 

 Hessian tiy and wheat midge. It is to be hoped that 

 this is not the enemy that is despoiling the Sandusky 

 clover-blossoms. A.J. Cook. 



Agricultural College, Mich. 



CONTRACTING, ONCE MORE. 



DIVlSIBIiE-BROOD-CHAMBER HIVES, ETC. 



fHISisavery important subject, for the sys- 

 tem is one which adds immensely to the 

 success of the honey-producer, and its ad- 

 vantages are yet only fully known to a few. 

 I am very glad that, in your foot-notes, you 

 made so very clear the principle of horizontal con- 

 traction, which can be accomplished only with my 

 divisible brood-chamber hives. I offer, as an ex- 

 cuse for not making the matter sufficiently clear, 

 that it seemed to me like repetition, for I have 

 done so in my book and circulars. I desire, how- 

 ever, that you give full credit, and cast no undue 

 shadows over the more tedious and less advanta- 

 geous contraction of the non-divisible brood-cham- 

 bers. You say, " I greatly prefer to have all 

 the sections above the combs of honey, or, better 

 still, combs of brood." This sentence will be found 

 almost verbatim in my past writings upon the same 

 subject, and I believe we are both right. But, friend 

 Root, we do not move the bottom of the hive up, 

 but we crit away the top of the brood-chamber as it 

 were, which not only brings the brood close up to 

 the surplus boxes, but it brings all of these boxes 

 directly above the brood-combs, and, after this con- 

 traction, they remain combs of brood, and there 

 will not be nearly as many brace combs built be- 

 tween the top-bars of the shallow frames and the 

 honey-board as would be placed between deeper 

 frames and the liouey-board. Now, may I ask you 

 to remember that the new hive is not a double- 

 brood-chamber hive, but a dtuisih/e-brood-chamber 

 hive; that it is not a shallow hive, but a deep hive 



