702 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 1. 



keeper knows what that term is, and the agents 

 having any thing to do with it will soon learn 

 it. Very resp'y, 



A. I. Root, per J. T. C. 



In reply to the letter above we have received 

 this very gratifying letter. We have been 

 granted some of the points we sought for, 

 though not all: 



Mr. A. I. Boot;— Receipt of your favor ot the 

 15th inst. is hereby acknowledged. I am pleas- 

 ed to note the demonsti'ation which you appear 

 to make, that comb honey can be safely trans- 

 ported if properly packed by crating. Evident- 

 ly, such shipments might be inclosed in boxes, 

 thus meeting the conditions of the ruling refer- 

 red to, and protect shippers from loss and 

 damage. If, in your judgment, it would be 

 better to mark such packages, " Honey in comb, 

 this side up with care," or, "Handle carefully," 

 there is, of course, no objection to such mark- 

 ing. I have changed the wording of the article 

 referred to by you as '•Comb Foundation," and 

 it will appear, in the next sheet of rulings 

 issued, as "Bee-comb Foundation" (beeswax in 

 sheets), which I presume will meet the point 

 raised by you. There was no intention to mis- 

 represent or do injustice to any interests by the 

 wording originally adopted. 



J. T. Ripley, Chairman. 



Chicago, 111., Aug. 18. 



Mr. Calvert replies to this as below: 



J. T. Ripley. Chnirman Western Classiflca- 

 tion Cornnnttee: — 



Dear Sir: — Replying to your favor of the 

 18th, we wish to thank you for changing the 

 item of " Bee-comb Stuff " to " Bee-comb Foun- 

 dation'' (beeswax in sheets). We did not in- 

 tend to convey the idea that your former word- 

 ing, which conveyed a wrong impression, was 

 done with the intention of injustice, but that it 

 would be injustice to allow it to stand so, when 

 advised of the facts. 



With reference to your ruling on comb honey 

 in boxes with glass fronts, we don't gather from 

 your letter that you propose any change in this. 

 It may be that you intended to allow honey, 

 crated in the manner we outlined in the clip- 

 ping sent you, to pass as though it were boxed. 

 One of our correspondents writes that this will 

 do very well, when there is sufficient in the 

 shipment to crate up in this way; but when 

 only one or two cases are to be sent it can not 

 well be so crated, and we are still of opinion 

 that it would go much more safely without the 

 glass being covered, even if it is not ci'ated; 

 and if crated honey is to be passed, the ruling 

 will have to be changed somewhat so as to cov- 

 er it. Very respectfully yours, 



A. I. Root, per Calvert. 



Medina, O., Aug. 20. 



Mr. Ripley replies: 



Mr. Root: — Answering your favor of the 18th 

 inst.. I intended to convey in my letter of the 

 18th. that, if shipments can be crated and then 

 boxed they could be safely carried without hav- 

 ing any exposed glass surfaces. I still think 

 the provisions of my ruling are reasonable, and 

 that, with a slight exercise of ingenuity on the 

 part of shippers in packing, they can be com- 

 plied with to the advantage of all parties in- 

 terested. Packages with exposed glass sur- 

 faces are very objectionable from a ti'ansporta- 

 tion standpoint, for reasons that should be ob- 

 vious. J. T. RiPi.EY. Chairman. 



Chicago, 111.. August 21. 



FIXED DISTANCES; SULPHURIC ACID FOR 

 RENDERING WAX. 



c. p. dauant enteks a pkotest against 



SOME lately devised THINGS. 



Friend Ernest:- I should like to say a few 

 words to help Bangs against our good friend 

 Dr. INIiller in regard to the closed-end frame. 

 Bangs says he wants to have a chance to space 

 the combs to suit himself, and the doctor seems 

 to think he has "got" him when he proves to 

 him that he spaces all his frames at exact dis- 

 tances. The trouble we found with fixed dis- 

 tances was. that we could not change one frame 

 for another, or turn a frame wrong end fore- 

 most, when we used them. 1 have not the 

 least doubt that, if you always put the frames 

 back into the same hive, and in the same 

 places that they formerly occupied, you will 

 find no trouble in fixed distances. But in that 

 case, where is the advantage of using movable 

 frames? Suppose we have a weak colony short 

 of stores, and wish to help that colony with a 

 heavy thick frame of honey from another hive. 

 With the loose frame we shall have no trouble; 

 but with these fixed distances we shall very 

 often mash the combs on both sides of the thick 

 comb so given. Dr. Miller tells Bangs that 

 he will crush as many bees with burr and brace 

 combs as he will with the closed end; but I say 

 that, if your hives are of equal age, you will 

 find as many burr and brace combs in the one 

 as in the other. 



You say that, in your Shane yard, you have 

 but one hive with burr-combs. And. pray, 

 would you have very many of these in this 

 apiary, on loose frames, if the hives were like 

 these, only one year old ? It is not in the first 

 one or two seasons that one finds these impedi- 

 ments to neat work. It is when the hives have 

 been long in use by the bees, and opened but lit- 

 tle by the bee-keeper, and especially when the 

 bees have found themselves crowded for room. 

 There is no doubt that closed-end frames have 

 some advantages that will never be found in 

 the open end frames, the main one being their 

 greater warmth for winter; but for the every- 

 day manipulations of practical bee-keeping, 

 queen-i'earing. artificial swarming, strengthen- 

 ing and helping weak colonies from stronger 

 ones, uniting, and the thousand and one man- 

 ipulations that are so often repeated in a prac- 

 tical apiary, we can not see how any one can 

 hesitate between the two styles. 



One word about hoi'izontal wiring. So far as 

 we know, the credit of originality is due to 

 friend J. Vandervort, in whose apiary I saw 

 this used first, and we only imitated him. It is 

 certainly much superior to vertical wiring. 



One more word on another subject. I see 

 that you are advising bee-men to use oil of 

 vitriol to render their wax. I believe it is a 

 mistake, for we have always noticed that bees- 

 wax rendered thus had an unpleasant smell, 

 and we believe its general use would have a 

 tendency to render the wax unfit for foundation. 

 You will remember that we told you that we 

 used it only for our residues, and such wax as 

 could not possibly be cleaned otherwise; but 

 we are very particular to use this wax only in a 

 very small proportion to the water-melted wax. 

 The fact is, we do not use this method on more 

 than two per cent of all the wax we handle, 

 and we consider wax thus cleaned as very 

 much inferior to that melted by the ordinary 

 methods. We should very much object to buy- 

 ing any beeswax produced by bee-keepers, ren- 

 dered in this way, for the sweet balmy odor of 

 the hive is all taken away by this process. We 

 are satisfied that a part of our success in foun- 



