1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



655 



continued to advocate it in your catalogue, and 

 even reduced the amount of wiring, making 

 the openings larger than they were with the 

 orieinal plan, and very much larger than in the 

 shallow frames I use." The only way I could 

 account for the difference in results was by 

 supposing that the very thin foundation I use 

 was responsible for my failure, so I kept still. 

 I have since had several hundred frames wired 

 by this method, but they were to be used as 

 extracting frames, spaced li inches apart. No 

 brood will be raised in them, and after they 

 have been uncapped once or twice it makes no 

 difference how irregular the septum is. For 

 brood-frames, though. I have never found any 

 plan of wiring as satisfactory as the old way — 

 with diagonal wires and tin center-bar. You 

 have complained that brood was not reared 

 in the cells over the tin bar. My bi^es rear 

 brood over the center-bar about as well as else- 

 where. I think the trouble with you was, that 

 the bars were made like some you once sent me 

 — three-cornered instead of flat. If the bar is 

 folded flat, and properly put in, I should think 

 it very strange if the queen did not. in time, lay 

 in the cells over it as well as anywhere else. 



DRONE COMB IN HIVES. 



In my answer to Question 190, I meant to say 

 that my combs, not colonies, are originally all 

 worker, and that I try to keep them so. I do 

 not know whether it was my mistake or the 

 compositor's. It is practically impossible to 

 keep all the drone comb out of a hive. The 

 bees will build a few cells along the bottoms, or 

 in the corners of the combs, and these are all 

 they need. Sometimes they will tear down 

 worker comb, and build drone comb in its 

 place: and any holes made in the comb by mice, 

 or other accident, are apt to be filled with 

 drone comb. If there \\as more than one or 

 two square inches I would cut it out and replace 

 it with worker comb. I think the bees would 

 get along just as well without drones, if it were 

 practical to get rid of them entirely. I would 

 much rather not have any drone comb in a 

 hive, even when used for extracting above a 

 queen-excluder. The queen is often tempted 

 up stairs thereby. Most of the excluding-zinc 

 sold will allow a queen to get through, if she 

 wants to get through badly enough. Even 

 when it is impossible for her to get through, the 

 bees will sometimes save drone-cells for her to 

 lay in. sometimes even standing considerable 

 crowding before they will put lioney in these 

 reserved cells. Do you say that this great de- 

 sire for drones shows that they ought to have 

 them? By no means. They will do just as 

 well without them, and it is unnecessary to 

 humor them. Man can improve on Nature's 

 ways in many respects, and this is one of them. 

 Of coui'se. we want to encourage drone-rearing 

 in some colonies for breeding purposes. 



C'LARIFYIXG AVAX WITH SULPHUKIC ACID. 



The articles on this subject, while very valu- 

 able to those handling large quantities of wax, 

 have been, as some one has complained, of very 

 little use to the average bee-keeper, because 

 they conveyed the idea that expensive appara- 

 tus, and especially steam under pressure, was 

 necessary. Small quantities of wax can be 

 clarified in this way just as well as large ones, 

 and by the simplest means, though of course 

 with a little more trouble and labor, proportion- 

 ately. 



Take the ordinary earthenware milk-crock 

 or stew-pan, such as are found in most house- 

 holds. Put into this about a quart of water, 

 and add a dram or two of sulpjiuric acid. Put 

 in wax enough to fill within an inch or two of 

 the top, and bring to a boil. Cai'e must be tak- 

 en not to heat the crocks too rapidly, or to have 



the stove too hot where they are. You will 

 save time by heating the water, crocks, and 

 wax, separately, but great care is necessary in 

 uniting sulphuric acid and hot water. The 

 union of sulphuric acid and water— even cold 

 water— generati'S a large amount of heat; and 

 if the water is already hot there may be an ex- 

 plosion, which might be dangerous. Let it boil 

 gently for fifteen or twenty minutes, stirring it 

 well meanwhile. Watch it very carefully, that 

 it does not boil over. Keep a dipper ful of cold 

 water in one hand, while you stir with the oth- 

 er, and add a little whenever there is any sign 

 of boiling over. Let it cool in the crocks: or. 

 the top maybe carefully dipped or poured off 

 into molds. You will be surprised to see what 

 nice yellow wax you can make from the black- 

 est and dirtiest scrapings. With crocks enough, 

 a great deal of wax may be clarified in this sim- 

 ple way without much labor, though if you 

 have much to refine you will want something 

 less fussy and more expeditious. 



THE HONEY-YIELD. 



What's the matter with white clover? For 

 another season our old friend and stand-by has 

 gone back on us. The fields were whitewith 

 blossoms, the weather seemed favorable, and 

 we had reason to expect a good yield. But 

 scarcely a bee was seen on clover, and the hon- 

 ey stored in the hives was the dark, thick, and 

 wretchedly tasting honey-dew. Didn't the 

 clover yield any honey, or did the bees prefer 

 the honey-dew? Basswood yielded well, but 

 there is not much of it here. Sweet clover has 

 yielded fairly well, but the farmers have taken 

 it into their heads that the roadsides must be 

 mowed. Ragweed, dock, cockle-bur, and their 

 allies, had possession of the roadsides for years, 

 and no one was alarmed or moved to action. 

 For that matter, they are not yet. where those 

 are the only weeds. But sweet clover is a con- 

 spicuous plant. A stalk of it makes more show 

 than a dozen ragweeds. What other reasons 

 there are for its destruction might make an in- 

 teresting study. The fiat has gone forth that 

 sweet clover must be exterminated from the 

 roadsides. In this they will never succeed until 

 they improve their methods. It will continue a 

 struggling existence, but this almost unobjec- 

 tionable weed, the only one of any use to any- 

 body, is under a ban, and the crop of the bee- 

 keeper will be many a pound lighter in conse- 

 quence. J. A. Green. 



Dayton, 111., Aug. 4. 



[The Keeney method of wiring has generally 

 given good results; and the reason why you had 

 such badly bulged combs was as you say be- 

 cause you used such thin foundation. In all 

 our wired frames, we have becui using what is 

 called "medium brood," which I suspect is a 

 heavy grade of foundation compared with 

 what you have been using, hence difference in 

 results. The Keeney method, which we con- 

 tinued to advocate, however, I think was better 

 than the original plan; and the scheme of hav- 

 ing it wired the other side up. as I recently ex- 

 plained in Gleanings, gives still better results. 

 We have been continuing our experiments with 

 the horizontal wiring, the wires being left loose, 

 and using all grades of foundation, from the 

 heaviest to the thinnest we can manufacture in 

 large sheets: and the result has been uniformly 

 perfect combs. Combs built on the perpendicu- 

 lar plan of wiring are good, but they do not 

 compare with these on the horizontal loose 

 wires. Try it and see. But be sui'e to leave a 

 good big ys inch between the edge of the fdn. 

 and the bottom -bar, to allow for stretching. 

 The thinner the foundation, the more space 

 will be required. Remember that this horizon- 



