1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



481 



I see in Gleanings a cut of frame and hive mover. 

 Some ten years ago I decided that a screwdriver was 

 about the worst thing about moving frames and lift- 

 ing cases, etc., and I made a too! that is one of all 

 sorts. We need a .scraper in the corners of hives as 

 well as, often, at sides and bottom; and, too, it's just 

 the thing to clean in corners of window-sash, and 

 then the women can scrape the spider and kettle 

 bottoms; and it's just the tool to .scrape up spots on 

 the floor. They can be made of wornout files if one 

 wishes, and .save quite an item. I'm not a real black- 

 .smith, but I'm going to the shop and make one and 

 send you. You will see I make the wide end stand- 

 ing out .so as to reach handily into corners of hives or 

 any corner; and after using awhile, all who use them 

 say, " Why didn't I think of that before ? " 



I make another tool for a wide scraper only, that 

 works nicely. One partj' said it was the best thing he 

 ever .saw. E. P. Churchill. 



Hallowell, Me. 



NO HONEY, AND PROSPECTS NOT FI^ATTERING. 



Up to this date, June 14, so far only one re- 

 port has been received showing that honey is 

 coming in. All the rest report no honey and 

 few swarms. For two weeks our bees have 

 had to be fed, notwithstanding the white clo- 

 ver has been out in full bloom a part of this 

 time; but up till within three or four days it 

 has been quite dry. We are just now rejoic- 

 ing over the abundant rains so much needed. 

 We begin to hope that the nectar will begin 

 to come. 



Present indications go to show that there 

 ■wall probably be a fair flow from basswood, 

 although at our basswood apiary there is 

 scarcely a tree that has any buds on it ; but 

 the forest-trees and shade-trees are loaded. 



DRAWN FOUNDATION WITH NATURAIv BASES. 



Several have written of late, asking why 

 we had nothing to say about drawn founda- 

 tion. I will explain: It will be remembered 

 that the dies that were made last season at so 

 great an expense (nearly $1000) turned out 

 a product with flat bases. Our early experi- 

 ments seemed to show that, when cells were 

 deep, the bees would accept such a base as 

 readily as the other. But the developments 

 of the season went to show that the bees did 

 not in all cases take kindly to it. In some 

 instances, at least, they thickened the midrib 

 in their effort to make concave cell-bottoms. 

 While they did not do so in all ca.ses, the fact 

 that the bees did so at all in a few instances 

 was sufficient reason to induce us to abandon 

 the dies, as much as they cost, and go to 

 work on a set that would produce natural 

 bases. 



Mr. Weed thought the problem would be 

 easily solved; but although he has been work- 

 ing on it for nearly a year, meeting with re- 

 peated failure, he has only just succeeded in 

 having a set made that makes drawn founda- 

 tion with natural bases a success in every way 

 — at least so far as the mechanical construction 

 of it is concerned. In the mean time while he 

 was experimenting we feared that he might 

 not be able to perfect his dies, and it seemed 

 wise to say nothing about the new product 

 until we were sure of what we could do. 



I am now glad to report that the new dies 

 are in operation, and making a superb drawn 

 foundation with natural bases. This product 

 differs from the old in two quite important 

 respects. First it has the natural bases al- 

 ready referred to, and, second, the cells are 



only % inch deep. I suppose we roiild make 

 them deeper; but a few of our friends, fearing 

 that deep walls will either give rise to the 

 comb-honey canard of else make thick cell- 

 walls in comb honey, we refrain. With the 

 cell-walls only 's inch deep it will run almost 

 as many feet to the pound as the ordinary su- 

 per foundation. It is nothing more nor less 

 than a beautiful transparent "foundation hav- 

 ing bases as thin as the bees make them, with 

 cell-walls about twice as thick as we find them 

 in nature. Indeed, it looks very much like 

 common foundation, except that the walls are 

 nicely started for the bees, and the bases are 

 much thinner. 



Mr. Weed is very confident that they will 

 not remodel the bases, nor will they stick in 

 an accumulation of wax as they did do with 

 the old flat-base drawn foundation. From the 

 tests he has made in the hive, it appears the 

 bees have a decided preference for it. vSam- 

 ples of ordinary foundation and the natural- 

 base drawn foundation were placed side by 

 side. The bees immediately accepted the one 

 (deep cell) and ignored the other; that is to 

 say, I have myself seen the drawn-foundation 

 piece thickly covered over with bees while the 

 ordinary article had not a bee on it. 



I make no predictions as to what the new 

 product will accomplish ; but I feel reasonably 

 confident that it will give rise to no thick mid- 

 rib in honey-comb as did the old-fashioned 

 flat-bottom drawn foundation ; and as the 

 cell-walls are only yi inch deep, there should 

 be no occasion for fearing that it will give rise 

 to canards about manufactured comb honey. 



A moment ago I said the cell-walls of the 

 new drawn foundation were twice as thick as 

 we find them in nature. It would be possible 

 to make them just as thin as the bees construct 

 them ; but Mr. Weed is satisfied that the bees 

 will thin the walls when they will do little or 

 nothing with the bases. The extensive exper- 

 iments we have made in the past satisfy us 

 that this is correct. 



Universal testimony (with, perhaps, one or 

 two exceptions) went to show that drawn 

 foundation, imperfect as it was last season, 

 was readily accepted by the bees ; but owing 

 to the fact that the base was flat, they did not 

 seem to like it after they had had further ac- 

 quaintance with it ; and in some cases, at 

 least, comb honey was not completed from it 

 any sooner, if as soon, as from common foun- 

 dation. But now that we have given the bees 

 the same article -with a natural base, we expect 

 different results. But if, however, the bees 

 make from it a " gobby ' ' article of comb hon- 

 ey, no one wdll be quicker to drop it than the 

 Root Co. The fact that we abandoned the 

 flat-base foundation last season because of this 

 defect is pretty good evidence that we will do 

 as we agree. But neither Mr. Weed nor our- 

 selves would have put a lot more money into 

 the new dies if we had not felt reasonably sure 

 that the article we are noiv offering to the pub- 

 lic would be free from the objections found 

 against that which we put out last season. 



We are now prepared to furnish it in small 

 sheets and quantities as indicated in Special 

 Notices elsewhere. 



