;iiu 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mak. 15. 



up tlie sleeves; protect the liands from the sun 

 and a little fi'oni stings. I will say (( little, for 

 the bees will sting through them; but do as in 

 the A B C — that is. slap your hand against your 

 person, and you will suffer very little from 

 stings. They ai'e so easily made, and so inex- 

 pensive, that, when one pair gets soiled, you 

 can burn them; or. if one chooses, they can be 

 washed and used again. 



I think Miss Emma will find bed-ticking 

 aprons too heavy and warm for summer. They 

 will do very well in spring and fall. Last sea- 

 son I used seamless-sack aprons" with large 

 pockets sewed on flat made out of Indian-head 

 factory, also faced around, and belt of the 

 same. I liked them v&ry well, as the honey 

 does not leak through them. I found them 

 pretty warm in June and July. This coming 

 season I am going to try a soft pliable kind of 

 table oil cloth. I don't think paper aprons 

 would do, on account of fli'e from the smoker. 

 The apron and glove part doesn't bother me as 

 much as the head-dress. I don't like veils or 

 wire-screen hoods very well. They are hard on 

 the hair. Still, by wearing a net or a thin 

 muslin cap to protect the hair, I can get along 

 very well with the hood. I wear one made 'like 

 Mrs. L. Harrison's with a cape and draw-string 

 at the waist. With this kind of a head-dress, 

 and my tingerless gloves, and my long apron, I 

 think my dress is pretty well protected. 



Mks. W. G. Tittswokth. 



Avoca, la., Feb. 8. 



[As practical and as extensive a bee-keeper 

 as W. L. Coggshall uses tingerless gloves. I 

 never wore any thing of the kind; but if I 

 worked with some of those York State hybrids 

 I should certainly want them. Hello! here is 

 another who prefers fingerless gloves. He 

 writes:] 



I noticed an article in your journal about 

 buckskin and other gloves, and I beg to offer a 

 suggestion. I use gloves made like mits, cover- 

 ing the hand nicely, and just letting the ends 

 of Ihe lingers piotrnde. These are home-made, 

 made of white linen ordomestics. The reasons 

 for their use are, they are white; they prevent 

 the sun from burning the hands; are nice to 

 use, and, above all, can be frequently washed, 

 and thus kept nice and clean. If those who 

 use gloves will try those made of two thick- 

 nesses, as above stated, of linen or domestics, 

 they will lind them vastly superior to rubber, 

 and much pleasanter to weai' in every way. 



Atlanta, (xa. T. E. Hanbury. 



A HIVE. 



Dli. MII.r.EU HAS GOXK AND INVKXTKD A 

 BKE-HIVE. 



"Didn't know I'd been studying up a hive?" 

 Well. now. you listen. It's to " All a long-felt 

 want." Some people want a liive that is just 

 right for cellar wintering— a single wall, with 

 nothing inside but the frames — precisely the 

 one I'm talking about. Some want a hive with 

 a dead-air space, light enough to be easily han- 

 dled. Mine's just that. You see. it hits every- 

 body. It's an A 1 affair. I first called it"T/((; 

 Al Hive;'"' but the " 1 '' seemed so small a num- 

 ber I left that out, and I thought the name still 

 pretty long, and so I dropped the "T/ic." leav- 

 ing the name, "A hive." and then I changed the 

 big "A" to a little "a," so that, when anybody 

 ordered a hive without mentioning any i)artic- 

 Ular name, the supply-dealers would be sure to 

 send mine. 



It's a summer and winter hive. I'll tell you 

 about it. An outside body just like the Dove- 



tailed: inside of that, the framfs. These are 

 closed-end, the top-bar being closed at each end 

 like the Hoffman. A dummy, or follower, is 

 wedged up against each outsicU^ frame. That's 

 for a summer hive. 



For a \\ int(^i' hive I have invented a stick in 

 manner and form as set forth, of just such size 

 and proportions as to tit in the spaces betwc^en 

 the top-bars. When the harvest is over, these 

 sticks are put in. You will now see that-we 

 have a dead-air space all around. At each end 

 of the hive there is a space lietween the closed 

 ends and the wall of the hive. At each side 

 thei-e is a space between the dummy and th(^ 

 side of the hive. After the sticks are put in. 

 the bees will glue every thing air-tight, leaving 

 a dead-air space between top-bar and cover. 



Now, don't you see that hei'e is a hive, warm, 

 light, good for any season of the year? What? 

 "Nothing original " al)out it? That's just like 

 A. I. Root. Lie awake nights thinking up a 

 big thing, only to be told it's " nothing original." 

 Well, anyhow I'd like to know who invented 

 those sticks in manner and form as hereinbefore 

 si)ecified. 



LAYING WORKERS. 



G. B. Rei)logle has given me his plan of get- 

 ting rid of laying workei's. It is based on the 

 fact that, in a hive containing laying workers, 

 th(> bees are all old enough to know the way to 

 their hivc^s. no matter where they are piit. So, 

 aftei' getting the bees of such a colony to fill 

 themselves with honey, he shakes them down 

 in front (jf a colony containing a laying queen. 

 Being lilled. they are received all light: but on 

 theii' first flight they will return to tiieir old 

 location, wliei'e a caged queen may be given 

 them. The laying worker or workers will not 

 fly out, but will be killed. The ])lan is ingen- 

 ious, and I don't see why it won't work. I 

 should think sonu' of the bees, at least, would 

 b(^ so much better pleased witii tiieir new quar- 

 ters that they would mark their location on 

 their first flight, and not retiu-u to the old place. 

 But there would be no great harm in that. 



FIXED FRAMES AND CEOSED ENDS. 



The matter of fixed frames and closed-end 

 frames has been i)retty tlioroughly discussed; 

 but some of us old fogies are a little anxious 

 yet, for fear wo shall b(^ driven with the cur- 

 rent into some i»lace we don't want to go. There 

 is no (pu'stion as to the desii-ability of having 

 frames always fastened in the hives, if we can 

 have the advantages with no accompanying 

 disadvantages. The prominent question that 

 comes uj) in my nnixl is this: "Can fram(>s that 

 touch togethe]' tlirnnghout t lie whole or a part 

 of their ("iid-bars be handled as rapidly without 

 killing liees?" We are asked to believe that 

 we can. and yet — and yet. Does it look reason- 

 able? Of course. I have confidence in the word 

 of those who say they can; but. have they tried 

 fairly both ways? I may be asked why I didn't 

 try both last sumnie)'. I did intend to. but fail- 

 ed to get the frames made at either of two |)rin- 

 cipal establishments to which I ajjplied, and 

 had not time to make any myself. I am not a 

 good hand to make experiments, for in the busy 

 season I am worked to the limit of my time and 

 strength, with little time for any thing but 

 straight work. 



Assure me that fixed closed-end frames ai'e 

 not bee-killers, and I think I am "fixed." But 

 if the Hoffman frame, with the end-bars touch- 

 ing part way. kills no bees, why not go the 

 whole figure and have the frames come together 

 evei-ywhei'e except that part of the top-bars 

 which is directly over the comb? That would 

 allow no bees to get on the outside part of the 

 frames unless they entered at the bottom of the 

 frame-ends. In that case it seems to me there 



