37(5 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1. 



honey. He makes them himself, but wovild 

 rather buy them ready made but can not be- 

 cause there is but one standard hive and frame 

 in use. They are not suited to his wants, be- 

 cause tliey are not any better for comb than 

 extracted honey, and are not adapted to the 

 production of either. And may be it is the 

 same with Mr. C. who produces exti'acted hon- 

 ey. Perhaps the frame used by the Dadants is 

 as good as any for the extracted -honey produc- 

 er. N. T. Holmes. 

 Fowlerville. Mich., INIar. ;.>-t. 



[Friend H., the crosswise L. frame has, at 

 several times, had a run: but as the majority of 

 bee-keepers seem to let it go sooner or later, 

 and come back to the old long frame. I can not 

 think it offers any great advantage.] 



T SUPERS VS. WIDE FRAMES. 



DR. MILLER TELLS US HOW HE TAKES OUT THE 



SECTIONS ONE BY ONE AS FAST AS 



THEY ARE CAPPED. 



On page 23:2 W. S. Douglass has a word about 

 th(>m, and I suppose there are a good many who 

 find the wide frames, in their hands, better than 

 the T super. Much dei)ends on the way a thing 

 is used. 



For the benefit of Mr. Douglass and others I 

 will now describe the plan I have used for some 

 time, to take single sections out of a T super, 

 without taking the super off the hive. I 

 thought of doing so some time ago, but had 

 about given it up, with the thought that, if fol- 

 lowers and wedges in T supers came into gener- 

 al use, there would be no special plan needed. 

 Still, it may be useful to a good many. 



You may remember, fricuid Root, a tool that I 

 took to the convention at Madison a year ago, 

 and then forgot to show. Well, I send it here- 

 with. I have pulled sections by the thousand 

 with the identical one I send you. I'll 

 tell you how to make one. Go to yoiu' 

 tinner and tell him to cut a piece of No. 

 11 wire about a foot long. Straighten 

 it. Bend the wire at right angles about 

 an inch from one end. Make another 

 right-angled bend, a quarter of an inch 

 or less, from the same end. Fm not 

 sure which of these bends should be 

 made first. Tlie end of your wire is now 

 shaped like the bottom part of a capital 

 L (see cut). But the end is blunt, and 

 must be filed down to a cutting edge 

 like a chisel. Your chisel edge will, of 

 course, be the size of the thickness of 

 your wire — a little more than ,^^' of an 

 inch. Now for a handle. Make a 

 curved bend at the other end of the 

 wire, about three inches from the end, 

 so that it shall form a semi -circle at the 

 end, an inch in diameter. This leaves 

 about two inches of the end straight, 

 and I don't know wlu^ther it is better 

 to have this two inches parallel with 

 the main wire or to have the end come within % 

 of the main wire. The bends at both ends are 

 all made in the same plane, so that the hook 

 will lie flat upon a table without any part pro- 

 jecting upward. 



Another tool is needed. Take a common steel 

 table-knife, and make it square across the end 

 by cutting off the rounding part. Make this 

 square end about as shar|) as the cutting edge 

 of a table-knife usually is. 



Now we'll go to tlie hive, and I'll show you 

 how to pull out any desired section. Take oft' 



^ 



the cover and give the bees just enough smoke 

 to drive them out of the way a little. There are 

 separators in the super, and on top littl(^ sepa- 

 rators h^h inch. 12 inches long, to keep the 

 ends of the sections apart. Now run the knife 

 across at each end of the section, to loosen the 

 little separator from it. I must confess that I 

 usually use a third tool for this, the big blade of 

 a pocket-knife. Now run in the case-knife at 

 each side to the bottom of the section, so as to 

 loosen the section from the separators. Put 

 you)' hook down between the section and sepa- 

 rator, and give it a quarter turn so as to let the 

 hook run under the section. I have a bit of 

 string tied on the wire, so as to show me when 

 it is pushed just deep enough to turn the hook. 

 If the hook is not in deep enough when turned, 

 of course it will dig into the honey. A ring of 

 bright paint might i3e better than the string, for 

 it would never slip out of its place. I think you 

 will understand the rest. Like a bureau 

 drawei'. it may pull out straight: but very like- 

 ly it will need starting at each end. When you 

 get the section out, just grasp across it with the 

 thumb and fingers of one hand and give it a few 

 rapid whirls, and every bee will be thrown oft'. 



Now, that looks like a good deal of fuss to 

 read it, but it doesn't take as much time as you 

 probably imagine. I think I can take out a 

 single section, or several sections, from a T 

 super in less time — a great deal less time — than 

 out of a wide frame. You see, there is no frame 

 to take out — nothing but just the section. In 

 fact, if you loosen the super you will find it 

 much harder to pull the section. Sometimes I 

 liave taken out the sections without the hook,, 

 merely loosening them with the knife and then 

 pulling th(>m with the fingers; but every now 

 and then the bottom-bar of a section would pull 

 off, and I was glad to go back to the hook. 



The objection made by the editor, in the foot- 

 note, is a valid one. that sections left on the 

 hive for a long time will have a soiled, travel- 

 stained, yellow ai)pearance. But they should 

 never be left on after the harvest is over; and in 

 a ])Oor season, when nothing is put in them. I 

 think they come oft' about as bright as if they 

 had been in a wide frame. You know, the bees 

 don't go into the glue-business (at least they 

 don't here) until the white-honey season is over. 

 Indeed, if you take into consideration the whole 

 surface of a section, or, in other words, its total 

 appearance as viewed by a purchaser, the sec- 

 tion out of a T super is the cleaner. In the wide 

 frame, a heavy streak of pi'opolis is crowded in 

 just as far as the bees can push it all around 

 the section. This they have no temptation to 

 do in the T super, for there is no crack. 



You say, friend Root, that an enameled cloth 

 can be laid flat on the section tops in wide 

 frames and section holders. I don't see what 

 good it would do in wide frames, for it would 

 cover only the top-bars, and I'm sure it could be 

 put on a T super just as well as on section-hold- 

 ers. But don't you know that it would make 

 matters a good deal worse in either case? If 

 you want to see the tops of sections thoroughly 

 daubed with glue, just lay an enameled cloth 

 flat on the sections toward the end of the har- 

 vest. The bees are busy trying to fill up ci'acks: 

 and as fast as they push in propolis under the 

 cloth, the cloth is raised up, making more space- 

 to fill: and if glue is to be found at all, you will 

 find it there in plenty. C. C. Miller. 



Marengo, 111., March 20. 



[Very good, doctor. I am glad you have got 

 around' to describe the implement. It interested 

 me, because I am sure the handsomest honey 

 can be obtained by selecting here and there the 

 sections about as soon as they are wholly cap- 

 ped.] 



