256 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1. 



to nail on both sides, making 31 movements, 

 for nailing, against five for the one-piece; or, 

 if we count the simultaneous motions of both 

 hands as at three and four, it will be 7 to 31. 



Friend Ernest, if I were a sporting fellow I 

 would wager a pink bean against a black-eyed 

 pea that I could take any bee-yard that will 

 not carry over 200 colonies without overstock- 

 ing, and do all the work necessary — that is, 

 put all the sections together, put in all foun- 

 dation, put the sections on the hives, and re- 

 move the same to the amount of 100 1-lb. sec- 

 tions to each hive, clean all the sections, nail 

 all the shipping-cases, grade and put the hon- 

 ey in the cases, marking the grade on each 

 case, my supplies being all on hand when the 

 weather is warm enough in the spring for soft 

 maple to begin to bloom, and have all done 

 up in good order, and the bees ready for win- 

 ter by Nov. 15. I would as lief do the work 

 where the average is 90 to 100 lbs.' per colony 

 as where it would be only 25 or 30, provided 

 the bees were as long in gathering the small 

 amount as they would be to secure the larger 

 one. With the larger yield, propolis would be 

 at a minimum, and at the maximum with 

 smaller. With the bountiful yield I could re- 

 move full supers; with the smaller I should 

 have to remove one or two to a dozen or so 

 from a hive to prevent travel-stains, and I have 

 no doubt the exhalations from the cluster will 

 in time stain the combs perceptibly. 



In the larger yield, my compensation, or 

 that of my employer, would be much greater 

 as the case might be. If I work for a man I 

 want him to get more out of my labor than 

 barely enough to compensate me for doing it. 

 The greater his profit, the more is my rejoic- 

 ing. 



Dove, Cal., Dec. 10. 



[If I figure correctly your bees in 1889 (al- 

 lowing 10c per lb. for comb honey) paid you 

 over .$18.00 per day for every day given to 

 them. In 1888 they returned you something 

 like $15.00 per day. But — ten years ago you 

 probably realized a much higher price than 10 

 cts. — just how much I can not say. But the 

 results beat Dr. Miller by considerable. His 

 rate was 500 per day. We thought his record 

 was big and the wages too. Nailed sections — 

 I don't see how any one can afford to fuss 

 with them. — Ed.] 



THE PETTIT DIVIDER. 



Its Form of Construction ; Size and Shape of 

 Brood-nest. 



BY S. T. PE'TTIT. 



Mr. E. R. Root: — The dividers I sent you 

 some time ago are not " exactly as I recom- 

 mend them for 1898." The changes I pur- 

 pose making from those of 1897 are these: 

 First, the holes will be ^ instead of ,\; sec- 

 ond, all the V4.-inch slats except the two end 

 ones will be superseded by slats one inch long, 

 nailed at the edges of the divider; and, third, 

 the thickness will be ]/% inch instead of ,', inch, 

 because the bees seem satisfied with that thick- 



ness, and do not gnaw them as they some- 

 times do separators. 



I have felt all along that it would be better 

 if the slats were out of the way, so the bees 

 could cluster together and have free passage 

 from end to end and from section to section 

 outside the divider, and, doubtless, practically 

 as well as theoretically, the change will be an 

 improvement; and, further, the inch slats will 

 keep the divider rigidly in place. Suitable 

 nails with ji(-inch heads would be, perhaps, 

 more convenient and more desirable. 



Of course, the notches in the bottom side 

 will not be necessary except when T tins are 

 ijsed. I will add that bees do not care very 

 much, if, indeed, they care at all, to build their 

 stores and brood nest in spherical form, as 

 some have supposed. They build in that form 

 because the conditions are favorable for so 

 building, and not from instinct or choice. 



The bees cluster in that form, and, con- 

 sequently, the necessary even animal heat is 

 there in that form, and so the work of comb- 

 building proceeds downward and outward, 

 and thus the spherical form is in a measure 

 preserved. Change the form of the cluster, 

 and the animal heat and comb-ljuilding in the 

 new form will proceed just as rapidly as in 

 spherical form. Following up these thoughts 

 will help us to imderstand that a proper dis- 

 tribution of the bees by means of a properly 

 constructed bottom-board, and its relations to 

 the hive, and the large ventilation thus pro- 

 vided for is fully half the battle in the new 

 system. 



Make the bees snug and warm at the sides 

 and corners of the supers; encourage plenty of 

 bees, by the help of the divider, to stay there, 

 and then as the bees, the heat, and the honey 

 are lavishly supplied there, the conditions for 

 good work are present, and it will be done 

 there, regardless of shapes or forms. 



I cover my supers with cushions, and the 

 bees do not on cool nights shrink from corners 

 and sides. S. T. Pettit. 



Belmont, Ont., Can. 



[As there has been considerable inquiry in 

 regard to the Pettit divider, I asked friend P. 

 to send me the latest form, or the one he 

 would recommend. He did so, and I had an 

 engraving made. It will be noticed that it is 

 specially adapted for use in T supers, although 

 it ma}^ be used in any form. 



This same divider bee-spaced on both sides 

 with cleats, A A, B B B, etc., would give ex- 

 cellent results when used with plain sections ; 

 in other words it might then be called the Pet- 

 tit fence ; but friend P. is not in favor of plain 

 sections. In the last Canadian Bee Journal 

 he calls them a "silly fad," and says that 

 "the talk about less peep-holes and better- 

 finished sections is all nonsense," and that 



