1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



99 



on each upper corner, to knock off. The whole 

 top of the section being sliglitly discolored, it 

 looks better than the spotted oiie. The heat 

 will rise to the board, and equalize much better 

 than with quilt. 



COMB HOXEV SOII.KD BY PROPOLIS. 



We seldom had less tiian two supers on each 

 hive, and sometimes foui- and live, and had fre- 

 quent occasion to inteiciiange. putting the top 

 super down, or else putting a new one on top of 

 those already on. Now. those, being covered 

 with quilts, when placed below, must have 

 those great piles of propolis scraped off. which 

 takes up much valuable time, and. when done, 

 will have to be smoothed down by the bees. 

 This extra glue that the bees smooth off' must 

 go somewhere, and much of it goes into thecap- 

 piiigsof the honey near its location in the super. 

 .Some will think it is only travel-stains. Even 

 if it were, we don"t want so much glue tramped 

 in our nice white combs, liut careful observa- 

 tion, in nuiuy instances, showed great spats of 

 this extra glue placed rigiil on the combs. 



Fort Collins. Col.. Dec. :-4. E. C. Aikin. 



SPIUXG DWINDLING — A GOOD .SUG(ii:STIOX AS 

 TO ITS CAUSE. 



I havenotseen thesubject of spring dwindling 

 explained as it has occurred under my observa- 

 tions, which are these: Once in three or four 

 years we liave a late flow of honey, mostly from 

 aster: and the bees that should (and. under or- 

 dinary circumstances, would) live until others 

 appeared on the stage in thespringtiu'u out and 

 wori< early and late after the weather has be- 

 come so cool that one is surprised to see them 

 out. in consequence of wliich many die through 

 the winter, whether wintered in the cellar or 

 outdoors: and when commencing work in the 

 spring they die off like "old sheep" before 

 others can be raised to take their places. The 

 result, many know to their sorrow. Well, what 

 is the remedy? I wish I knew. Feeding to keep 

 up brood -reai'ing after tlie close of the stirplus 

 season would be all u rong when the late honey 

 failed tocome. Some stocks with young queens 

 keep up brood-rearing late, and get through all 

 right, when, if the late flow had not come, they 

 would require heavy feeding sometimes, while 

 the others would be in much the best shape. 



Bartlett. ()., Dec. 15. E. S. Fowlek. 



[It is well known that spring dwindling does 

 not come every spring: and as it appears irregu- 

 larly, your suggestion is a good one — as good as 

 any' that have been given. Has any one else 

 observed that a late honey-flow is apt to be fol- 

 lowed by more or less spring dwindling?] 



AN f:XPEKIMp:NT WITH IIAIK FOB PACKING. 



I am trying an experiment this winter with 

 four chaff cushions tilled with hair, such as is 

 used for plastering. Our folks run a tannery, 

 and they are troubled with bumble-bees build- 

 ing nests In the hair-house, and I think honey- 

 bees will not be offended if we till their side- 

 walls with good dry hair. Of course, there is 

 some lime in it. but that will absorb some of tiie 

 moisture from the hive, and become dry again 

 without rotting, as chaff' will. I will send you 

 free samples, large enough so you can till four 

 side cushions. \Ve use the Falcon chaff hives. 

 Mits. J. W. Kbodie. 



Warsaw. N. Y.. Dec. 1. 



this year, "sXItV- ti'id there was not a s|)Oonful 

 of wax on the top of about 200. I like them 

 much better than the light ones. We used the 

 T super ovei- them without any honey-board — 

 put a strip under each end of the super, and 

 there was no wax nor brace-combs to bother. 



F. L. Hankins. 

 Blandinsville. 111.. Dec. 8. 



A good beport fbom the hoffm.xx frame. 



The past season was entirely too wet to be 

 very favorable to the bee-keepers of New Jer- 

 sey." Mv honev ciop this vear is slightly over 

 1(500 lbs., all bu"t l.")0 of which is comb, from (50 

 colonies, spring count. Clover sold at 17 cts., 

 and buckwheat at 1.")— better prices than for 

 some years past. 



In speaking of the Hoffman frame, when, in 

 1885. 1 bought the apiary of my brother. John 

 B. Case, now of Poi't Oi'ange. Fla.. he was using 

 both kinds of frames, the Hoffman for experi- 

 ment, with gratifying results. Now. if any one 

 will use both styles. Hoffman and common, not 

 only in the same yard, but in the same hive, as 

 I have done. I think he will very soon discard 

 all but the Hoffman. They can be handled 

 just as rapidly as the common, and spaced in a 

 flasli. A good way to test the matter is to put, 

 in a hive, lialf of each kind of frames. There 

 are but few other kinds of frames used in this 

 .section at present, and they are imported from 

 New York. Ohio, and other foreign parts. I 

 should almost as .soon think of going back to 

 the old box hive as to give up the Hoffman 

 frame. 



There is a hive manufactured not more than 

 a thousand miles from here, in which the 

 frames are permanently spaced: i. e.. nailed in 

 fast and tight: and some declare, after using 

 them, that they can not see much difference 

 between a frame hive and a box hive. Strange, 

 isn't it? W. W. Case. 



Baptisttown. N. J.. Dec. -.'ii. 



[Thanks for your very valuable testimony. 

 Comparative tests are what we want. In only 

 one instance that I know of was the Hoffman 

 frame adopted and afterwai'd discarded. In 

 this case it was not for the hanging frames, but 

 for a frame .still moi'e fixed — the closed-end 

 Quinby. I feel morally certain, that, where a 

 fair comparative test is made, like the one re- 

 ferred to above, the Hoffman will come out 

 ahead in nine cases out of ten. The man who 

 shuts his eyes to these improvements, and 

 won't try them, is the one who will be the loser 

 in the race, in the long run.] E. R. 



DOVBLE-WALLED AHEAD OF SINGLE-WALLED 

 EIVES: THICK TOP-BaRS A SUCCESS. 



We got some honey from all of our chaff hives, 

 but there was not a pound of surplus from the 

 single-walled hives, ^^'e used heavy top-bars 



WHY L. FRAMES AltE PUT LENGTHWISE OF THE 

 HIVE. 



Friend Root: — Why do you and most of the 

 bee-men, so to speak, advise tlie frames being 

 hung lengthwise instead of across the hive? 

 I ask for information. It can't be so warm in 

 winter, and I should think they would be more 

 difficult to handle. C. H. Peabodv. 



Providence, R. I., Dec. 18. 



[This matter has been pretty thoroughly dis- 

 cussed in times past, frif^nd P. The L. frame is 

 always used running from front to I'ear. or pret- 

 ty nearly always. Where the entrance is the 

 whole length of the front, a bee coming in from 

 the field can go between any two frames in the 

 hive, without passing over any. In very hot 

 weather, the air coming in at the entrance can 

 also go between all of the combs. In handling 

 the comijs, the operator naturally stands at 

 one side or the other of the hive, and never in 

 front, so as to cut off bees from getting in any 

 of the entrances. If we wish to divide the hive 



