1897 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



891 



pretty expensive. But it is interestiiij^ to 

 know tha: bees may be wintered in a warm 

 room, under certain conditions ; and one of 

 those condiiiuns seems to l)e plt-nty of water. 



But, say, I should like to j,'o on a hunt with 

 you ; but work, I fear, will hold me down too 

 close for such a luxury. — Ed.] 



TH1-; ri..\IN .SHCTION .A.ND FENCIC ; yui<;sTiox.s 

 CONCERNING IT. 



]\fr. Root: — On page 744 you speak of the 

 comparatively no-bee-space section and cleat- 

 ed separator. You have no idea how you 

 interested me, as I have had more or less 

 thoughts relative to cleated separators with 

 bee-s]iace openings ever since 1 read with so 

 much interest what the late B. Taylor said in 

 March loth Gi.H.\nings, 180.5 And now the 

 comparatively no-bee-space section filled out 

 within 's inch of the edge has more than 

 doubled the interest in the cleated separator. 

 I do not know how I could succeed witli them, 

 but it seems to me it would be grand. 



In order to have the same capacity as the 

 1 's scored section, would not 1 's, instead of 

 IJi, be the proper size, as each separator cleat 

 reduces the width of the section "s inch ? 



While I suppose the cleated separator and 

 narrower section would work on the l",s-inch 

 section-holder, yet I think it would be much 

 better to have the cleats go down between the 

 section-holder, and rest at the ends on the tin 

 bearing. If the section is narrower than the 

 section-holder ihe bees will fill in propolis 

 along the edge of the section — at least I think 

 they would, as I have used straight slats for 

 section-holder bottoms as wide as the narrow 

 part of bottom of section, and on the edge of 

 the wider part of section would Vje found pro- 

 polis, gluing the section to the section-holder. 



I did not receive the samples of drawn comb 

 in time to give it a trial, but can see that it is 

 a production of great mechanical skill. I 

 think a Vs or ,''„ raised cell wall would be .suf- 

 ficient, and easier made and handled. I a'n 

 glad to learn that it can be made with natural- 

 cell bottom -i instead of fiat bottoms 



Did your staple for end bee-space at end of 

 brood frames give good satisfaction the past 

 season i" That seems to be of interest to me. 



It occurs to me that the one who boils down 

 "beedom" for the .hiiencrn ISce Joitnial 

 must stand by nearly all the time and stir, as 

 it seems to be boiled down pretty thick, and 

 yet not scorched. J. W. SouTHWOOD. 



Monument City, Ind. 



[The cleats on the fences we are making are 

 just exactly ['^ of an inch thick. Assuming 

 that the bee-space is '4 inch ( ,\ ) there will 

 be one-third of the bee-space in the section ; 

 that is to say, the comb surface on the aver- 

 age will be ,', inch from a .straight-edge lying 

 across the ed^es of the plain section. If we 

 made the cleats only )/% inch thick on the 

 fences then the sections would have to be 1 >^ 

 inches wide. 



The fences will be made to go betiveen the 

 section-holders, and this will, of course, re- 

 quire that they ( the section-holders 1 shall be 

 the same width as the sections; viz., Xyi in. 



When the fences are designed for the old- 

 style section-holders they will be made to go 

 inside of the holders, not between. 



Yes, th it staple for end-spacer gave excellent 

 satisfaction, and we shall use it for 18!»8. — Ed.] 



A'. A. IV., Wash. — We can give you no def- 

 inite information as to whether locust honey 

 candies quickly or not, as that which we have 

 produced was sold almost as soon as it was 

 capped over in the combs. The honey is not 

 equal to clover, mountain sage, or alfalfa, in 

 point of flavor; and in color it is a little dark- 

 er than clover or basswood. We do not see 

 any reason why you can not buy this as well 

 as any honey, by sample. We have special 

 mailing-vials for small samples of extracted 

 h Duey. There is no reason in the world why 

 you can not get a small sample by mail. 



/. /. I'., Mo. — 1. The shallow extracting- 

 frames, 5^ in., are a little handier to uncap 

 than the whole-depth Langstroth frames. 

 Where the seasons are short, or the honey 

 comes in slowly, as it does in the majority of 

 localities, a shallow extractiiigsuper is pref- 

 erable to one full depth. The latter is apt to 

 discourage the bees, as it gives them too nmch 

 room at a time to keep warm at the start. 



2. A wood-bound honey-board provides the 

 necessary bee-space above the brood-frames 

 and between the super above. It is also at 

 the same time stiffer and much more satisfac- 

 tory in every way than the unbound zinc. 



3. The ten-frame hive is not necessarily bet- 

 ter than the eight-frame. It all depends upon 

 the locality and general circumstances. Where 

 one desires to run entirely for extracted honev, 

 and the .seasons are long, then the ten and 

 twelve frame hives seem to be better; but in 

 the North, where the seasons are short, and 

 the honey-flow moderate, the eight will give 

 as good or better results. 



4. Comb foundation not used in the summer 

 should be kept over winter in a room that will 

 not go below a freezing temperature ; and 

 when it has been subjected to a freeze it 

 should not be handled while in that condition. 

 While freezing may not do it any harm, it cer- 

 tainly does not do it any good. 



5. The bees should have only as many- 

 frames as they can cover comfortably just be- 

 fore cold weather sets in. The average colony 

 of eight-frame capacity will take about six 

 frames for winter; of ten-frame capacity, seven 

 and eight frames. 



t). An ordinary Langstroth frame may hold 

 anywhere from (J to 8 pounds. 



For further particulars in regard to these 

 and other matters see our A B C of Bee Cul- 

 ture, and our catalog which we are mailing 

 you, especially the la.st few pages. Prospectus 

 of the ABC book is given on page 31. 



