334 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1. 



as if, when they stopped viy the zinc holes, little 

 or IK) honey was coming in then. J. A. Green 

 suggests that such rare instances are due to poor 

 covers. Bees, to store comb lioney, must have 

 their receptacles thoroughly well sealed over.] 



ANOTHEH SCHEME FOR TOP-BARS. 



Mr. Calvert: — Below see two ways of avoid- 

 ing lateral motion in top-bar of frames. First, 

 cut a notch on the under side of the projection 



ORANGE-BLOSSOM HONEY: HOW THE NEW COWAN 



REVERSIBLE EXTRACTOR COMPARES 



WITH THE NOVICE. 



Your new reversible extractor, the "Cowan 

 Eapid," received a few days ago, works nicely. 

 I have thrown out the last 100 gallons with it, 

 and I must say it is a boss machine. The sam- 

 ple of honey sent was drawn light from the 

 machine. We don't have honey much thicker 

 than that here. A Novice machine would hard- 

 ly throw it out as clean as the new one will. 



THE BEE-ESCAPE. AND HOW* IT SAVES LABOR. 



Some question the practicability of the bee- 

 escape. I have used them a good deal, and pi-o- 

 nounce them a good thing. They have no 

 faults if you understand how to use them. 

 There are several good makes. I like the Por- 

 ter. With 20 of these, one day last week I took 

 1000 pounds of honey with 45 minutes' labor — 1.5 

 in putting the escapes on in the evening, and 30 

 in taking the honey to the extracting-room the 

 next morning. Can one man remove the same 

 amount of honey by any other method in the 

 same time? 



It might not be out of the way to say that 

 those same 20 colonies each gathered from 8 to 

 10 pounds of honey the day the honey was re- 

 moved. Would they have done this if the old 

 methodof shaking and brushing had been used? 

 I say no. 



Our spring flow is at a close, lasting only 

 about 10 days; but it was good while it lasted. 

 My scale hive (on average colony) averaged 

 about 10 lbs. per day. One picked colonv gain- 

 ed 17)^ lbs. in 9 hours. How's that? Will the 

 man who says "orange" does not yield honey 

 please walk up? A. F. Brown. 



Huntington, Fla., April 12. 



ANOTHER METHOD OF PRODUCING WAX SHEETS. 



Did you ever try dipping wax for foundation 

 with a glass vessel tilled with ice water? My 

 son is a dentist, and to-day he is preparing wax 

 (for taking impressions) into thin sheets about 

 the same as for foundation. Sheets so prepared 

 are very smooth and nice. Any glass vessel six 

 inches in diameter would make a sheet 18 inches 

 long, and as wide as the bottle or vessel is long. 

 The cold water cools, and causes the wax to ad- 

 here at once; and from what I have seen this 

 morning I think he could produce one sheet per 

 minute. Perhaps this mode is not new to you. 

 If it is, try it on a small scale, and see if it will 

 not beat wood all together. 



Kenna, W. Va., Mar. 22. Franklin Garns. 



[We have never made sheets in the way you 

 describe, but have no doubt it could be done in 

 that way. We simply dip thin boards of the 

 right size into melted wax, and then plunge 

 them into ice or cold water. We can thus make 

 the sheets much faster than one a minute.] 



ITALIANS GATHERING TWICE AS MUCH HONEY 

 AS BLACKS. 



I notice some of the bee-keepers prefer black 

 bees to tlie Italians. Well, they can take them 

 for my part. I have both blacks and Italians, 

 and I say positively that my Italians gather 

 twice the honey per colony that my blacks do. 

 I will admit that the cai)i)ings on the sections 

 taken from my blacks are a little whiter, when 

 they have any. which is not often the case. 



Lexington, Tex., Mar. 23. Wm. Douglass. 



of the top-bar -^ or ^ deep, and ,V wide; or, 

 second, let the bottom-bar project within jV of 

 the side of the hive. I find if a hive is cut like 

 No. 2 no tin rest is needed. R. T. W. 



Little Britain. Canada. 



[We 'have no doubt that your scheme would 

 work very nicely, Mr. R. T. Whatsyername; 

 but the fii-st thing you would encounter would 

 be the change in the length of the top-bar, and 

 that seems almost out ot the question— at least, 

 any radical change on standard sizes. There 

 would be an advantage, however, in having a 

 bee-space around the ends of the top-bars as 

 well as around their sides; but practical bee- 

 keepers seem to prefer the top-bar run clear up 

 to the end of the rabbet.] 



AUSTRALIAN BEE-KEEPERS AND WHAT THEY 

 PROPOSE TO DO AT THE WORLD'S FAIR. 



The bee-keepers of New South Wales are 

 just aiTanging for a conference to be held at 

 West Maitland, in this colony, and to forward 

 an exhibit to your Chicago exhibition. Our 

 paternal government is taking the exhibition 

 affairs up in good earnest, and the colonies 

 should be well represented. I hope to go over 

 and see a small portion of America in 1893. 

 We have heard so much about it that one feels 

 quite anxious to see such a wonderful country. 

 C. F. Jeanncret. 



Hunter's Hill. New South Wales, Feb. 16. 



[Good for Australia and her bee-keepers! 

 We always thought your people were progress- 

 ive. We shall be glad to welcome you. and 

 hope you will come so as to attend tlie North 

 American convention, which will be held at the 

 World's Fair.] 



OLD FOUNDATION, AND HOW TO RESTORE IT. 



On reading J. A. Green's article on page 239 I 

 was anxious to see whether any process would 

 be mentioned by the editor whereby old hard 

 foundation may be restored: but I see that no 

 remedy wa^i suggested. 1 have a friend, a bee- 

 keeper, who says that, by dipping in warm 

 water, foundation, no matter how old and hard, 

 can be brought back to its original quality. 

 This is an important matter. I should like to 

 hear from others on this subject. 



Browntown, Wis., April 9. H. Lathrop. 



THREE LAYING QUEENS IN THE SAME HIVE. 



I have a hive with three laying queens in it, 

 and all the bees pass in and out through the 

 same entrance. Let us know how many times 

 you ever had the same thing. I have tried, 

 this spring. Doolittle's process of raising queens, 

 and find it \vorl<s well. I got some queens, but 

 not a single drone? What will the harvest be? 



Providence, R. I. C. H. Peabody. 



[We never had three laying queens in a hjve 

 at one time, but several times have had two. 

 We do not remember that anyone else has re- 

 ported ihat many at a time, though we have no 

 doubt that it has happened many times.] 



