440 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1. 



hive left bottom up after the queen is put in, 

 so that the bees will cluster on the bottom. In 

 hiving, turn the hive right side up, remove 

 the vi^ire cloth, set in the combs and division- 

 board, doing all so quickly that the bees will 

 not have time to crawl up the sides before you 

 get the combs in. Now close the hive at the 

 top and open the entrance, when you have the 

 same thing as before, though the box plan 

 makes one much more independent of the 

 whims of the bees ; and where many nuclei 

 are to be formed, it amply pays for all cost in 

 construction. 



SCRAPING SECTIONS ; SECTION-HOLDERS ; A 

 REPI/Y TO DR. MILLER 



Look here. Dr. Miller, I do not wish to 

 intimate that you are not truthful, but I do 

 believe that in our locality you can not scrape 

 half of 1200 sections per day. You surely can 

 not have the amount of propolis that we have. 

 Did you notice what James Roat says on page 

 299? He says that they considered 100 sec- 

 tions a good day's work, scraping with the 

 knife. In localities where there is little pro- 

 polis, a section per minute could be easily 

 cleaned with the machine cleaner. Now, in 

 order to clean 1200 sections per day of 10 

 hours you will have to scrape two sections per 

 minute. If you look at it in this way you will 

 notice that very little time can be given to 

 each section. You say that you wish I would 

 figure a little when I get through cleaning, if 

 I had as many to scrape as yourself. 



I have repeatedly figured the cost of scrap- 

 ing, and I should like to ask you what I shall 

 do about it when I am not able to scrape more 

 than I have stated, and do it right. Shall I 

 let the sections go unscraped because I can 

 not do it as fast as you can ? 



Again, you throw a straw at me in GLEAN- 

 INGS for April 15. I am not very smart, doc- 

 tor, but straws do not fly very swift either. 

 As long as you do not throw clubs I will be 

 contented. 



You seem to think that three men would 

 have to be pretty smart to examine 200 colo- 

 nies before breakfast. Well, let us figure a 

 little. Three men get up in the morning at 4 

 o'clock, and have breakfast at 7. This would 

 be 9 hours for one man. Nine hours to ex- 

 amine 200 colonies is 2 minutes 42 seconds for 

 each one. Well, I would rather do this than 

 scrape 1200 sections per day. I believe I will 

 tilt that Hill up a little higher. I can not see 

 any reason for laying him low in some hollow. 



If 200 colonies are in the condition that they 

 ought to be, it takes very little time to see 

 that all is well. If they had an abundance of 

 stores in the fall they will not need to be 

 examined in regard to this point ; and as the 

 brood-nest would not have to be contracted 

 except with a small percentage of the whole, 



I think I should have quite an easy nine hours' 

 work; at least this is how I see it in my local- 

 ity. 



SECTION-HOLDERS VS. T SUPERS. 



Doctor, you ask me to tell you why you 

 should use the section-holders. Well, I will 

 tell you. It is simply because they are supe- 

 rior; but my fefling toward you in regard to 

 section-holders is like the little boy's in the 

 following story : 



Two neighbors were living peaceably side 

 by side. We will designate them by neigh- 

 bors A and B. Neighbor A had a boy who 

 had some words with neighbor B, and the boy 

 politely told neighbor B to go to the infernal 

 regions. Now, neighbor B told neighbor A 

 what his boy had said. Neighbor A gave his 

 son an option of either going to neighbor B 

 and apologizing or taking a whipping. So, 

 over the boy goes to neighbor B, and, says he, 

 " I told you yesterday that you should go to 

 hades, and I came back to-day to tell you that 

 you need not go unless you want to." 



I. S. Tilt. 



SHEEP AS LAWN-MOWERS AROUND HIVES. 



We have 80 colonies of bees in a yard of 

 about 60 square rods. Hearing of others' suc- 

 cess with sheep to keep grass down we gave 

 them a trial last season, and with most grati- 

 fying results. It may be well to mention the 

 fact that sheep consider grapevines as grass, 

 whether in, over, or just outside the yard. 

 We put two 80-lb. lambs in, and they made a 

 good living till after harvest. This season 

 we will follow a better plan of putting in more 

 sheep, and just when needed. The sheep like 

 especially the grass at the entrance. At times 

 the bees will make them move on, but I have 

 not seen any become tangled in their wool, 

 nor enraged at them, as they are at other 

 animals, which I can not account for. Last 

 season I chased a groundhog through the bee- 

 yard. It stopped one moment between two 

 populous colonies standing one foot apart. 

 There was a rush of angry bees, and, after my 

 killing Mr. Groundhog, several rods from this 

 place I found him still well sprinkled with 

 buzzing, angry bees. F. S. ComsTock. 



North Manchester, Ind., May 16. 



HONEY FOR COOKING; DUCKS AND BEES. 



Mr. Root: — I saw your request for those 

 who have used honey for cooking, in your 

 excellent paper, where I learn many things. 

 I would say that, for 20 years, since keeping 

 bees, I have used honey a great deal for can- 

 ning fruit, and especially black raspberries 

 for pies. I think it better than sugar. For 

 apple pies and for cake we use part honey. 

 When pie is eaten warm there is more of a 

 honey taste than when cold. I do not have 

 buckwheat honey. That might not be as 

 good for cooking. Corn bread is nicer sweet- 

 ened with honey. 



Yes, ducks and bees go together good. 

 Quite young ducks will look for the wax- 

 miller till quite dark, and early in the morn- 

 ing. I find them a help to keep these insects 

 from among my bees. They do not mind cool 



