20 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 1 



A PLEA FOR THE FARMER BEE-KEEPER. 



I see quite a good deal in the bee-journals 

 about farmer bee-keepers, and about their sell- 

 ing black and inferior honey at low prices, 

 and spoiling the market for the expert bee- 

 keepers 1 see on page 879 Mr. Boardman 

 has something to say about this. Now I want 

 to know why the farmer can get any darker 

 honey than the expert bee-keeper. Do the ex- 

 perts stand at the hive and clean off the bees' 

 feet before they go in ? or do they keep a mat 

 at each hive for the bees to clean their own 

 feet on? or do they train them to gather the 

 white honey and leave the dark out ? 



In regard to farmers selling their honey 

 cheaper, it is not so here, for farmers take 

 their honey to the stores and trade it for other 

 goods, and get the same as they retail it out 

 at, and that is 15 cts. per pound. I am a farm- 

 er bee keeper, but I always get the latest style 

 of hive, sections, and fences. 



Wakefield, Neb., Dec. 15. R. Chinn. 



[You would not be classed as one of the 

 "farmer bee-keepers " complained of. It is 

 those who use old box hives, and sell either 

 chunk honey or honey put up in old dirty 

 last-year sections. In a word, it is the don't- 

 care slovenly fellows, farmers or any one else, 

 that demoralize the markets. Because one is 

 a farmer it does not follow that he can not 

 produce first-class honey. Why, I should say 

 nine-tenths of our best bee-keepers are also 

 farmers.— Ed.] 



DEAD BROOD OR FOUL BROOD. 



I had eight or ten hives containing dead 

 brood the past season. Some of them dwin- 

 dled to nothing. I united some with other 

 colonies. Some of them had no queen. What 

 you say in Gleanings, page 803, will explain 

 that; but some had queens. I took one of the 

 queens and introduced her to another colony 

 that was queenless, and they raised healthy 

 brood. Is there any danger of this disease be- 

 coming serious ? Is it contagious ? 



There have been other cases of it in this part 

 of the country. What is the proper thing to 

 do with diseased colonies? I have had fears 

 that it was foul brood ; but it does not quite 

 answer the description. The brood dies, turns 

 brown, and dries up before being sealed. 

 Some dies after being sealed. 



Ohl, Pa., Nov. 7. M. Gumbert. 



[What you describe I take to be dead brood. 

 This malady is nothing serious. Some seasons 

 it will appear, and then again it will not show 

 itself for several seasons. Comparatively lit- 

 tle of the brood dies, and usually the malady 

 will disappear of itself. It greatly resembles 

 foul brood, and the only distinct differences 

 are, first, it is not contagious; and, second, 

 very little of the brood dies— only here and 

 there scattering cells. — Ed.] 



THE IDEAL SUPER; SQUARE SECTIONS; WIDTH 

 OF CLEATS OF FENCES. 

 I have been interested in bees for seven 

 years, and have been a reader of Gleanings 

 almost as long. I have used tall sections 

 three seasons, and have no use for the square 

 ones any more. I was much interested in 



reading Dr. Miller's article in Gleanings for 

 May 15, on the Ideal super, and also in Mr. 

 W. C. Gathtight's article and Dr. Miller's re- 

 ply in the Nov. 1st number. I have used a 

 few Ideal supers this past season, and think 

 they are the best and simplest supers in use. 

 I have used section -holders six seasons, and 

 will discard them as soon as possible. A su- 

 per like the Ideal, with slats, can be filled and 

 emptied much quicker than one with section- 

 holders. The Ideal can be emptied the same 

 as Dr. Miller empties his T supers, illustrated 

 in the A B C of Bee Culture. I think if the 

 editor will try filling a few Ideal supers and a 

 few with section-holders he will be convinced 

 that slats are ahead of section-holders. 



There were a few faults in the construction 

 of the Ideal super, fence, and sections. The 

 five sections in a row are about ^ inch shorter 

 than the fence. I think the row of sections 

 should be a tiifle longer than the fence so the 

 sections could be tightened endwise with a 

 thin strip between the section ends and the 

 super end. Would it not be better to have 

 the tin strips that the slats rest on made wid- 

 er, and folded back f inch like this? =^> 



The way they are now made, they sag between 

 the nails. Don't you think the cleats on the 

 fence are too wide ? I filled the sections full 

 of foundation, but the honey was rounded off 

 at the edges opposite the cleats, and the row 

 of cells next the wood left unsealed. I want 

 my honey filled like Mr. Danzenbaker's, and 

 the cleats on his fence are not as wide as the 

 Ideal fence-cleats. Don't you think it would 

 be better to have the cleats long enough only 

 to touch the top and bottom slats about f& 

 inch ? I admire the honey that Mr. Danzen- 

 baker and Mr. Aspinwall produce in plain 

 sections, and hope the Ideal fence will be so 

 made as to give like results. 



Lamoni, Iowa. W. H. Dancer. 



[Most of your questions are answered in our 

 Dec. 15th issue, and I would therefore refer 

 you to that number. As to a folded tin for 

 section-holder bottoms, that would be a doubt- 

 ful improvement, as it would take up too 

 much room. If we did any thing we would 

 make the tin heavier. — Ed.] 



ABSCONDING SWARMS — WHOSE PROPERTY? 



If an apiarist follow an absconding swarm 

 of bees, and they settle on another party's 

 property, can the apiarist claim his bees by 

 law, if he has seen them traveling there? 



If a person finds a swarm of bees settled (no 

 one knowing where they came from) on an- 

 other party's property, whose are they by 

 law, in case both parties claim them? 



Red River, O. J. B. Cool. 



[Bees belong to the one who first discovers 

 them, no matter where they came from nor on 

 whose tree or land they may be on; but the 

 finder of the bees can not go and take them 

 against the wish of the owner of the land 

 on which they may be. As to how they would 

 then settle their difficulty, I am not lawyer 

 enough to say; but if I were in that fix I 

 would submit to arbitration rather than have 

 any row. — Ed.] 



