r.'4S 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULT a RE. 



Al'KII, 1. 



crease in the labor of scraping after the crop is 

 removed from the hives. Our wooden separat- 

 ors for the Dovetailed hive, cover the entire 

 upright edges of the sections, as well as the 

 horizontal edges not scored out in the sections 

 and bottom slats C, in Fig. 1, where they come 

 in contact. With these wide separators be- 

 tween each row of sections, keying up closes up 

 the interstices so that the actual scraping of 

 the section, after the crop is finally secured, is a 

 mere bagatelle beside the scraping of sections 

 that have been tilled in the old-style ci'ates 

 with narrow separators and no keying up. 



Our method of keying up is illustrated very 

 accurately in Fig. 2. (t is the wedge; F, thr fol- 

 lower. The wedge, strictly speaking, is not cu- 

 neiform, or tapering. It is simply a stick about 

 12 inches long, ^ thick, ?,( wide. To key up, the 

 follower is placed back of the last row of sec- 

 tions. The wedge is then inserted the narrow- 

 est way, between the super side and follower. 

 It is then twisted so that the space between the 

 follower and super .sides is increased the widest 

 way of the wedge, so that we now have % inch 

 instead of i^. The end of the wedge slicking 

 up is then turned down out of the way. The 

 surplus arrangement is then so thoroughly keyed 

 up that it may be turned upside down, yes, in- 

 verted, if thought advisable, when the sections 

 are half full. 



There is another feature that perhaps you 

 may not have noticed: and that is, that, when 

 the crop is coming in slowly, the outside rows 

 of sections may be alternated to the center, and 

 the center to the outside, in order to ?ecur© 

 more even comb-buil3ing and the filling-out of 

 sections. 



As to whether this wide slotted -out wood .sep- 

 arator is new or not, is not important: but it is 

 important to know whether it is practicable, 

 and whether or not it is a labor-saver in the 

 final scraping of the sections. Such an arrange- 

 ment scarcely needs to be tested to demonstrate 

 its merits. Any bee-keeper having a pi'actical 

 eye will at once recognize it. 



and two ends, scant % inch thick, and two little 

 sticks I4 inch thick, in lieu of T tins for the 

 sections to rest on. Four of these section-cases 

 will just go in a Dovetailed super, as shown in 

 the acconipanjing engraving, and by the use of 

 two supers liei'ing up can be praciiced. 



FIG. 3— 1>. SUKPI.US CASK. 



This resembles somewhat the old farmer's 

 honey-box: and although it, is now nearly rele- 

 gated to the past, yet thi-re is a demand for 

 something on the style of the old case that will 

 take ordinary sections. During the past eight 

 or ten years we have filled orders, especially 

 from California and the West, for an arrange- 

 ment very similar to the 1). section-case; and 

 the fact that such a demand does not die out 

 shows there is a legitimate call that must be 

 supplied. When Mr. F. Danzenbaker, of Wash- 

 ington, D. C, was here two years ago he was 

 very enthusiastic over a device of this sort; and 

 while here he introduced what we have for 

 short called the D. section-case. It contains 

 six iK-inch sections, one end of which is glassed 

 as shown. Each case is 4Vo \t''oX]2 inches, out- 

 side measure. It will hold either six sections 1% 

 inches wide, without separators, or seven 7-to- 

 foot secions with .small wood separators or with- 

 out separators, follower and wedge. The case in- 

 cludes two sides, toj) and bottom, \ inch thick: 



FIG. 4 — SHOWIXG HOW THE D. SECTION-CASE 18 

 USED OX THE DOVETAILED HIVE. 



There are a good many small bee-keepers and 

 farmers who, having only a few hives, desire to 

 transfer the honey directly from the hives to 

 the market. No. they don't even care to scrape 

 the sections. They want a light little case that 

 is both a surplus aiTangement and a retailing- 

 case— something that can be placed directly on 

 the market among retail grocers, and that will 

 sell for about SI.OO. Of course, large honey- 

 producers would prefer the section-holder sur- 

 plus arrangement we have illustrated. But 

 here is something that will just suit farmers. 

 When the cases are full, if no separators are 

 used, they can tell, without opening the hives 

 any further than raising the super as shown in 

 Fig. 4. just what the bees are doing. To put on 

 the market, all they have to do is to nail on the 

 cover and bottom. Of course, the sections may 

 be stained somewhat with propolis: but the 

 farmer bee-keepers do not care, becau.se they 

 S(^ll honey to people whom thc^y know — that is, 

 right in iheirown vicinity. 



High-pressure Gardening. 



I hardly need tell you there has been some 

 pretty severe winter weather along through 

 the middle and latter part of March. Our 

 friends here in Medina say they saved a part of 

 the winter expressly for me. so I need not miss 

 it entirely, (iven if t was gone from the middle 

 of November till the middle of March. In our 

 locality it has doiK^ little haiiti unless to hot- 

 beds and cold-frames not properly prepared. 

 The fruit does not seem to be injured. Not so 

 in the South, however. See the following, from 

 the peach and tomato district of Mississippi: 



Friend Root:— The freeze struck us hard, «wre; 

 most of tlie peiu'hes went up. Some vaiieties not 

 bloomed out well, escaped. The tomato l)usiiiess 

 suffered a preat h)ss liere Aliout one-fifth were 

 l)it; hut ill most cases, wliere double beds run east 

 and west tlie nt)rth side got it, even throuffli three 

 or four inches of straw; but no plants were lo.st in 

 beds runnirifT north and south. .T. W. Day. 



Crystal Springs, Miss., March 21. 



I suppose we may say to friend Day, that the 



