632 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1. 



quently in water, so that I could show the girls 

 how to do it. It is something that 1 can not 

 explain; but any one who tries such an imple- 

 ment will discover the modus operandi after a 

 little pi'aclice. A piece of liard wood shaped 

 after the bone might answer. 



I might say, further, that we are now getting 

 some beautiful combs. They are equal in 

 every way to those made on the perpendicular 

 plan. 



It has been a great puzzle to me'for a year or 

 so back how the Dadants. (reorge E. Hilton, 

 and others could use plain horizontal wires, 

 without having the foundation bulge. [Some- 

 body, perhaps Geo. E. Hilton a yeai' ago. said 

 the seci'et was in not drawing tlie wires Unit. 

 Something interrupted, and I did not have an 

 opportunity to try the experiment; but I now 

 discover that we can wire frames horizontally 

 as well as perpendicularly, providing the hori- 

 zontal wires are left not drawn taut. When 

 the foundation sags in drawing out, the wires 

 sag with it a trifle, so there is no more bulging 

 of the foundation than if simply put on the 

 comb-guides without wire. Do you see ? Well, 

 this means that we can use plain horizontal 

 wiring, if it is more convenient than the 

 Keeney, providing we use thick top- bars, or 

 bars that will not sag. and foundation cut a tri- 

 fle shorter than the inside depth of the frame. 

 The Keeney helps to sustain the top-bar, and I 

 think it is a little stronger than the horizontal 

 plan, but it's more work. 



In regard to the Hoffman frame, I desire only 

 that its merits shall be seen and appreciated as 

 the usei's and admirers of this frame do. For 

 be it far from me to come out ahead in discus- 

 sion simply for the sake of it. I did feel, and 

 think so yet, that if you were to try a few Hoff- 

 man frames, and accustom yourself to them, 

 you would be so convinced of their merits from 

 practical use that you would adopt them exclu- 

 sively, in pnjference to any other style of neu' 

 frames that you put into the apiary. I am not 

 sui'e that it would pay any bee-keeper to trans- 

 fer his co7nbs from loose frames to the Hoffman; 

 but if he is going to buy a lot of new frames, to 

 be used in an out-apiary, the Hoffman is the 

 style that he should adopt, providing he has 

 tested a few to know that his locality will ad- 

 mit of their use. There, there! I have en- 

 countered that old bugbear "locality" again. 

 Howevei-, I suspect the time will come when 

 we shall tind that it is not so very great a factor 

 after all, in the use or disuse of Hxed frames. I 

 have studied this propolis question in a good 

 many States: and I am loth to believe it is so 

 essentially different as to make fixed frames im- 

 practicable.] E. R. 



A POOR HONEY SEASON IN KENTUCKY. 



HOW Bf:E8 THAT wouldn't .STAY HIVED WERE 

 MADE TO STAY AT HOME; GAEDENING, 



ETC. 



This has been a poor season for honey here. 

 The long drouth of two months cut off' our usu- 

 al white-clover supply: and though some has 

 bloomed since the recent rains, there seems to 

 be no sweetness in it. Many of our largest bee- 

 keepeis report no swarms at all. Howi'ver. I've 

 had three swarms from four old stands; and 

 while it has been our (my wife and I are part- 

 neis) fii'st year with liees. we have secui'ed an 

 ample supply of honey for our own use, and 

 some I'eally amusing as well as useful experi- 

 ence. Coming home fiom my office one after- 

 ternoon I found my wife with the A B C of Bee 

 Culture in one hand, and a box with a queen in 

 it in the other. 



"I'm trying to find what will make those 

 bees stay in the hive. I have put them in 

 twice, and they are out again. Hurry, or they 

 will be back before you are ready." 



The queen had her wing clipped. I had 

 heard something about getting a fiame from 

 near the center of another liive. containing 

 " unsealed larvie," etc.. and so I rushed and 

 procured one. and had it in the new hive by 

 the time the swarm came back; and as soon as 

 they were going in rapidly, we released the 

 queen and they remained contentedly after- 

 ward. 



There is one hive of vicious hybrids, and, like 

 Dr. Miller, I wish the queen could be "mashed 

 up very fine:" but some other fellow will have 

 to do the mashing. 



While I enjoy the bee-department of Gi.ean- 

 iN(iS very much, the " crop"" of garden notes is 

 always read first. .My first attempt at growing 

 Spanish onions for seed this season, I call a 

 success already. They are just cracking the 

 ground open in their haste to get large. Some 

 are as large as one's fist now, and the tops look 

 green enough to grow all summer. As soon as 

 they were out of my hotbed, celery seed was 

 sown, and a good supply of extra-fine plants, 

 which were put out the 8th inst., is the result. 

 jNIy Hubbard squash wei-e entirely eaten up 

 by the little striped bug, while the common, or 

 field squash, was not hurt. If I get nothing 

 more of benefit from Terry's strawberry-book I 

 shall think myself well repaid from the instruc- 

 tions obtained as to setting plants alone. Six 

 hundred were put out by filming the ground 

 around each one. and throwing some loose soil 

 over this, and not three plants were lost. Some 

 of my neighbors lost all. some half, just in pro- 

 portion as they were carefully put out. Give 

 us more " Terry sermons."" Walter Stuaut. 



Winchester, Ky., July 1.3. 



AN APPROPRIATION OF $500. 



WHAT the state OF ILLINOIS HAS DONE FOR 

 ITS 15EE KEEPERS. 



Hurrah for the great State of Illinois: Hur- 

 rah for the Bee-keepers" Association of the 

 State of IllinoisI Did you hear that the last 

 General Assembly of Illinois has passed the 

 first law ever made in Illinois, recognizing the 

 existence of the little bee? Why: they have 

 given us five limulicd dollars \nv annum, lo be 

 used in iji'onioliiig the iutci'csts of our g)-eat, 

 glorious, and honoiable industry in IllinoisI 

 Now let any misguided person try to have the 

 courts declare bee-keeping a nuisance, and we 

 will rise uf) in our indignation and say, " Sir, 

 would th<^ State of Illinois appropriate fivt; 

 hundred dollars for the nuiinlenance of a nui- 

 sance '?" and our enemies would r<'tire. covered 

 with confusion. 



There lies in front of me a book (>ntitled 

 " Laws of Illinois, passed by the 37th General 

 Assembly in session at Springfield. January 7, 

 1891— June 12. 1891. "' Turning to page 7 I read 

 as follows: 



An act making- an appropriation in aid cf tlie Illi- 

 nois Bee-l-;ee| ers' Associailon. 



Whereiiif. The large and growing- industry of l)ee- 

 keeping- in tlie State ot Illinois is wortliy ot proper 

 eiK-ounigeiJieiit V)y the General Assembly; and 



Where in. The Illinois Bee-ktepers' Association, an 

 oi-ganization composed ot tlie leading- apiaris+.s of 

 the State, is engaged in promoting this industry, 

 and desires an appropriation to assist in this work; 

 Therefore— 



Secti(m I. Be it enacted by tlie people ot tlie State 

 of Illinois, represented In the General A.sseml ly, 

 thai there be and hereby is appropilated for the use 

 of the Illinois State Bee-keepers' Association the 



