1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



803 



some days, found the man I was looking for. 

 I told him my business, and was at once made 

 to feel at home, and I felt that I had found 

 one of the most friendly, kind men I had ever 

 seen. For two days the conversation was 

 upon bees and hives ; and the book he was 

 then preparing for the printer, " The Mysteries 

 of Bee-keeping Explained," I purchased, and 

 as soon as it came from the press I became its 

 owner, and was ver}' much benefited by the 

 visit and by the reading of the book. 



Depauville, N. Y., Oct. 14. J. J. Allen. 



[My good friend, the above brings vividly 

 to my mind the time when I first got hold of 

 father Quinby's first book. It was after I had 

 read Langstroth, and had adopted movable- 

 comb hives; but I was so much taken up with 

 his plan of bee-keeping in box hives that I 

 actually meditated starting a box hive apiary; 

 and I have oftentimes felt since then that it 

 would be a very simple and easy thing to 

 manage an apiary on Ouinby's old plan And 

 he made money with his bees year after year, 

 which is more than some of us have done in 

 modern times, with all our modern appliances. 

 Thank you, friend A., for )'Our little sketch. 

 That trip you made on the canal boat, occupy- 

 ing several days, could now be made in about 

 as many hours, I presume. — A. I. R.] 



THE V-SHAPED SLIT IN SECTIONS. 

 Have you room for a word from me regard- 

 ing the V-slit section mentioned by Dr. Miller 

 in a Stray Straw on page 610 ? This section, 

 which has a longitudinal V slit in the sides 

 and top-bar, and a groove on the inside of the 

 bottom-bar, has become popular in England 

 lately. The foundation is fitted after the sec- 

 tion is folded, by just placing the section in a 

 close-fitting block (which keeps it square), the 

 slit being then opened wide, and the sheet of 

 foundation — previously cut to the right size — 

 dropped into it. The operation is completed 

 by closing securely, at the top and sides, the 

 slit in which the loundation is held, while at 

 the bottom it is kept in its place by the groove 

 on the inside. Thus these sections can be fit- 

 ted absolutely full of foundation that can not 

 break down or twist, with great rapidity, and 

 without any special apparatus or skill. The 

 point mentioned by Dr. Miller, that the slit, 

 being V-shaped, does not show in the finished 

 section, is a good one, but it may also be easi- 

 ly shown that the foundation is gripped better 

 in a V slit with its sides converging toward 

 the outside than in a plain saw-cut. Sections 

 with a plain saw-cut down three sides have 

 been known for a long time, and are mention- 

 ed and illustrated in Simmins' " Modern Bee- 

 Farm," but I believe the V-shaped slit and 

 groove in the bottom-bar are my own original 

 ideas, brought forward three years ago, and 

 sections embodying these improvements are 

 known in England as " Sladen's sections." 

 The Sladen sections were at first considered 

 too frail for general use ; but this objection 

 has not been borne out by recent reports, and 

 they have been found not more liable to break- 

 age than ordinary sections. For a full ac- 

 count of these sections I refer you to the Brit- 



ish Bee Journal, 1897, pp. 4:51 and 486; also 

 1898, p. 236. 



I have not lost my interest in wild solitary 

 bees, and should be glad to exchange speci- 

 mens with any entomological readers of this 

 journal. F. W. L- Sladen. 



Ripple Court, Dover, Eng., Sept. 1. 



[In the absence of an illustration, perhaps 

 it would be well to explain, in addition to 

 what is said above, that the section is cut clear 

 through the top and sides longitudinally with 

 the grain, and the back of the square groove 

 at the bottom, almost cut through, acts as a 

 sort of hinge to hold the two halves together. 

 The two parts of the section are spread apart 

 at the top about as 3'ou would open a book, 

 and the sheet of foundation is slipped in, 

 dropped into the groove, when the two parts 

 are pressed together, holding the foundation 

 securely in place, very much as one would 

 open up a book at about the middle, slip in a 

 sheet of paper, and close the book up again. 



I believe there can be no question that there 

 are fewer pop-holes in the comb honey, and 

 the same is better filled out, when there are 

 full sheets used reaching clear out to the sides, 

 top, and bottom ; but in the case of the Sladen 

 section the foundation is held securely in the 

 V-shaped grooves in the top and two sides, 

 and by the square groove at the bottom. — Ed.] 



The honey-fiow in this part of Illinois was 

 very good. I got from 75 to 100 lbs. per col- 

 ony, comb honey. I have 24 colonies, .and 

 had only one swarm. 



Clinton, 111. P. H. PeppERKORn. 



A GOOD HONEY-FLOW IN UTAH. 



You don't say any thing about Utah honey, 

 nor about the honey crop. There never was a 

 better crop raised anywhere than the one we 

 have had this season. I took from one colony 

 430 lbs. of extracted; 250 from eight or ten 

 young swarms. I did not raise any comb 

 honey. My average crop from 96 colonies 

 was about 165 lbs. to the colony. 



Vernal, Utah. G. W. Vangundy. 



AN UNUSUALLY GOOD YEAR. 



I see from different accounts that there is 

 a scarcity of honey in some parts of the 

 States. Around here we have had an unusu- 

 ally good year. We had 38 hives to start with 

 in the spring. We got 7000 lbs. of honey, of 

 which 500 is comb honey. 



Kingston, Ont. Jno. Langdon. 



A. F. T., Kan. — It is certainly evident, 

 from what j'ou write in your letter, that there 

 are fertile workers, and several of them, in 

 the hive you refer to. The larvae simply die, 

 and we doubt if it would lead to foul brood. 



