1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



509 



I'll tell you how to make the binder. Of com- 

 mon % pine stuff, cut one piece Iti x S. another 

 12 X 5, another 1.53s x ], and another S x 1. 

 That's all the stutf. By looking at the cut 

 you'll see how to put the pieces together. Nail 



DR. MILLER S BINDER. 



the 8x1 piece on the end of the big board: nail 

 the other stick on one side of the board (be 

 sure to get it on the same side as it is in the cut), 

 and you will thus have a kind of little box clos- 

 ed on two sides, and only one inch deep'. Now 

 you are to make four holes in the other board, 

 and that's the most particular part of the job. 

 Make these holes ^ of an inch from the edge, 

 the iirst one 3 inches from the end, then Ifi to 

 the next, then '?. inches to the next, and 1% to 

 the last. It is of tirst importance that there be 

 no slant to these holes, so take a try-square and 

 make a mark clear round the (^dge of the board, 

 where each hole is to be— that is. on the three 

 sides, so the mark on one side will be exactly 

 opposite the maik on the other. Draw a line oh 

 each side. A from the edge. With a very small 

 bit bore a liole half way through on one side, 

 and then bore clear through on the other side, 

 thus making sure that each hole shall come 

 out at the right place. If you haven't a bit to 

 suit you. you can drive a nail in at each side to 

 make the holes. Now get a pair of long shoe- 

 strings for each book you have to bind. Put 

 the bee-journals on the big board, rhjht side up, 

 taking pains, as each one is laid on, to push the 

 corner of the book close up in the angle; lay on 

 this the smaller board, crowding its coi'uer 

 tight up in the angle, and through each nail -hole 

 drive a two-inch No. 13 wire nail. Draw the 

 nails with a claw-hammer. Push one end of a 

 shoe-string through the hole nearest the top, 

 making it go in from the same side the nail en- 

 tered, and from the same side push through the 

 otherend of the same string. The two endsof the 

 string can now be tied together, and another 

 string must be put through the other two holes. 

 From five to ten journals can be put on the 

 board at the same time, and it doesn't matter if 

 they are all of diff(>rent kinds. The expense for 

 shoe-strings is very little. Vou can get them 

 more than three feet long for a cent or two a 

 pair. When the year is up. tie your strings to- 

 gether in a hard knot, cut them off. and then 

 you can tie the cut ends together and use them 

 over again. 



HOW MUCU DIFFERENCE DOES A DIVISION- 

 BOARD MAKE IN THE HEAT OF A HIVE ? 



Eight pages of the Revue TntenutUonale are 

 taken up with a report of a series of experi- 

 ments madi' by Prof. Gaston Bonnier, of Paris. 

 So important did this report appear in the eyes 

 of that journal, that, on account of a misplace- 



ment of paragraphs, the whole eight pages were 

 reprinted in a supplement the next issue. 



Prof. Bonnier gives quite full details of his 

 experiments, guarding carefully against error, 

 in such a way that little room is left to doubt 

 the correctness of his conclusions. He first ex- 

 perimented on two strong colonies placed in 

 winter ciuarters aftc^r they had ceased to fly, 

 Oct. 9. They were in 'i2-frame Layens hives, 

 the colony occupying nine spaces at one end of 

 the hive.and confined to that end by means of 

 a partition of wire cloth. Outside of the wire 

 cloth was placed alternately a division-board 

 and a fi'ame filled with empty comb. Between 

 the wire cloth and the division-board or comb 

 was a thermometer, and the temperature was 

 carefully recorded as the changes were made, a 

 record also being kept of the outside atmos- 

 phere, which gradually arose, as the day warm- 

 ed up, from 30° F. on one day at (5 A. m. to 54° at 

 10: 30. Now, how much warmer do you suppose 

 he found the division-board than the empty 

 comb? Why, not a whit! Then he tried al- 

 ternately one comb and then five combs. He 

 found one comb just as good as five. But error 

 might arise fi-om the bees generating more heat 

 atone time than another. It might also be bet- 

 ter to have a constant temperature outside the 

 hive. So he substituted, for the colony of bees 

 in the hive, a stove, and placed the stove in a 

 room whose temperature remained steadily at 

 27°. Again he found no difference between the 

 division-board and the comb. The results were 

 a surpi'ise to himself. He says: "I believed 

 there existed an appreciable difference in favor 

 of the division-board. It appears there is none." 

 In trying to account for such unexpected re- 

 sults, he says that wax is a poorer conductor of 

 heat than wood: and of all bodies, according to 

 Tyndall's experiments, the one allowing the 

 least radiation of heat. This stands as an off- 

 set to the advantage that the division-board 

 has in not allowing the air to pass by at each 

 end. 



Now, here's something for Prof. Cook and Mr. 

 Larrabee to refute or confirm. If division- 

 boards are of no value, it is well to know it. It 

 occurs to me that a variation might be made in 

 this way: In a room of uniformly low tempera- 

 ture, place a hive with a heatei' kept at a uni- 

 form temperature in the center of the hive, a 

 comb on one side of the heater, and a division- 

 board on the other. Now place a thermometer, 

 one in each end of the hive, and compare. In 

 any case this much good may come — that, in- 

 stead of the wooden division-board, we can use 

 a frame of comb with something fastened on 

 each end-bar to make it as tight- fitting as the 

 wooden board. If. however, we use closed -end 

 frames, then the problem assumes a different 

 shape. C. C. Miller. 



Marengo, 111. 



IS HE A JOKER ] 



SOME FISH-STORIES. 



I bought me a colony of bees last November, 

 with one of Alley's queens in it, and transferred 

 them and kept them through the winter in fine 

 condition in a Simplicity hive. It is true. 1 took 

 them into the house and set them by my bed 

 during the coldest weather; but I did not keep 

 them there until they knew me well enough to 

 meet me on the road and look me in the eyes, 

 and buzz in my ears. 



I have learned to write a little for Glean- 

 ings, but can not get any one to believe every 

 thing I write. I had Bro. Root on top of the 

 fence in regard to tliat wheat "• mill;" but E. 

 France has got him leaning on the other side 



