418 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 15. 



culture; and especially have I noticed it in 

 ladies' magazines. Now, although there is 

 great truth in what you say. I fear you are. in 

 some respects, leaning to the other side. This 

 very thing was talked about at one of our con- 

 ventions; and Prof. Cook said the story of what 

 a woman rniijht do was not so very much fiction 

 after all; and he cited the case of a lady near 

 Lansing who had done even better than the 

 case in question, so that there is at least a 

 shadow of iiiith in These statenTents. But the 

 idea that, ainj beginner may calculate on any 

 such r(!sults is not only folly, but prodiictive of 

 much mischief. The reason why I have called 

 attention to good reports of late is because we 

 have had so many poor ones. All liands admit, 

 I believe, through all the journals, that we 

 have had a series of unfavorable seasons. Give 

 bee culture its dues, but do not by any means 

 overstate the mark. Right in this line there is 

 something else I have thought of lately. When 

 it begins to be known that various periodicals 

 are paying for contributions in this field, they, 

 like other fields, will begin to be overworked: 

 and we must not blame the writers for paid 

 articles if they do their very best in trying to 

 get at something that will bring paiy; and the 

 general interest seems to be in accounts of suc- 

 ce.ssc.s rather than in accounts of fdilnres. 

 Look through all our farming and horticultural 

 papers, especially those on small fruits, and see 

 whether this is not the tendency; and at a time 

 when there is so much about " farming does 

 not pay," some of these articles sound a little 

 bit ludicrous. Let us be cool and steady, and 

 face our troubles with good sound common 

 sense.] 



SCRAPS ON BEE CULTURE, FROM AN ENGLISH 

 BEE-KEEPER. 



THK HOFFMAN FRAME A BEE-KILLER. 



The discussion on the above, and the closed- 

 end frame, have interested me much; so, hav- 

 ing had some spare time during the last winter. 

 I made frames of each, so as to be more able to 

 Judge of their appearance and apparent work- 

 ing capabilities. Five years ago, when com- 

 mencing bee-keeping, I decided that the wide- 

 end self-spacing Abbott frame was the one for 

 me; but after a season or two of use I decided 

 that I wanted something else, and made plain 

 all-wood end frames, with %-inch ears, as used 

 on Simplicity all-wood frames, and cut off the 

 spacing-pieces from my patent Abbott frames; 

 and, at the same time, I shortened the top-bar 

 to 1.5 inches. I had four reasons for these alter- 

 ations: 



1. The IJa-inch ends of the frames were con- 

 stantly crushing bees which were hidden under- 

 neath, when handled. 



2. As the franu^s closed in the ends them- 

 selves. th(!y were used hanging on the sides of 

 an inner box in an incased hive, without any 

 other arrangement for closing the space at the 

 ends of the top-bars, as in the case whei'e 

 frames hang in a rabbet. These did well 

 enough till I wanted to interchange them, 

 when, owing to the varying thickness of the 

 combs, I sometimes found it impossible to bring 

 the ends of tlu^ frames together without crowd- 

 ing the combs, thus leaving a space for the bees 

 (where wide enough) or the heat to escape at 

 the ends of the top-bars. 



3. The spacing-piece on the alternate sides of 

 the ends of the top-bars was always catching, 

 especially when putting in and out the extractor. 



4. The length of the top-bar (17 inches, Eng- 

 lish stand ai'd) necessitated unnecessary width 

 of the hive. 



Now, as I understand the Hoffman frame- 

 there is not only the width of the end of the 

 top-bar to inci'ease the liability to crush bees, 

 but there is the additional risk where the 

 frames come together: and it thus seems to me, 

 in the light of my individual experience, to be 

 impossible to handle these frames without 

 crushing bees. This, it seems to me. would be 

 aggravated when you come to handle several 

 ((t once, as then the operator could hardly fail 

 to kill the bees in the rabbets, if not some of 

 those on the ends of the frames where they 

 come together. 



Again, when using these frames for extract- 

 ing it seems to me that they would be unhandy, 

 as the projecting sides and ends would prevent 

 the combs from lying flat against the wire bas- 

 ket, or necessitate some arrangement whereby 

 the wire basket would fit bctivecn the ends. 

 Perhaps spacing the frames 1?h inches from cen- 

 ter to center may help to keep the bees from 

 building their combs so irregular as to prevent 

 the spacing ends in the Hoffman and closed- 

 end frames from coming together. 



KEEPING RECORD. 



I was int(>rested in the article by friend 

 Hatch, under the above heading. I myself 

 have used a couple of new clean bricks on each 

 hive during the winter and spring, to pre- 

 vent the roofs fi'om being blown off', and they 

 are good for the purpose, but are heavy to han- 

 dle, and too much machinery, and are not used 

 diu'ing the summer, as I don't care to handle 

 heavy brick all day, and think that four on: 

 each hive would be unbearable. My hive-roofs 

 are covered with sheet zinc, and during the 

 early spi'ing and summer of these last three 

 years 1 have kept a record in shorthand on the 

 roof of each stock, in lead pencil, as to condition 

 of food and bees, so that I had only to look at 

 the roof to see when it was last examined, and' 

 its condition. Where a hive requires attention 

 I sim()ly place one of the bricks leaning over 

 the fi'ont. This draws attention, and a look at 

 the notes tells what requires attending to. 



WATERING BEES. 



I have tried. many devices for watering bees, 

 and now find a piece of turf, as used in many 

 parts of Great Britain and Ireland for firing, 

 the best. I keep a number of these dried turfs, 

 or peats. ab(jut (i inches by about 12 or 14 long, 

 floating in tlie water or lying at its edge. The- 

 turf imbibes the water, and so is always moist, 

 and the bees are in no danger from drowning, 

 and can easily suck up the moisture from the 

 porous surface. Where this material can not 

 be obtained I should think that I'otten wood 

 would answer the purpose. 



Bees wei'e working snowdrops for pollen yes- 

 terday, for the first time, and are carrying^ 

 water daily. They have been breeding for 

 some time, as I saw young bees in a hive of 

 Carniolan hybi'ids about a fortnight ago. They 

 are wintered on summer stands in single-walled 

 hives, besidi^s which some had an exti'a story on 

 above the excluder containing combs, partly 

 filled with honey. Here we have no way of 

 keeping the honey in such combs from ferment- 

 ing through damp, except by keeping them 

 near a tii'e in the house. I am located on the 

 borders of the Solway Firth, and have a num- 

 ber of Scotch hills, 01' fells, in full view, while 

 due south we have Skiddaw and the Lake dis- 

 trict, at a distance of about 34 miles. 



J. Stormonth, Jr. 



Kirkbride Silloth, Cumberland, Eng., Jan. 16. 



[I am glad of your experience on frames sim- 

 ilar to the Hoffman, because there are surely 

 some who will not like them. Mr. Hoffman 

 himself uses hive-rabbets only '4 inch wide and. 



