12 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 1. 



price. Rhode Island bee-keepers, as far as we 

 observed, sell all their honey in the home mar- 

 ket, and we saw no piles of special shipping- 

 crates in their apiaries. 



The Hoffman frame is used in this apiary, 

 and the spacing of frames, and from frame to 

 honey-board or crate, is large enough to give 

 the bees easy access, and no larger — we should 

 say a scant t%; and when the ci'ates are remov- 

 ed, not a brace-comb is visible. Italians and 

 Carniolans are in the apiary: but Mr. Miller 

 favors the Carniolans, and often laments the 

 loss of a valuable strain of them when he was 

 absent. He has not replaced them, but hopes 

 to find ere long a Carniolan with all the desir- 

 able qualities. 



As your readers will remembei-, Mr. Miller is 

 the inventor of the best foundation-fastener 

 yet devised. We here saw its practical working 

 for the first time, and foundation can be secure- 

 ly stuck to the sections with rapidity, leaving 

 no thick rib next to the section. Tlie ajMary 

 is comfortably located under the spreading 

 branches of apple-trees of the Roger Williams 

 variety. We did the town of Barrington, and 

 found many elegant residences. City people 

 live out here, and spend their surplus dollars in 

 adorning their grounds, and they are good to 

 look upon; but the greatest comfort a Rhode 

 Islander can attain to is a clam- bake; and 

 every cottage and club-house along shore is 

 provided with the necessary appliances to pro- 

 duce the effect. It was a little late in the sea- 

 son for bakes, but we heard so much about them 

 that we feel quite well posted on clams. 



makes the man love home and family more. A 

 man who loves pets, and is kind to them, will 

 necessarily be kind to his family. What you 

 say regarding the Hoffman frames, and their 

 freedom from burr-combs, is literally true. I 

 saw the same state of aft'aii's in more than one 

 apiary in the East; and I confidently expect it 

 in our own yards at an early date.} B. R. 



A CLAM BEE-KEEPEK OF THE "BRIMSTONE" DAYS. 



The clam is a very conservative animal, and 

 is seldom influenced by outside considerations. 

 The clam is considered selfish, as he shuts his 

 door in the face of all fntruders, and even his 

 aunts, his uncles, and his cousins, are served 

 the same way. The clam will not open his 

 doors to the interviewer, and all he wants is to 

 be let alone, to pursue the even tenor of his 

 way just as his grand-dad did. If Mrs. Clam 

 wants to put on an airy back kitchen, or a front 

 bay window to their old shell, Mr. Clam gets in 

 a rage, and closes his front doors closer than 

 ever. Scientists do not agree as to whether the 

 clam is a biped or a quadruped. Usually just 

 after Mrs. Clam has given him an extra good 

 dinner, he has a faint resemblance to a biped; 

 at all other times he has all the qualities of a 

 quadruped. " Don't be a clam," is the advice of 

 the Ramhleu. 



[I have a great respect for a man who has 

 hobbies, particularly if they are of a kind that 



THE DOVETAILED CHAFF HIVE. 



()B.JEfTIONS TO THE OUTSIDE AVINTEK I'KOTECT- 

 ING-f'ASE. 



There are decided objections to such an out- 

 side case as is suggested by Ernest on page <598. 

 If made the size mentioned, there will be too 

 little space for packing. There will be some 

 difficulty, I think, in adjusting the cushions so 

 that one can always feel positive that there are 

 no unoccupied spaces left for the free circulation 

 of air. 



The adjusting of cushions and case will re- 

 quire a skilled workman, and will consume 

 more time than would be required to tuck up 

 the same number of colonies in regular chaff 

 hives. 



There are too many pieces that will need stor- 

 ing for a part of the year, causing too much 

 carrying back and forth between the stands and 

 the honey-house. A little extra cost of a hive, 

 when used for a term of years, is a snuill thing; 

 but a little extra work, often repeated, is of 

 some importance; and the longer tiie hive is 

 used, the sniallci- is the importance of the cost 

 and the greater the importance of the time con- 

 sumed to manipulate it. 



If it were possible, there should be no part of 

 the hive requiring storage at any time, except- 

 ing the supers. These we want stoivd during 

 the 'Winter, so that they may be filled with 

 sections for the following season. 



It is true, tliat such a temporary winter case 

 can be used by those who already have their 

 bees in the Dovetailed hive. This is some ad- 

 vantage, but not as great as at first appears; 

 for if we adopt an eight-frame chaff' hive, the 

 Dovetailed hives tlius relieved from service will 

 not be lost, as, with such a hive, we shall need 

 a number of just such bodies for summer use. 

 with which to form nuclei, to hive swarms, and 

 to form second stories for extracting, if such 

 should be needed. If there were a greater 

 number than would be i-equired for these pur- 

 poses, they could easily be ripped in two. and 

 thus be converted into supei-s. 



Another advantage of such a case is, that it 

 could be used early in the honey season to 

 protect the supers from cold. Later, as the 

 hot weather comes on. they might be con- 

 verted into quite efficient shade- boards by 

 removing the cushions. Foi- this purijose they 

 would require to be a little larger than sug- 

 gested— lai-ge enough, in fact, to slip over the 

 Dovetailed cover. 



The advantage of cheapness, which Ernest 

 urges. I am not willing to admit. His state- 

 ment of the cost reminds me of a woman of my 

 acquaintance, who regularly, every Monday 

 morning, says to her little boy, " Now. Johnny, 

 mother washes to-day, so you must bi'ing a pail 

 of water before going to play." Johnny will- 

 ingly Ijrings the stated amount, when his 

 mother says. " Now another." After that has 

 been brought. " Now another;'" then. "Now an- 

 other:" then. "Now another:" then. "Now just 

 one more." It is fortunate that the mother al- 

 wavs stops at the sixth pail; for about that time 

 there comes a look on -Johnny's face that leads 

 me to think there might be a small rebellion 

 were she to call for the seventh. To keep us 



