798 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1. 



down; and when a strong cord or rope, with a 

 nail driven through it at the bottom, to keep it 

 fast to the box and prevent its going astray, is 

 tied around the whole, with a label on the top 

 as before, the package is ready for traveling 

 any distance without breakage. 



FIG. 2. A SHIPPING - CKATE FOR EXTRACTED 

 HONEY. 



The saving of trouble and labor to the offi- 

 cials of a show when dealing with honey pack- 

 ed in this form is simply astonishing. The cord 

 is untied, the single screw drawn, and the jars 

 lifted out without disturbing the packing one 

 bit, or losing any of the parts. There is no 

 littery mess about; the box is put away; when 

 wanted after the show is over it is ready for 

 dropping the jars into, and the honey is safely 

 repacked for the return journey in about five 

 minutes. 



Those who have had to do with shows will 

 know what this means, and we therefore ven- 

 ture to express a hope that exhibitors will earn 

 the gratitude of officials, and at the same time 

 conduce to their own satisfaction, by following 

 our advice in the matter of '" packing honey for 

 shows." 



It will be observed, that, in packing comb 

 honey for traveling to shows, spiral springs are 

 relied on for safeguarding it from damage; and 

 for glass jars, corrugated paper is made to act 

 as the " buifer " against breakage. Both arti- 

 cles are very inexpensive, the springs costing 

 only a few pence at any ironmonger's, while 

 corrugated paper is sold at less than a penny 

 per superficial foot. Unlike a bee-hive, no 

 great accuracy is required in making, so that 

 amateur joinering is peculiarly suited for mak- 

 ing both section crate and box for jars. At the 

 same time any appliance dealer will make them 

 for a very small cost when it is understood that 

 only rough, strong articles are required. 



It sometimes happens that persons have to 

 assist in staging and unpacking who are not 

 accustomed to handling honey, and these gen- 

 tlemen are placed at a double disadvantage 

 when bad packing has to be dealt with. Re- 

 ferring to persons unaccustomed to handling 

 honey, and the many "slips" they make 

 through inexperience, we may conclude this 

 paper with an illustration from our many ex- 

 periences. Some fifteen years ago we had as 

 regular customers for honey the establishment 

 in the North known as the headquarters of the 

 Mormon community at the port of embarkation 

 from this country to the Salt Lake. The chief 

 elder or otticer in charge was a very nice fellow 

 indeed, highly intelligent, well read, a man of 

 much travel, and, but for his peculiar religion, 

 a gentleman with whom we could have got on 

 very well indeed, especially as he knew some- 

 thing about bees. He was especially fond of 



good honey, and, moreover, was a first-rate 

 judge of its quality. We took especial pride 

 in supplying him with our best, and he always 

 paid us Ls. 6d. per pound for extracted honey in 

 bulk. 



The season in question was a good one, and 

 the honey in Cheshire was extra fine. So our 

 friend sampled out a quarter-hundredweight; 

 it was put into a large stone jar and taken a 

 distance of six or seven miles to his place by a 

 special messenger of our own. who carried it 

 all the way. The honey was. after the long 

 journey, safely handed over to a servant, and 

 by him carried down a dozen stairs; and two 

 minutes after it left his hands our messenger 

 was asked to '"comedown and see what could 

 be done, for the servant had dropped the jar 1 " 

 He went and found the jar broken, the contents 

 all over the kitchen floor, and the culprit a 

 standing lesson in handling honey by an inex- 

 perienced carrier! 



DIFFICULTIES WITH THE HOFFMAN FRAME. 



FAIH AND C'.\NDn) CUITICISMS. 



The honey crop in this section is over about 

 June 1. It was Ijelovv the average this year, 

 owing to late frosts after fruit-bloom, and very 

 dry weather in May. An average taken in this 

 county would give perhaps 40 lbs. of comb 

 honey per colony. The bees have abundant 

 stores, however; and as we never lose any colo- 

 nies on account of the '• winter problem '' there 

 is no cause for complaint. Fortunately for us, 

 we have no winter problem. Bees will gather 

 pollen freely at Christmas time if the weather 

 is fine, as it was last December. 



I have used the new Hoffman frames this 

 season, by way of trial, in 1.5 hives, all trans- 

 ferred colonies. I am afraid they will not do 

 for this latitude. Dr. Miller's prophecy is ful- 

 filled very exactly. That sliding of frames, 

 and handling them in groups, of which I had 

 pleasant visions, has gone where other dreams 

 go. To separate those frames now. after six 

 months' use. is suggestive of candy-pulling. By 

 and by it will suggest the firing of toy pistols. 

 What I shall do with them next year is a ques- 

 tion which my prophetic soul does not like to 

 dwell upon. The horizontal wiring, three wires, 

 with medium brood foundation, gives beautiful 

 results: the combs are fine. I do not like the 

 new top-bar with beveled comb-guide. The bev- 

 el seems to act as an incentive to the bees to 

 build burr and brace combs all over the top- 

 bars. This in Dovetailed hives. The old thick- 

 top-bar. li\' inches wide, ">' inch deep, with flat 

 comb-guide, gives results so much better that I 

 shall certainly use that kind in future. For 

 spacing the thick-top-bar frames I use the or- 

 dinary double-pointed tinned carpet-tacks. One 

 of these is driven longitudinally into the top- 

 bar, an inch from the end. on the left, facing 

 you. Turn the frame around and drive anoth- 

 er. They project /,; iu. from the top-bar. These 

 can not be glued fast; frames are easily moved, 

 and the whole thing is a comfort in handling. 

 We shall have to come down to metal of some 

 kind in those parts of frames which can be pro- 

 polized. A. T. Peete. 



Branchville, S. C. 



[We have before expressed the fear that the 

 Hoffman frames would not answer in certain 

 portions of the South, and in those warm coun- 

 tries where propolis is gathered more freely 

 than here in the Northern or Middle States; 

 but notwithstanding that, just the other day 

 an oi'der came from Cuba for .">0(X) Hoffman 

 frames, the party, we believe, having already 

 tried a few during the past season. We have 



