1S99 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



141 



THE HONEY-LEAFLET A SUCCESS IN SELLING 

 HONEY. 



We note that you want to hear from others 

 in regard to the success of the honey-leaflet. 

 So far as we can judge we believe it has help- 

 ed the local sde of honey on the western 

 slope. We have only a few left out of 5000, 

 and several merchants have asked for more to 

 distribute to their trade since first having 

 them. We have had many farmers and bee- 

 men speak well of the leaflet, and say it was a 

 good thing. The Abbey Hardy Co. 



Grand Junction, Colo., Jan. 9. 



%&&P>Z& 



OUR 1899 supers; springs vs. thumbscrews 

 and wedges. 

 It seems to be generally admitted that a 

 means for producing compression on sections 

 when in the super is desirable, and some go 

 so far as to say it is a necessity. If sections 

 and separators are placed in supers loosely, it 

 leaves little interstices or spaces that the bees 

 fill up with propolis. Various devices have 

 been used to bring about the desired pressure. 

 Some prefer and use thumbscrews; others, 

 wedges; and still others, tightening-strips. 

 Thumbscrews stick out in the way, and some- 

 times in damp weather become stuck fast in 

 the holes. Wedges are very often propolized 

 fast, making it difficult to remove them. The 

 same objection applies to tightening strips, al- 

 though to a less extent. We now use two or 

 three springs in our 1899 supers, one at each 

 end, and bearing against the fences, and one 

 in the center. See S in the cut below. 



These springs produce a gentle even pres- 

 sure against the contents of the super; and, no 

 matter how much the weather changes, caus- 

 ing the stuff to shrink or swell, those springs 

 will adapt themselves to the condition, pro- 

 ducing always a gentle yet firm pressure. Aft- 

 er the sections are filled they can be_easily 



taken out, owing to the fact that there is a 

 yielding pressure; and propolis — well, it has no 

 show. 



The manner of applying the spring com- 

 pression to the supers is shown in the accom- 

 panying illustrations. X is a curved piece of 

 steel wire, one end of which is bent at a right 

 angle, and sharpened. This is driven into 

 the wood at a point that will come opposite 

 the end < leat of the fence when in the super. 

 After this is driven in, the other end is pound- 

 ed down into the wood, making a sort of 

 groove for the end B ro slide in. Three such 

 springs are used in our regular super — two to 

 come directly opposite the end-cleats of the 

 fence, and one opposite the center cleat as at 

 D, showing super side detached. On the op- 

 posite super side, and spaced in the same 

 manner, are nailed three thin cleats, supplied 

 with each package. These are to keep the 

 outside fence a bee-space from the super side, 

 about the same distance away as the springs 



do on the opposite side. We put in enough 

 fences so that we have a fence between each 

 outside row and super side. It costs a little 

 more, it is true; but it carries out in effect the 

 Pettit idea, or what he calls his divider — 

 a method by which it is said the outside faces 

 of the outside rows of sections are as well 

 filled out as the faces in the center rows. Re- 

 ports from bee-keepers last season go to show 

 here is a good deal in this little scheme, and 

 if so it may be worth dollars. 



