432 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1. 



tie, or if the bees do sting my ankles ? I 

 would willingly, any time, take a few stings, 

 if I thought I could save swarming thereby, 

 and at the same time increase the honey crop. 

 —Ed.] 



THE B. TAYLOR COMB-LEVELER. 



The Purpose of Leveling Down Combs; an Histori- 

 cal Resume of the whole Subject. 



BY C. THEIIvMANN. 



Dr. Miller, in Gleanings for May 1, p. 343, 

 questions the depth to which ctUs of drawn 

 combs should be leveled down, and says B. 

 Taylor has been quoted as using his excellent 

 Handy leveler for the sake of reducing the 

 depth of the cells. I don't believe he ever 

 used it for that purpose on a perfectly clean 

 section, and have asked for proof. No one 

 has ever brought forward the proof. 



The editor also says, on page 344, "I have 

 spent a little time in looking up the late B. 

 Taylor's articles, but I do not anywhere find 

 that he gave a distinct reason ivhy he leveled 

 his combs." For some light on this question 

 I will give a little history in the matter, which 

 will clearly show why B. Taylor invented his 

 leveler. 



Some years ago the Minnesota Bee-keepers' 

 Association convened at Minneapolis. In one 

 of the sessions the topic of drawn combs to be 

 used for next season came up, and was briskly 

 discussed between myself and B. Taylor. He 

 w.is against using such combs, and I held 

 them very valuable, and a means of dollars 

 and cents, without any harm or injury to any 

 one, as I had many years' experience with 

 drawn combs before this, and had learned 

 how to manage them so no one could tell the 

 difference between the new and old combs 

 after they were filled. To prove my claim I 

 took some of my dressed and cleaned-out 

 section combs to the next year's convention 

 held at Minneapolis, also to convince Mr. Tay- 

 lor. When he took one in his hand and held 

 it up to the convention he exclaimed, "It is 

 no wonder that Mr. Theilmann can produce 

 nice honey in drawn combs in the way they 

 are dressed and preserved." I then explained 

 to those present how the drawn combs should 

 be managed after taking from the hives ; and 

 after another year Mr. Taylor came to our 

 convention with his comb-leveler and showed 

 it to those present, and had thoroughly re- 

 pented of the non-use of drawn combs. 



Now, the above does not give proof for 

 what purpose the leveler was invented by Mr. 

 Taylor, directly ; but my explanation hoic the 

 combs must be dressed leaves no doubt that 

 the leveler was invented for the purpose of 

 melting off the big rim around the cells, which 

 is generally soiled more or less ; and, if not 

 taken away, the bees will use part of it for 

 capping the honey, which gives it a yellow 

 tint. This is the whole secret of getting just 

 as nice-looking honey from drawn as from 

 combs built of foundation ; no matter how 

 long or short the cells are leveled or shaved 

 off as long as the rims are taken off; and to 



do that correctly and perfectly I can do it far 

 better with the honey-knife than with the 

 leveler, for I can shave off the rims where the 

 leveler can not reach them without taking too 

 much of the comb, which the bees have to 

 build again unnecessarily. 



I shave the combs before extracting, and 

 after that they are put into supers and given 

 the bees for 24 hours to be cleaned, and then 

 stored away for next season's use. I don't 

 believe in bait sections, but use full supers of 

 drawn combs, and thereby get nicer honey. I 

 would think it a big loss in not using drawn 

 combs. 



I would say here, that the sooner the supers 

 are taken from the hives after the honey-flow 

 is over, the better and nicer the unfinished 

 sections will work for shaving them, as the 

 comb then is nice and soft, and the knife cuts 

 smoothly, while later on the comb is brittle 

 and hard. 



Theilmanton, Minn., May 9. 



[We are glad to get this bit of history re- 

 garding comb-levelers ; but say, friend T., I 

 do not quite get it through my head how you 

 can do a satisfactory job of leveling down 

 combs built out in sections, with an ordinary 

 honey-knife. What I do not understand is 

 how you get that great big awkward blade 

 down into the box so as to make a neat level 

 job. 



I think we can assume that the whole pur- 

 pose of leveling, as was once advocated by the 

 late B. Taylor, was to get rid of the thickened 

 soiled edges of the cells as they are ordinarily 

 left by the bees.— Ed.] 



PEPPER-TREES ; RESERVOIRS FOR HONEY, ETC. 



R. Wilkin Straightens us Up a Little. 



Mr. Root; — You have a most beautiful pic- 

 ture, on page 347, of the bloom and foliage of 

 the pepper-tree, as described by J. H. Martin ; 

 but, what a blunder to write under it, "Blos- 

 soms from the eucalyptus (or pepper) tree," 

 as if they were the same tree ! It is like de- 

 scribing the picture of the white oak (or 

 peach ) tree. And then A. I. R. has to back 

 it up in his footnote as a real picture of the 

 eucalyptus, while the eucalyptus is noted for 

 its exceeding stature. An old pepper- tree is 

 usually twice as wide as it is high ; otherwise 

 the descriptions are good. 



In a late issue of Gleanings you name my 

 concrete storehouse as a " reservoir for honey," 

 and the article so naming it is going the 

 rounds of the papers. It may be called a 

 reservoir, but it is simply a rooai 15x26, 9 feet 

 high, made of grout, or concrete, of lime, 

 sand, gravel, and stone, with an iron roof and 

 hydraulic-cement floor, containing a window 

 in each end and a door in the side. A cistern 

 or even a tank above ground can doubtless be 

 made of hydraulic cement that will hold 

 honey. I have a fish-pond mainly above 

 ground that holds water to perfection. Such 

 a cistern would certainly be everlasting, but 

 not portable. By the way, why do we not 

 have more concrete buildings ? The cost of 



