GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15. 



here; and the coldest day was 12° above zero 

 against 3u° below here. The range in Germany 

 for the year was 66°, about what we sometimes 

 have here in two days' time. 



Free ADVERTISING in American Bee .lournal 

 is given to John A. McCutcheon & Co., Chicago, 

 Williamson Produce Co., New York, and Unger 

 & Co., Buffilo, classing Ihem with Horrie and 

 Wheadon. Editor York sensibly remarks, "Far 

 better to donate your honey to some orphanage 

 and be done with it, than to give it to dealers 

 of no reputation, or that are not well known." 



Six different colonies, according to a 

 report in Revue des Sciences, show six differ- 

 ent lengths of tongue, 7.1, 7. .5, 8.1, 8.4, 8.8. and 

 9.2 respectively— the last nearly a third longer 

 than the first. Now, if there's so much varia- 

 tion why can't a strain of long-tongued bees be 

 developed? Will my highly esteemed friend, 

 the sage of Lapeer, please answer? 



"Avoid melting wax over too many timi s; 

 every time makes it darker-colored. Make the 

 cakes medium -sized, and don't pour into the 

 molds until cooli d so it will just run nicely. 

 Wet the dish, and you will not have to grease 

 it. If above directions are followed, your cakes 

 will not crack.— M". H. Hunt, in American Bee 

 Journal. [M. H. Hunt, according to our expe- 

 rience, is decidedly right.— Ed.] 



How DOES it happen a bee can eat honey 

 for months without becoming overloaded? In 

 winter it eats perhaps three times its own 

 weigtit without a fly. Well. 99 per cent of honey 

 is oxygen, hydrogen, and caibon; and when 

 that's consumed it turns into vapor of water 

 and carbonic acid gas, neitherof which remains 

 in the intestines. In that light the only won- 

 der is that they become bloated as often as 

 they do. 



By R. C. Aikin. 



OUR WAGON; HOW AIKIN AVOIDS THE USE OF 

 BEE ESCAPES. 



In building this wagon, three things were 

 kept in mind; viz., comfort, capacity, and ser- 

 vice. For use on our trip we needed room, and 

 at the same time protection. I will describe 

 the wagon first. 



The running-gears are the same that I have 

 been using for my honey express to and from 

 out apiaries, etc. It is a regular platform 

 spring, and will carry 1000 to 1200 pounds. I 



usually carried about 1000 on it in moving hives, 

 honey, or bees. 



The box now on it is my own invention, got- 

 ten up for the trip, and to use as a honey- 

 wagon afterward. It is 13 feet long from front 

 bow to back, and 4 feet wide, outside measure.^ 

 From the floor to the highest point under the 

 bows is 5 feet 5 inches — bows what are known 

 as square top. The part of the box forward of 

 the hind wheels is about 27 inches deep, and 

 between hind wheels 13>.2 inches. The sides 

 are J^-inch poplar, and the bows are cut square 

 off and set right on top of the sides, and iron 

 plates laid on both inside and out of the lower 

 end of the bows, extending down straddle of 

 the sides, and screwed to the sides. The man- 

 ner of fastening bows appears very plain in the 

 photo, but may not be so clear in the half-tone. 

 There are 6 bows. The one just in front of the 

 hind wheels goes clear down past the encZ of 

 the side-board that is scalloped over the front 

 wheel (this side-board goes back only as far as 

 the picture shows it), and is stirruped to it, so 

 there is no possible careening back and forth of 

 this bow; and the others, being fastened to it 

 by the slats above, all are rigid. 



It is all covtred first with 11 -oz. duck; then, 

 over the top, oil-cloth. The part of the canvas 

 that is not rolled up on the near side is fastened 

 permanently, covering two spaces between 

 bows. Tlie next space— just front of the hind 

 wheel— has a wire screen sash to exclude flies 

 and other insects. The space just forward of 

 the screen, and the next one too. where the 

 wife and baby appear, each has rolling curtains 

 as well as the screened space. This makes 3 

 curtains on the side, so that the wagon can be 

 thrown open back to the hind wheels. The far 

 side is identical in arrangement, though in the 

 picture but one curtain is up. 



There is also a curtain across the front to 

 close that opening, though it does not appear, 

 being rolled up under the " nose." Half of the 

 back end is boarded up solid to the roof while 

 the other half has in it a screen-dour with a 

 curtain on the outside of it. The writer stands 

 with his hand on the door-latch, the door being 

 partly open. 



Now look at the front end again, and you will 

 see a sort of circular porch or step across above 

 the doubletrees. Under the top of that step, 

 and in the center, running parallel with the 

 wagon-tongue, is a short partition. The floor 

 of the wagon comes out almost as far as the 

 lop of the porch or step; and that little parti- 

 tion resting on the floor boards, and reaching 

 plump up against the top, makes the step solid. 

 Now, on the near front corner, just below the 

 scalloped sideboard, look close and you will see 

 ends of two hinges. Right there on the corner 

 of the porch, and extending around in front to 

 that partition under the porch, is a feed-box or 

 trough. On the other side is one just like it, 



