442 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1. 



from you, and I defy any one to discover with 

 a spyglass one particle of propolis or dust on 

 or in the honey; besides, 1 want you to clean 

 100 or 500, or get some one to do it, and see if 

 the belt is gummed. It's a mistake, also. 

 Mr. W. or Hutchinson didn't ask Mr. A. how 

 many combs were cracked out of that thou- 

 sand. There's a screw loose somewhere, and 

 I want you to find it. Why, bless your soul, 

 I've got the wheel yet that cleaned about 1000 

 sections, and it isn't past doing a pretty good 

 job yet. I don't believe Aspinwall ever tried 

 a belt machine, and his talk is theory. 

 Reinersville, O. J. A. G01.DEN. 



CONTRACTION NOT A THING OF THE PAST. 



Mr. E. R. Root:— On page .358 of Glean- 

 ings you speak of "the contraction fad." 

 You seem to think that it has passed away. 

 Well, not much. I have been practicing it a 

 la Heddon and Hutchinson for the past eight 

 or ten years, and intend to keep right on until 

 I find something better. I use ten-frame por- 

 tico hives; spread the brood until every frame 

 is full ; use the Alley trap, and, when they 

 swarm, contract the brood-nest to five L. 

 frames. I have never had an after-swarm, 

 and none of them have swarmed the second 

 time — i. e., none of them ever get strong 

 enough to swarm again that season; and last, 

 but not least, I get from 25 to 50 per cent 

 more comb honey than I ever did by any 

 other plan. With me " the contraction fad " 

 has come to stay. I also use the T super, and 

 shall continue to use it, and Niver may play 

 the banjo and smash 'em if he wants to. I 

 have 12 T supers filled with plain sections and 

 fences. I like to keep up with the procession, 

 but not by holding on to somebody's coat-tail. 

 I once heard of a man who lived on a farm for 

 forty years before he found out that hogs 

 would eat turnips — probably never would if 

 the hogs "had not given him an object-lesson 

 by getting out of the pen into the turnip- 

 patch. W. E. Fl^OWER. 

 Ashbourne, Pa., May 7. 



[No doubt, friend F., for your locality and 

 for your method of work contraction is all 

 right; but I verily believe that, in the hands 

 of the inexperienced, it has done more harm 

 than good; and I also believe that many of 

 the experts who formerly used it have gone 

 back on it. 



That is right — be independent. Don't hang 

 on to anybody's coat-tail providing you can 

 paddle your own canoe. — Ed.] 



A SECTION-CLEANING BELT; A GOOD SUGGES- 

 TION. 



Please allow me to suggest the use of a 

 leather belt filled with fine wire (resembling a 

 brush) for a section-cleaning machine, such 

 as is used in woolen-mills, or the kind the 

 belt-makers use in raising a nap on the lap 

 before applying the cement. I believe that 

 would work if the wire were short and run at 

 a fair speed ; and when such a belt goes over 

 the pulley the wire would open up or spread 

 apart, and let all refuse fly from it. 



Morris, 111. W. E. Dages. 



BERMUDA GRASS, ETC. 



I see on page 464 Mr. O. O. Poppleton says 

 Bermuda grass is very hard to destroy. In 

 this country it is easily killed if plowed up 

 broadcast in very dry hot weather or in winter, 

 so the roots can freeze. 



It is a splendid pasture grass. Stock and 

 cattle will get almost as fat on it as they will 

 on grain. But plowing it in the spring will 

 only cause it to grow more vigorously. 



Chambers, Ala., May 9. J. M. CuTTS. 



J. W. W., Ky. — If you have a lot of spoiled 

 molasses it may help you some to heat it — 

 especially if it is soured. If the bees will take 

 it they will make good use of it for brood- 

 rearing; otherwise there is nothing you could 

 do with it. 



E. E. iV. , Ohio. — I can not tell what ails 

 your bees unless it is that some time or other 

 the brood has been chilled, causing the young 

 bees to develop with defective wings or legs. 

 Where the brood has been chilled enough to 

 kill it, of course it is uncapped, and the bees 

 dump it in front. 



R. 71/., hid. — I doubt the wisdom of send- 

 ing you any more queens until you determine 

 whether your hive is queenless or not. This 

 hive may have a queen or a fertile worker; 

 and if so, they will kill every queen you give 

 them. The main thing to do is to give them 

 a frame of brood from some other colony. 

 Sealed brood will not do. It should be un- 

 sealed larvfe. If they raise cells then, you 

 may be sure they are queenless. If not, then 

 you can introduce another queen. 



L. M. A., N. Y.—\ believe it would be 

 entirely practical for you to divide as soon as 

 queen-cells begin to appear in the hives — 

 that is, providing, of course, you do not care 

 to run for honej^ and desire only increase; 

 hut I would suggest that you run a few of 

 your colonies for honey, giving them an extra 

 hive-body so that the queen can have plenty 

 of egg-laying room. Thus prepared I hardly 

 think they will swarm, and you will in the 

 mean time be learning something about con- 

 trolling swarming, even when running for 

 honey. 



/. G. S., 0/u'o.— The best method of refin- 

 ing beeswax is to melt it in an earthen vessel 

 or in a wooden tub, within convenient access 

 to a jet of steam. Pour into the tub or barrel 

 two pails of water. To this add about a gill 

 of commercial sulphuric acid. Pour in the 

 wax and turn on steam. After the mixture 

 has cooked half an hour turn off the steam 

 and let it settle, then dip off the free wax from 

 the top. If you can not get access to steam 

 you will be considerably handicapped, as you 

 can not very well use the acid method with a 

 metal kettle. 



