IS'.t? 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



In iuUlilioii to this I've made linis l,'>iii. 

 high, and wide enough to take S L-spaced 

 frames, the same extended out to fit against 

 the inside of the front and l)ack of my chaff 

 hive, and just the same length inside as the 

 common inside or lower story. Now I have 

 raised my frames and bees, and put a rim un- 

 der, so there is a 1 '^2-iii. space under the bot- 

 tom of the fratnes. Thus I can easily clean 

 out dead bees when in the cellar in winter, and 

 shall use more packing over the bees than 

 usual. You see the division-boards can be 

 used the same, and the packing makes all 

 neat and snug. It seems to me you would do 

 a good thing by adopting something of this 

 kind. ' H. P. Churchill. 



Hallowell, Me., Oct. IS. 



[Any one who will use a large entrance in 

 summer can't fail to come to the same con- 

 clusion you have. How stupid we have been 

 all these years, compelling the bees to use a 

 poorly ventilated hive, and crowd and tumble 

 over each other in order to get into a hive 

 during the height of the flow. — Ed.] 



THE NEW FENCE AND THE PETTIT SYSTEM. 



I too am very much interested in the new 

 style of separator and section. As I under- 

 stand it, the separators are to be made of nar- 

 row strips, with narrow spaces between. Re- 

 ferring to Gleanings for Jan. 1.5, 18U7, page 

 52, top of right-hand column, Mr. S. T. Pet- 

 tit says: " Dividers made of slats % inch 

 apart leave the sections ridgy, reminding one 

 of a miniature w ish board." This he obviated 

 by boring the divider full of j'^ginch holes 

 instead of leaving the '4- inch spaces. Now, 

 would there not be the same trouble in the 

 new separators ? Has any one tried, during 

 the past season, the plan advocated by Mr. 

 Pettit in the same article, commencing on 

 page ol, entitled " A new system of taking 

 comb honey; how to get the bees to fill the 

 outside sections as quickly and as nicely as 

 those in the center tf the super"? If so, I 

 should like to hear the results, and also how 

 Mr. Pettit himself has succeeded on ihat line 

 the past season. It seems to me this idea, 

 taken in connection with die no-bee-way sec- 

 tions, might make quite a difference in the 

 crop of nice comb honey, especially here in 

 the East, where in many sections ttie honey- 

 flow is not as copious as further west, and we 

 need to use every means to secure all the 

 honey our bees are c ipable of gathering, and 

 secure it in the best possible contlition. 



Natick, Mass. R. J. Fox. 



[See answer to F. A. Gemmill, page 846 

 this issue. — Ed.] 



NO-BEE-SPACE SECTIONS FAVORED. 

 Mr. Root: — I see you wish to hear from 

 those who have used sections with no bee- 

 space. I have used about a thousand of this 

 kind this season, and I like them so well that 

 I will change all my supers to take this kind. 

 All you say about their better appearance is 

 true. I used cleats on the separators y%yi%, 

 but this is hardly wide enough or thick enough. 



They should l)e i";. wide, and a little more than 

 ^8 thick. It will re(|uire very careful measure- 

 ments to get them just right ; for if they 

 should be a little loo thick there would be 

 trouble about crating. I find they will bulge 

 out the combs a little just Ijelow the separator. 

 I u.se plain separators .■!>4 inches wide. I have 

 not tried slotted separators, but believe thev 

 would be better. 



There is only one fault that I have found in 

 using this arrangement; and that is, in cleat- 

 ing the separators they viusl be put on accu- 

 rately. I use Yz-m. wire nails, driving them 

 clear through, and clinching them. Glue 

 would perhaps be better and quicker. 



W. C. G.\THRIGHT. 



Dona Ana, New Mex., Oct. ;W. 



[The fences we shall make and sell will be 

 put together with automatic machinery, and 

 will have to be just right. Yes, if the slats are 

 too far apart the combs will be ridgy every 

 time. See answer in this issue to F. A. Gem- 

 mill, on page 846. — Ed.] 



THE DEEP-CELL FOUNDATION A SUCCESS. 



Last spring you sent me samples of deep- 

 cell foundation. These I placed in sections, 

 putting two sections into supers with some 

 partially drawn combs and some thin founda- 

 tion starters. In every case the deep-cell 

 foundation was the first to be worked on, and 

 in one super those two sections were the only 

 ones properly filled, others varying from noth- 

 ing to 34 full. Deep-cell foundation suits me 

 well in this year's trial. L. D. Stilson. 



York, Neb., Nov. 10. 



HONEY RUINED BY SOOT. 



Honey is a failure here. This is a manufac- 

 turing town, and the soot ruins all the honey 

 for miles. Owing to the continued dry weath- 

 er this year we shall not be able to send you 

 any seed. D. L. MuRFF. 



Anniston, Ala., Oct. 28. 



[It has been before stated that honey-pro- 

 ducing in a manufacturing town where there 

 is a large amount of smoke is unprofitable. 

 It seems a little hard to believe that soot could 

 prevent the blossoms from yielding nectar, 

 but it maybe true. I'd like to have reports 

 from others.— Ed.] 



THE FLORA ON THE COAST OF SOUTH CARO- 

 LINA. 



In reply to query by " Ivast Coast," page 

 7.39, I bi g leave to say that, while we are rath- 

 er outside of the limit — a little more than 100 

 miles from the coast — I will give enough in- 

 formation to provoke further correspondence. 



We are told that in portions of Eastern 

 North Carolina (in the swamp region) bees do 

 well. We much prefer to speak of the terri- 

 tory west of this, Charlotte, N. C, 100 miles, 

 or along the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge 

 range, where we have fine bee-pasture. The 

 poplar (tulip), holly-locust, and fruit-trees 

 furnish the early or 'May crop. June brings 

 linn, persimmon, and redVood, while the sour- 



