(34 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 15. 



found to be 1^4' inches in width. The dis- 

 tance from the tip of one mandible to the tip 

 of the other was 2 34^ inches, when widely ex- 

 tended. This individual had taken up its 

 quarters within 100 yards of the apiary, in the 

 shade of a dense thicket, I find on inquiry, as 

 he has been seen there many times this sum- 

 mer. 



When mating, our whippoorwill is a noisy 

 fellow ; but after July he is perfecth- sili^nt. 

 It was a great surprise to find this specimen 

 here so late, as the other fly-catchers migrated 

 some time ago. 



In writing to the American Bee Journal 

 last year, the habits of the king-bird, or bee- 

 martin, being the subject, it was mentioned 

 that, in the fall, the king-bird was <;ood eat- 

 ing. M}- son killed some for me this fall, and 

 a more delicious mors"-l was never tast'^'d. 

 They were loaded with fat, and on being 

 opened gave forth the odor of the magnolia 

 seed. This was a great surprise, inasmuch as 

 I had supposed that they were entirely ad- 

 dicted to insect diet. Several weeks ago great 

 flocks of these birds (or, rath'^r. vast numbers 

 of them) could be seen any fair day, being 

 then on their journey south. 



The whippoorwill was served up for supper, 

 and was himself not at all bad, so the children 

 report. 



The writer is shut out from the world by an 

 impassable quarantine, and can testify to a 

 very novel experience, which, however, would 

 not interest the readers of Gleanings. 



Scranton, Miss. T. S. Ford. 



[I do not know just how it would be in the 

 South ; but in the North but very little atten- 

 tion need be paid to the alleged depredations 

 of the king-bird and oth^r enemies of the bees 

 among the feathered tribes, except in the 

 queen-rearing apiaries. The use of a shotgun 

 or small rifle to kill and scare away king-birds 

 (as I believe them to be particularly fond of 

 young queens when on their wedding-flight") 

 is sometimes advisable. I remember quite 

 distinctly that, a few years ago, we were losing 

 quite a number of our young queens. King- 

 birds were quite frequent visitors at our apiary. 

 I finally shot a few of them with my rifle, and 

 the rest disappeared. About this time our 

 queens began to be mated again with the 

 usual regularity. While I can not be positive 

 that kin-7-birds actually made away with the 

 queens, the disappearance of the king-birds 

 and the non -disappearance of queens was 

 somewhat significant. — Ed.] 



PARAFFIXE PAPER FOR COVERING SECTIONS, 

 AND THICK TOP-FRAMES. 



BV K. L. THOMPSON. 



[About a year ago I reported that Mr. Danzenbaker 

 had secured some very nice clean comb honey, the 

 sections of which liad not been touched by a scraper- 

 knife, and which had secured the first prize at one or 

 two of the State fairs. This happy result Mr. Danzen- 

 baker attiibuted to the use of paraffine paper. 



At other times I have said much in favor of thick- 

 top frames as being especially free from burr-combs 

 (not brace-combs). As I have been an exponent of 

 both ideas 1 am very glad to give the results of an un- 



favorable experiment with both paraflfine paper and 

 non-burr-comb frames; and while I do not think one 

 swallow makes a summer, I am glad to give this 

 report prominence in our columns, without a com- 

 ment. If friend Danzenbaker chooses to reply he 

 can have space. 



The report that I refer to appears in the American 

 Bee Journal, page (577, and is as follows: — Ed.] 



Noticing that sections which have been cov- 

 ered witli paraflii;e paper were said to be per- 

 fectly free from propolis, and even took prizes 

 at various fairs, I procured a number of sheets 

 and applied them according to directions. 

 During the early part of the season the re- 

 sults were pretty fair, though the sections 

 were far from being free of propolis, even on 

 the top edges. Still, the tops between the 

 edg°s were perfectly fresh and bright when 

 the sections were removed, forming a marked 

 contrast to otlT^-r sections which had been cov- 

 ered with a '4 -inch " layer of air." 



Later in the season the bees plastered pro- 

 polis just as freely at the junction of the paper 

 with the section edges as they did anywhere 

 else. I conclude that it was the combination 

 of paraffine paper with some other things that 

 produced that prize honey, and that those 

 other things were far more important. I have 

 before this produced section honey without 

 the aid of paraffine paper, which went into the 

 case untouched bv the knife. They were built 

 during the first of the flow by new swarms, in 

 brand-new hives, in supers which perfectly 

 compressed both edges and ends of the sec- 

 tions, and over a honey-board. 



Another objection to the paraffine paper is 

 the fussiness it requires, with the extra paper 

 and thin boards (I use old .separators), and 

 the difficulty of removing in the last half of 

 the season. Every time a super replaces an- 

 other, there is a lot of red tape, so to speak, 

 to go through with. First, the newspapers 

 and thin boards must be carefully removed 

 and laid aside ; then, still more carefully, the 

 paraffine paper — snip, snap, tear (confound 

 it ) — wsh-sh-sh-crack ! ( darn these things, anj^- 

 how!) and then it is laid on the lower super 

 reversed, first smoking the bees out of the 

 way, except some refractory ones that have to 

 be cow-catchered out of the way with the edge 

 of the paper; then, if the wind is blowing ever 

 so little (it usualh- is, just then), held there 

 while the other paraphernalia are reached for 

 and spread on in succession ; and you have 

 the satisfaction of knowing that you have 

 fixed up one super in good shape in the time 

 that it would ordinarily take to fix two. I've 

 had enoitgh of it. I believe a fresh surface of 

 burlap over every super full of sections, with 

 three or four thicknesses, not necessarily un- 

 soiled, above that, to keep it flat and conserve 

 heat, would amount to about the same thing, 

 and be mtich quicker handled. 



By the way, I am coming to think honey- 

 boards are a valuable aid in producing first- 

 class comb honey. I was obliged to do A'ith- 

 out them this summer, and the percentage of 

 fancy honey was rather small, in spite of the 

 fact ' that half the hives had thick top-bars. 

 The editor of Gleanings, speaking of thick 

 top-bars and burr-combs, says the exception 

 proves the rule. I would rather do without 



