1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



665 



conies in contact, and yet Is snfficient to keep 

 the bottom-bars correctly spaced, the better. 

 One and a half inches. I think, will be enough. 

 Another thing: Hoffman's idea of liaving the 

 parts of the end-bar V-shaped— i. e.. one square 

 shoulder against a sharp edge — is something 

 we must have. At first I thought we could dis- 

 pense with it. but now I see its importance; 

 but, more anon on this point, when I will illus- 

 trate the reason, with diagrams. 



The Hoft'man frames, to be handled the most 

 expeditiously, should be set down in the rabbet 

 and then slid along: hence I do not want too 

 much depth to the wide part of the end-bai': 

 because, the greater the depth, the more liabili- 

 ty to kill bees. You citii have closed ends with 

 Hoft'man top-bars, but the sliding function is 

 then sacrificed: that is, the sliding of the 

 frames in the rabbets. Without this, rapid 

 handling is greatly hindered, because we wish 

 to avoid killing bees. 



There should have been with your hives small 

 strips of wood about '.i inches long, 9^ wide, and 

 ■^ thick. These are to be nailed to the in- 

 side of the hives in such position that, when the 

 frames are crowded up. there will be the usual 

 distance between the comb and the side of the 

 hive that there is between the combs. But. 

 after all. we have left them off' in actual prac- 

 tice in our Shane yard. I am not sure it is uec- 

 essaiy to wedge Hoft'man fi'ames.] E. R. 



LADIES' G8N1ZERSAZ18NE. 



NOT GLOVES, BUT OIL OF WINTERGEEEN 

 FOR THE HANDS. 



A SUGGESTION FROM A DOCTOK IX AUSTKALIA. 



Dear Sir: — The May numbers of Gleanings 

 arrived a few days ago, and I see that the writ- 

 ers in the Ladies' Conversazione are much ex- 

 ercised in their minds on the subject of gloves 

 for apiary work, and all sorts of materials are 

 recommended, from pigs'-skin to sheep"s-wool. 

 Gloves are no doubt of use to keep the hands 

 clean and soft: but I want to tell the ladies 

 that, so far as stings are concerned, they can 

 do without any covering for the hands. ' Just 

 let them get some oil of wintergreen and rub a 

 few drops of it over their hands; and if they 

 can get a bee to sting, unless it is hurt, they are 

 cleverer than I am. 



It is now mid-winter here. The day is dull 

 and threatening rain, but the temperature is 

 not low enough to keep bees indoors; the day, 

 however, is of the kind on which they are usu- 

 ally cross; but just now I went out, and, after 

 putting on a veil and rubbing my hands with 

 oil of wintergreen, I removed the cover of a 

 hive and stripped oft' the mat. which was stuck 

 down with propolis. The bees came at me in 

 fine style, and dozens of them struck my hands; 

 but as a rule they went off at once. Some re- 

 mained, and curved their bodies around so that 

 it took some strength of mind to prevent me 

 from knocking them off; but they always 

 thought better of it before the sting went in. I 

 then jari'ed the hive and jerked my hands over 

 the frames; but. though numbers of bees struck 

 my hands. I was quite unable to get one to 

 sting. I repeated this with two other hives, 

 with similar results. 



I know that the use of oil of wintergreen in 

 this way is not new: and Mr. Cheshire, in his 

 "Bees and Bee-keeping." Vol. II.. desci'ibes 

 some experiments similar to the above which 

 lie and Mr. Simmins conducted; but thev do 



not seem to have taken root, and I notice that, 

 in your review of Cheshire's work, j'ou do not 

 mention it. I feel convinced, however, that, 

 were the fact more generally known, gloves for 

 handling bees would soon become things of the 

 past. 



The smell of oil of wintergreen is not dis- 

 agreeable, and it does not soil the hands. It is, 

 moreover, easily washed off afterward. Che- 

 shire says that, in England, it is often adulter- 

 ated, and it is here also; but, of course, I know 

 that they wouldn't do any thing like that iu 

 America. They might, though, in Canada. 



H. Miller. M. D. 



Warrnambool, Victoria. Australia, June :i'.t. 



[Is not oil of wintergreen the chief ingredient 

 of apifuge, a substance that is sold in England 

 as a preventive of bee-stings when smeared 

 over the hands"? The stuff did not prevent the 

 bees from stinging our hands, although it did 

 seem to make them hesitate a little. \Ve ac- 

 cept the very tine compliment you pay us Amer- 

 icans. We wish we deserved it.] E. R. 



BEES KILLED BY CLOSED-END FRAMES. 

 MISS WILSON discu8se;s the matter. 



^Ve read a great deal about the closed -end 

 frames being troublesome in killing bees; but I 

 don't think they can compare with brace and 

 burr combs, and'the honey-boards as bee-killers. 

 It would be a great saving of time and bees if 

 we could manage to get along without those 

 three articles. I would not object so much to 

 the honey-board, providing the space between 

 the top-bars and honey-board were not tilled 

 with burr-combs and honey. But if your colo- 

 nies are strong, that is almost always the con- 

 dition of affairs. Just go to a good strong col- 

 ony, pry up your honey-board, and you have a 

 sticky, dauby mess. Then pry your frames 

 apart, and the brace-combs are just as bad. In 

 handling your frames, unless you are very care- 

 ful the honey is dripping all over your clothes. 

 Now try to replace your frames and honey - 

 board without killing "bees. The bees will stick 

 to the honey as if they were glued there, and it 

 will take a good deal of patience and smoke if 

 you do not kill any, to say nothing of time. 



The bees will be very thick, both on your 

 honey-board and top-bars. You can dislodge 

 them from your honey- boai-d by giving it a vig- 

 orous shaking, or you can take your honey- 

 board in one hand, and. with youi' other hand, 

 pound on the hand holding the honey-board: 

 that will jar them oft quickly. But you can't 

 shake or jar your top-bars. Nothing but smoke 

 will do any good, and I am not always able to 

 get them out of the way \\ith that, and I use it 

 pretty freely too. I truly believe I kill more 

 bees in this way than any other. Thick top- 

 bars are a great improvement. While they 

 have not been entirely free from brace and burr 

 combs, they have been nearly so. The fact that 

 they are new may have had something to do 

 with it. and they may not work so well when 

 older. But. even if necessary to use honey- 

 boards, with them I should still want thick top- 

 bars to lessen the dauby mess ovei- the top-bai'S. 



Our bees have seemed possessed this year to 

 build brace and burr com 'os. I don't think we 

 were ever so much troubled with tliem before. 

 They have built them between supers of sec- 

 tions, on separators — in fact, almost everywhere 

 it was possible to find a place for theiii. We 

 carefully scraped them off separators and sec- 

 tions each time the supers were moved, and 

 usually found them as good as ever next time 

 the supers were looked at. 



