1897 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



The engravings below will make the matter 

 so plain that it will 

 hardly be necessa- 

 ry to give the meth- 

 od. In Fig. 6, A 

 shows the gauge, 

 the thickness of 

 which is just equal 

 FIG. 6. to the height of 



the staple in the 

 end-bar after it is driven in. The gauge A is 

 pushed up against the under side of the pro- 

 jection of the top- 

 bar, as at Fig. 1, 

 and the staple 

 dropped into the 

 slot. It is then 

 driven down as in 

 Fig. 2, as far as 

 it will go. The 

 gauge is pulled 

 away, leaving the 

 staple at exactly 

 the right depth, i 

 as at Fig. 3 In ' 

 this connection it 

 might be well to 

 stale as shown in 

 the tigure, that the projection is exactly K inch, 

 leaving it exactly Ji inch from the end of the 



staple to 

 the end of 

 the top 

 bar. Fig. 

 5 shows a 

 cross-sec- 

 ti on of 

 the end 

 of the hive and the 

 frame. It will be ob- 

 served that the bees 

 can go clear around 

 the end of the top- 

 bar. 



This improvement 

 is so important and 

 far-reaching in its 

 benefits, that, just as soon as spring opens up, 

 we shall change over to the end-spacing style 

 of Hoffman 

 in all our 

 yards. It 

 will not be 

 necessary to 

 discard 

 our old 

 frames 

 filled 

 with 

 comb. 

 One 

 man, 



in three or 

 four days' 

 time, can 

 change over 

 all our col- 

 onies. He will carry along with him a light 

 sharp back-saw, and will cut off from each end 

 of the top- 

 bar J^ inch, 

 then 

 drive in the 

 staple as 

 per the 

 plan shown 

 in F'igs. 1, 

 2, and 3. Time can be 

 saved by shaking the 

 bees off all of the combs 

 of the colony in front of 

 the entrance and then 



l^Ui 



change the frames, after which proceed to the 

 next colony. All surplus combs not in the 

 hives can be change ove now in the shop. 



The beauty of this improvement is that ev- 

 ery one can adopt it for his own yard, where 

 he has old-style frames; and the benefit is so 

 great that it does not seem io me that any one 

 can afford not to use it. We have already 

 changed ove a few of our hives sufficient to 

 know that the work of changing over end-spa- 

 cers is but slight comparat vely. We will fur- 

 nish the gauges A and the staples E at a nom- 

 inal sum. By the way, the staple B is not 

 shown its fu size o wire. It is, in fac No. 16 

 wire, and % inches long, made to order, with 

 prong extra wide apart. 



My, oh my! how are these cold snaps affect- 

 ing the bees ? Ours are all right; but how are 

 yours? 



We have so much matter that I find it neces- 

 sary to cut down the usual editorial space in 

 this issue; and even now I have enough con- 

 tributed matter on hand to make up almost 

 two whole journals yet. Our contributors will 

 therefore understand why some of their articles 

 have not yet appeared. 



OUR SYMPOSIUM ; POSSIBILITIES ALONG THE 

 LINE OF THE NEW COMB. 



In this issue we have two short symposiums 

 —one on the ubject of tall sections, and the 

 other on drawn or partly drawn combs, or, per- 

 haps, it might more properly be styled deep- 

 cell foundation with side-walls and bases as 

 light as natural. Just exactly what we may 

 expect from this new product it is impossible 

 at this time to foreshadow. If it shall be 

 feas ble som t me n the future to furnish it 

 the same as we do foundation, and at a price 

 within the reach of bee-keepers, great things 

 are possible. Here are a few of them: 1. Bees 

 going into comb honey supers sooner; 2. Se- 

 curing section honey during off years, when the 

 bees would not draw out foundation; 3. Partial 

 prevention of swarming; 4. Being able to pro- 

 duce comb as cheaply as extracted; 5. Lessen- 

 ing the adulteration evil in proportion to the 

 reduced amount of extracted honey on the 

 market. If as much comb can be produced as 

 extracted, and at a better price, it will be pro- 

 duce more arge y; and as retailers and com- 

 mission men can not adulterate honey in the 

 comb as they can extracted, the bulk of the 

 honey will be the direct product of the hive. 



Now, understand that I state that these 

 are only possibilities. While it is possible 

 to produce the new deep- cell foundation in 

 a small way, it may be utterly impossible to 

 make it in sufficient quantity to put it on the 

 market as an article of sale, so we will not 



