94 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Fkb. 1. 



a little less than that number. Like all down- 

 east Yankees. Dr. M. is very ingenious: and 

 every thing in the yard and in the hive is as 

 near perfect in construction as possible. The 

 hives and crates wei'e of the cabinet-shop order 

 in nicety, and many pi'obleins have been patient- 

 ly worked out hei'(>. If the i)rol)lem is found to 

 be a hard one. he just thinks it out or goes over 

 to Barrington and gets another addition to his 

 bee-fever by thinking it out with Bro. JSIillei-. 



MJ{. MlIXEi: AND DK. MKKCHANT THINKING 



IT orT. 



The closed-end Hoffman frame is used with 

 wide top-bars, and hen^ we again saw the crates 

 and honey-boards come off with not a brace- 

 comb between. Aside from the frame, the hive 

 was an invention of his own, and was pi'ovided 

 Avith a side-opening feature, allowing the use 

 of division-boards for contracting the brood- 

 chamber, and allowing spaces on each side for 

 the rork filling, which the doctor found an 

 effective method for wintering. For summer 

 use, the supers are provided with an extra cov- 

 er, and the wintering cover is turned back 

 against a proper support— in this case, a fence. 

 This plan allows storifying to any extent. We 

 find the practice here is to' get one crate of sec- 

 tions nearly filled, then raise them and insert 

 under a half-depth extracting-supei'. The pho- 

 to of the hives by the church shows this plan of 

 woiking, very clearly. 



Dr. M. was quite enthusiastic over Alley's 

 drone-trap. Being away from home at all 

 hours of the day. dispensing pills and powders, 

 traps ai-e applied to every hive liable to swarm, 

 and thus far they have been a success in pre- 

 venting the loss of valuable queens. 



Dr. M.'s crate was a little different from any 

 we ever saw, and several points about it struck 

 the Rambler very favorably. We were in hopes 

 to give your leaders a sketch of it in connection 

 with this ramble, and will pi-omise to do so as 

 soon as we receive a sample crate from head- 

 quarters. 



Prof. Cushman's large exhibit from th(^ Ex- 

 periment Station gave us a desire to visit him 

 at Kingston; and though we weie cordially in- 

 vited to do so, our time was limited, and we 

 had to refuse this and several other invitations. 



While in Warren the Rambler had the i)lea- 

 sure of visiting with the doctor the town of 

 Swansea, Mass.. and the ancient home of our 

 ancestors. The Rambler's grandfather emi- 

 grated from Swansea to York State about 179;") ; 

 and the old homestead, about 185 years old. 

 where four generations of our ancestors had 

 lived, was still standing. Near by was the 



family burying-ground, now sadly neglected: 

 and as we tried to decipher the moss-covered 

 inscriptions, how forcibly the following lines 

 came to mind I 



They died— ah! they died— and we thinjis tliat are 



now. 

 Who walk on the turf that Lies over tlieir brow, 

 Wlio make in their dwellings a transient abode. 

 Meet the changes they met on their pilgrimage road. 



Tis the wink of an eye; "lis the draught of a lu-eath 

 From tlie blossom of health to the iialeness of death ;. 

 From the gilded saldon to the liier and the shroud — 

 Oh 1 why sliould the spirit of mortal he proud V 



RAMIU.EK. 



FULL SHEETS OF FOUNDATION, ETC. 



ARE WE USING THEM TO EXCESS? THICK TOI" 

 BAKS. 



After reading a good deal about the thick (or 

 heavy) top-bar, in which Ernest seemed to- 

 take considerable interest, and after using the 

 light ones for some time and being bothered by 

 their sagging down and getting frames and 

 combs out of shape, I ordered 300 frames in the 

 Hat. ready to nail. The top-bars were to be % 

 inch thick, bottom-bars J-a inch thick, and the 

 ends the same as the last named; and when 

 they were nailed together they made a frame 

 that was strong and durable, and hard to beat, 

 in my estimation. Such a frame, made like the 

 above, with a full sheet of foundation well wir- 

 ed in, when once diawn out by the bees niakes^ 

 a beauty of a comb. I consider foundation in- 

 dispensable to the bee-keeper: and for the last 

 few years I have used full sheets in all of the 

 frames that I use, both for lower hives and sur- 

 plus box (or extracting-box). These are well 

 wired in, so there is no chance for sagging: and 

 I am fully convinced that it well repays the 

 bee-keeper to do so every time, although it 

 costs him considerably more just then. 



I really believe there is more benefit derived 

 tinanciaily to the bee-keepei-. from the excessive 

 use of coinb foundation, than any other thing^ 

 he can use about the apiary. And I must say. 

 I have not been so surprised in the last five or 

 six years as I was to read what friend Hasty 

 said in regard to foundation, page 33, whei'e he 

 says, " If the truth were generally known, the 

 sale of foundation would be greatly reduced." 

 Now, if such were the case (although I can't 

 see it in that light) I should be very much 

 obliged to friend Hasty if he would explaiii 

 through Gi-E.VNiNGs wherein thei'e can be less 

 used, and at the same time be as much of a 

 benefit, in a financial way. to the bee-keeper, 

 as though it were used still more extensively 

 than at the present time. By using whole 

 sheets of foundation the apiarist can control 

 his brood -rearing mostly to his own liking (for 

 there are not many of us who make it our busi- 

 ness to raise drones), at the same time running 

 for extracted honey. I would ask you all. 

 What is there more perplexing to the bee- 

 keeper, when he is running exclusively for ex- 

 tracted honey, than to now and then find combs 

 filled with brood in the surplus boxes, where he 

 expected them to be filled with honey? Now, if 

 they are drone combs, the space so filled is 

 worse than a dead loss. But, on the other hand. 

 if all are worker combs so filled, th<-y can be 

 taken to some weaker swarm and put in theii" 

 hive, and strengthened. 



Some titne ago, before I purchased some of 

 A. I. Root's queen-excluding zinc that I used to- 

 keep the queen from going up in the upper sto- 

 ry. I made some fine swarms artificially by 

 having all worker combs in this way: IMy hive^ 

 and surijlus box hold 8 frames each: and when 



