1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CrLTURE. 



was thus engaged in the apiary. It was a little 

 cold out. and so we went in to waj'm. whei-p I 

 had the pleasure of meeting Mis. ^Miller. She, 

 like her sistei'. is a true type of one of those 

 whole - souled. kindl> - faced Scotch women 

 whom it is a genuine pleasure to meet. Both 

 of the wo7nen-folks know liow to handle bees, 

 and Dr. INliller asks for no better assistants in 

 his yards. 



DK. MILI.EU'S 13EE-SIKU' AND HONEY-HOUSE. 



If there is anything that gives a fair index 

 to a bee-keejjers notions, and of his methods of 

 work, it is his workshoi).oi'. rather, its contents. 

 Over in one corner you will tiiid things that he 

 has tested and found wanting. And then, 

 there are other conveniences that he could not 

 dispense with. Over on that shelf maybe some- 

 thing new under the sun, for which he has very 

 great hope. Periiaps the shop is orderly, and 

 perhaps it is full of useless truck. 



Now. I had expected to find Dr. Miller's shop 

 a model of — disorder, and perhaps my expecta- 

 tions might have been realized; but it so hap- 

 pened that the women-folks have a hand in the 

 work in the shop, and the doctor says it is " real 

 handy " to have them around to straighten 

 things up once in a while. Why, no. his shop 

 was very orderly. He did not have a lot of ex- 

 pensive tools, but I noticed that he had good 

 hammers, good saws, and a good assortment of 

 nails arranged in very conventent boxes. These 

 boxes the doctor has promised to describe, and 

 his description will appear in a forthcoming is- 

 sue soon. 



We fell to arguing on the subject of T supers 

 versus wide frames. He is .still very much 

 pleased with T supers: and the more he uses 

 them, the more he seems to like thcMU. But 

 then, he says he does not know when he will 

 cast them aside for something better. Of 

 course, I argued for the topless wide frame; 

 viz.. the section -holder. 



" Why," said I. " it i)rotects three sides of the 

 sections from the travel of the bees. I always 

 noticed that the exposed surfaces of sections 

 become a little bit yellow in time. If honey is 

 coming in rapidly, and the sections are removed 

 as soon as capped over, this yellow soiling is 

 not so apparent." 



The doctor insisted that it was not so bad but 

 that his customers would tolerate it, and. be- 

 sides, he could secur(^ a crop of honey in T su- 

 pers with less work. He had tried a few sec- 

 tion-holders, and did not like them; and in evi- 

 dence lie showed me a few of them that I had 

 sent him to be tried. 



We pulled over several ])iles of T supers. In 

 all. I noticed the bees had chinked in consider- 

 able propolis between the edges of the sections. 



"Now. doctor." said I. "I want yon to try 

 wedging them up tight anothei' year, and see if 

 you do not save time in scraping projjolis off. 

 By the way. doctor, did you use thwse thick 

 top-bars I sent you ?" 



■'You sent them too late," said he. "audi 

 hadn't time to put them in the hives then." 



■• Yes. I remember we were very much be- 

 hindhand, and could scarcely fill our regular 

 orders." 



•• I will show you the top-bars that I reinforc- 

 ed with separator stuff later, in the apiary."' 



Then the doctor showed me his double-tier 

 shipping-cases. He used thin veneer boards 

 between the two tiers of sections. This vir- 

 tually made two single-tier cases, and at quite 

 a saving in expen.-;e. Two strips of glass are 

 used to display each tier. Turning from this 

 we went upstairs. 



"What does all this mean over in this bin?" 

 said I. 



" That is where we put oui- cast-awav Clark 

 smokers." 



"That looks bad." I said. " Either you are 

 very hard on smokers or else the Clark smoker 

 is a very poor one." 



Picking one u[) I observed that it had the old- 

 style small blast-tube. 



"Yes." said the doctoi'. "they are the ohl 

 style of smokers. They did not last very long, 

 and it was cheaper to get new ones rather than 

 to fix the old ones up. Your new smokers, with 

 large blast-tubes, are a very gi'eat improvement, 

 and they stand hard usage in the apiaiy well." 



" Do you use them in preference to the Bing- 

 ham ?'' 



" Yes. on some accounts we like them better. 

 Em is partial to them because she can blow 

 smoke with them at a long range, and she can 

 force it clear through the tall piles of supers on 

 account of the strong blast." 



The doctor showed me an improvement, 

 which he had made. With a wire nail he had 

 punched 2.5 or 30 small holes in the sliding fire- 

 door of the smoker, and said sliding door was 

 made to shut tight so the sparks could not di'op 

 out. The rear diaft has. to pass through the 

 aforesaid perforated holes, and these are too 

 small to drop fire. This made the smoker al- 

 most faultless. The improvement plea^^ed me 

 so well that I said we would put it on our new 

 smokers. 



'•What is that hanging up against the ceil- 

 ing?"' said I. 



"That is a foundation-fastener that some- 

 body kindly sent me. I do not know that I 

 shail ever use it.'" 



There w(>re other things that had been sent 

 him in the same way, and which he had neither 

 the inclination nor time to try. Among them 

 were some things that I had sent. 



We then went out into the apiary. As usual, 

 on the matter of covers we could not agree. Dr. 

 M. wanted his cleats nailed without grooving 

 on the cover-board, and he did not want the 

 cover itself to stick over the hive. I insisted 

 that a board is less liable to warp if let into a 

 groove. Besides, in making hives in large 

 quantities, these grooves are an easy thing to 

 make. Some of the doctor"s covers, I noticed, 

 were a little wai'ped. hut then they had been 

 long in use. 



■'But there is one thing I must have." said 

 he. ■■and that is end cleats on the hives for 

 handling them. Your handholes are hardly 

 sufficient."" 



"But those cleats stick out in the way. and 

 are an extra expense." I urged: "and if you 

 would once get used to handhcles I think you 

 would like them."" 



•'But. see here."" he said; '"in carrying hives 

 into the cellar, all I have to do is to catch an 

 endless roi)e over the ends of the cleats, and. 

 with an assistant, the hives are easily picked 

 up and carried into the cellar: and. when set in 

 their i)laces. the rope is easily removed. Your 

 wii'e bails can't be disengaged so easily." 



•'Oh. vesl"" said I. forgetting all about the 

 handholes. ••let me be your assistant in this 

 job."' 



Dr. ^Miller went down into the cellar and |)ro- 

 duced a large soft rope. Lest some of our read- 

 ers have forgotten how he picks up his hives 

 and carries them into the cellar. I will here re- 

 produce the engraving we made a year or so ago. 



He quickly slipped the rope over one of the 

 ends of a hive, and "' There," said he, '•get hold 

 of the other side." 



I did so. It was certainly very handy. We 

 carried in a few colonies, and put them in the 

 cellar. 



•■That's fun."" said I, ■■but don't yon like 

 those bails which I sent you. for lifting up bot- 

 tom-board and all?" 



