1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



4?:. 



so I lost my first crop of honey through not us- 

 ing queen-excluders. My supers were of the T 

 pattern, filled with 3-Ib. V-groove sections, with 

 '•2 to % inch space botwoeu frames (8), and the 

 bottom of the sections. E. H. Schaeffle. 



Murphy's, Cal., May 11. 



[Your experience is peculiai- and phenomenal 

 — especially so when those extensive bee-keep- 

 ers, Hetheringtou. Elwood, Dr. Miller, and, I 

 believe, J. F. Mclntyre and L. E. Mercer, of 

 your own State, produce good clean comb hon- 

 (>y without queen-excluders. Two-pound sec- 

 tions would be a little more inviting for the 

 queen to enter than the one-pound. Either you 

 contract your eight frames down to three or 

 four, or else you have queens more i)rolific than 

 we usually have. There is some screw loose 

 somewhere. Will some of our large comb-hon- 

 ey-producers who do not use queen-excluders 

 please tell where it is?] E. R. 



Heads of Grain 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS. 



DOOIJTTLE S ARTIFICIAL yUEEN-CELI.S: A 

 GKANI) SUCCESS. 



I have tried Doolittle's plan of rearing queens 

 in upper stories of hives over an excluder, and 

 the plan has worked like a charm. I never saw 

 nicer and more uniform queens. I have had a 

 little over 75 per cent of cells completed, and in 

 one instance I got a queen to lay in !) artificial 

 cells out of Hi placed in the center of a colony 

 just about to swarm. Those who have never 

 been able to get the plan to woi'k. I would ad- 

 vise trying a colony of Carniolans; for, of all tlie 

 bees to build queen-cells, they beat any thing I 

 have ever seen. (Jeo. .lAAfEs. 



Sydney, Australia, May 1. 



TO TELL WHETHEI! WAX IS ADULTERATED OK 

 not: ANOTHER WAY. 



Take wax of known purity: make it into a 

 dense ball by rolling it between th(> fingers. Be 

 sure there are no air-holes inclosed: then drop 

 it into alcohol diluted with water until the wax 

 will come but slowly to the surface. Adulter- 

 ated wax. if dropi)ed into the same diluted al- 

 cohol, will either sink or come to the top in a 

 huiTy, depending on the substance with which 

 it is mixed. H. Frrz Hakt. 



Avery. La.. May Ki. 



A (iOOD RKl'ORT OF THE M.\NU.M SW VKMING- 

 DEVICE. 



Friend Root: — 1 have just had a swarm come 

 out^.he first of the season, so far as I know, 

 around here, and I successfully tested the Man- 

 um swarming-device that I jnirchased of you 

 last winter. It worked to a charm, and I now 

 and here wish to thank Mr. Manum, through 

 Gleanings, for so successfully effecting the 

 hiving of a swarm that perchance alights a lit- 

 tle too high for ccmvenience. As I came to din- 

 ner, my wife said there was a swarm on an ap- 

 Ijle-tree in the orchard, pretty high up; but she 

 said, " Come in and eat your dinner before you 

 hive them." Well, I did. I always have to do 

 as she says; and then I went out to see the 

 cluster. They were about twenty feet from the 

 ground; but 1 took my wire basket, Manum's 

 swarming-device, and, with a long pole, easily 

 reached them, scooping in most of the bees. I 

 lowered the basket and shut them in. leaving 

 the basket under the tree. The whole time did 

 not occupy five minutes. Then I had to go to 

 the office and attend to business. I returned a 



few hours later, and found all tiie stray bees 

 assembled on the outside of the basket, which 1 

 took around to the liive. ojjened the toyj. put the 

 hive over it, and, wilh a few puffs of smok(!. 

 they were running into the hive like chickens 

 under a hen. 



Bees did well in this vicinity the past winter: 

 and now with the fruit-bloom they are basking 

 in prosperity. It is very dry just now. but evei-y 

 thing points to a good honey season. The 

 white clover is creeping along fast, and will be 

 in bloom almost liefore the apple-blossoms are 

 gone. L. G. Dunham. 



Attleboro, Mass.. May 15. 



[Of all the machines we ever tried, the Man- 

 um device is a long way ahead.] 



WAX MEALY, AND THE CAUSE. 



I have a lot of wax. made from trimmings of 

 foundation, that has become soft and mealy, 

 apparently from combining with the soap and 

 starch used in the foundation-mill. Can you 

 inform us how to improve it? 



Lisbon, Fla., May 2. W. R. Gardener. 



[We have had, at different times, considera- 

 ble trouble with this same thing you describe — 

 mealy wax that seemed to be pure beeswax, 

 but which looked like Indian meal, and no 

 amount of melting would get it back into its 

 soft condition. Dadant has said that the solar 

 wax-extractor would render such wax; but I 

 am ashamed to say that we have not tried it.] 



THE QUINBY FRAME A BEE-KILLER. 



Allow us to differ with you widely in regard 

 to the advantages of the closed-end frame. To 

 us this frame is a ste|) backward, decidedly, and 

 we think Dr. Miller would say the same. It 

 does not nuitter how promptly Elwood and oth- 

 ers handle their liees. they would handle hang- 

 ing frames just that much faster. We occa- 

 sionally lind men who prefer the box hive to the 

 movable frame, and who claim easier manipu- 

 lations with it: but one swallow does not mak<> 

 a summer. We have had closed-end frames: 

 we have seen such men as Axtell liandle them, 

 and we must say that we never could see how 

 any one would ever droj) the hanging frame for 

 such bungling bee-smashing i,miJlements. \Ve 

 do not like to discuss the hive (luestion, because 

 every man has his pet, and succeeds best with 

 it: but we are not of opinion that all i)etswill 

 suit. C. P. Dadant. 



Hamilton. 111., Apr. 11. 



[The old original Quinby hive (this is the one 

 we believe the Axtells use), may be a bee-killer: 

 but the Hetherington-Quinby avoids bee-kill- 

 ing. Elwood handled these frames just as fast, 

 I am sure, as we do the loose frames. Hether- 

 ington. you know, has tried thoroughly both 

 kinds of frames. The Hetherington-Quinby hive 

 is a big improvement over the original Quinby 

 hive.] 



NOTHING BUT CELLAR WINTERING FOR 

 DAKOTA. 



Bees were taken from the cellar to-day; tem- 

 perature nearly 80°. The hives were^heavy; 

 only a few dead bees. I paid hardly any atten- 

 tion to them after the i:ith of October. I had 

 the entrance open, and honey-board slid back 

 ^4 inch on top for ventilation. When they 

 wanted to come out in the dai'k cellar a little, 

 no one hindered them. The tempei-ature in the 

 cellar ran about 4:.'°. Seven months may seem 

 a long confinement without a fliglit or a cleanse: 

 but if we avoid spring dwindling they must 

 stay in until thei'e is work to do. The cuiTants 

 and plum-trees were in bloom, so you see they 



