180 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. ]. 



utmost sarcasm; " Susan B! can't help it, Mrs. 

 K. ; her head must come off; she crowed, Mrs. 

 K.; I say, she crowed." 



" No, George." 



"Yes, she did; she crowed; and I say when 

 a female hen usurps the masculine preroga- 

 tives of a rooster she must die. ' ' 



" Dear George, don't get so angry; do spare 

 Susan B.," said Mrs. K., -with tears. 



" Now, Mrs. K., didn't 3'ou say only yester- 

 day, when you saw that woman pass the house 

 in bloomers, and astride a horse, she looked 

 ridiculous, and you wickedly wished that 

 some one would pitch her off the bridge? 

 Now, the woman had some sense," 



"Sense! why, George, she hadn't so much 

 sense as that hen ! the very idea of sense, and 

 astride a horse ! but, George, do spare Susan 

 B." 



" But she crowed, Mrs. K.; and my weary 

 legs, and the duty of upholding the preroga- 

 tives of the male sex, lead me to say firmly 

 that Susan B. must die," and he left the room 

 in haste; and, though Mrs. K. covered her 

 head with the counterpane, she heard the dull 

 thud of the ax on the chopping-block, and 

 Mrs. K. knew that vSusan B.'s head was roll- 

 ing in the dust. 



The fowl was duly scalded; and, while the 

 feathers were being plucked, Mr. K. enjoyed 

 a calm smile ; and now and then muttered 

 words would escape from his lips that sounded 

 like ' ' usurped prerogatives. ' ' 



Mrs. K. soon became reconciled to the fate 

 of Susan B., and gave directions for the stuff- 

 ing and roasting. At the appointed time two 

 happy bee-keepers sat down to a dainty repast. 

 Mrs. K. became so much interested that she 

 insisted upon being helped to the lounge in 

 the dining-room, and, though not partaking 

 of the good things on the table, she partook 

 of the flow of conversation; and so passed 

 happily our Thanksgiving day. 



ANOTHER GOOD-NATURED GROWL AT THE A. I. 

 ROOT CO. 



A Triangular Discussion Regarding the New Things 

 — Fences, Plain Sections, Reversible Bottom- 

 boards, etc. 



BY W. B. RANSON. 



Dr. C. C. I\IiUcy: — I have for years profited 

 by keeping quiet and practicing what other 

 bee-keepers write in the bee-journals, or such 

 of that as seems to be of value to the cause ; 

 but now as changes in our fixtures are becom- 

 ing so great that it is no longer wise to keep 

 silent when the interests of all bee-keepers call 

 us to speak out, I take the liberty to write you 

 this letter. 



Well, what about all this changing in supers 

 and sections ? Are they any better than what 

 we have had for years ? Is the section-holder 

 better than the T super? With us the latter is 

 infinitely better, and will, I think, remain su- 

 perior to any thing that requires extra pieces 

 of wood between sections and top-bars of 

 brood-frames. Are the tall sections better? If 

 so, why not have them 4!4^x.t, when we could 



all use them in our standard \% fixtures by 

 .simply placing a ring above to get height of 

 super or cases? But 4x.') or SS/gx-^, or any thing 

 except 4'4 , breaks up our whole arrangement. 

 What about all this new slat bottom supers and 

 separators changing ? are they any better ? 

 Well, for separators I think nothing equals the 

 T super with no slats between sections and 

 top-bars ; and with no separators, nothing 

 equals the old-style Heddon case. I run for 

 fancy comb honey, and have on hand now a 

 lot of the whitest, straightest, most uniformly 

 filled sections it was ever my pleasure to see, 

 and I took it off the hives last season in old- 

 style Heddon cases with no separators, and 

 the honey is filled otit within Js inch of the 

 edges of the sections, and sells readily here to 

 grocers at 13 cts. , and to consumers at 16 -j, 

 cts. per 1-lb. section. 



Right here let ine say that my bottom-board 

 has much to do with combs being built straight 

 in frames and sections (don't laugh, please), 

 as with it the hives stand absolutel)^ level 

 crosswise and lengthwise, and at the satne 

 time the bottom is % inch lower at front end. 

 I use a plain flat bottom, with strips nailed 

 one on each side, one inch square at front end, 

 and lx'4 in. at back end; stand hive on this, 

 and I have one inch entrance (which I've used 

 for years), the width of hive; and at the rear 

 the frames come within '^j. in. of bottom, in- 

 viting the bees to the rear when the frames 

 are in easy reach. Now, with all frames and 

 sections absolutely vertical and plumb, both, 

 crosswise and lengthwise, and with proper 

 starters, the sections with me are filled nice 

 and straight every time, withotit the separa- 

 tors. With the bottom as above, with this 

 very large entrance I use a strip and button, 

 one edge of strip ctxt out large, the other small 

 entrances. I can reverse 20 of those strips, I 

 think, in the same time it would take Messrs. 

 Root and Danzenbaker to lift off the colony 

 and reverse one bottom-board, and when I 

 would have accomplished the same end; and, 

 besides, I don't have the flanges running past 

 the front end of the hive on each side of the 

 alighting-board so as to prevent me from slid- 

 ing queen-traps, guards, or strips across the 

 entrances. I tried some that way, but soon 

 leveled the naughty flanges down smooth with 

 the end of the hive. You see those wedge- 

 shaped strips the hive rests on give the fall for 

 water to rttn off the bottom, give the large en- 

 trance, give the bees a chance to climb on the 

 rear end of brood-frames, and the hive also 

 level. 



Now, the conclusion I reach from practice 

 is this: The fewer the number of pieces to 

 btiy, handle, and clean, the better it is for the 

 bee-keeper; so with the T super and Heddon 

 case ; with no separators, and on hives leveled 

 up as aforesaid, and proper starters in sections, 

 I get straight pretty combs and well-filled iec- 

 tions; have no difficulty with crooked combs, 

 and have left out all separators, fences, slat- 

 bottoms, section-holders, etc. Whew ! what 

 a pile of stuff left out ! and the most important 

 of all is, the bees have a supreme hatred for 

 them, and enter sections more readily without 

 them. 



