362 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1. 



Since about the 15th of April this has been 

 almost a model spring. It is still warm and 

 nice, and fruit-bloom is just opening up. 



WE just received a dozen queens by mail, 

 direct from Italy. Ten of them were alive, 

 but one of this number was feeble, and may 

 not survive. We are glad to say now that get- 

 ting queens direct from Italy by mail is a suc- 

 cess. But we prepare the cages ourselves 

 with sealed honey and Good candy; and all 

 the breeders in Italy have to do is to put in 

 the bees and queens, put stamps on them, and 

 they are ready, for our address is already print- 

 ed on the cover. In about two weeks more 

 we shall be getting another consignment, and 

 after that more queens as orders may require. 



A prominent bee-keeper writes that in his 

 vicinity the winter losses have been almost as 

 severe as during the winter of 1881, which 

 was the most severe that was ever recorded. 

 Fortunately this condition is by no means 

 general. Owing to the very favorable spring 

 thus far, and the fact that fruit-bloom is just 

 out, brood-rearing is going on at a very rapid 

 pace at our home apiary. Many of the colo- 

 nies are weak; but if they can have a few more 

 days like this they will nearly recover what 

 they lost during the severe cold spell. New 

 honey is coming in, but very slowly. As soon 

 as fruit-bloom is out a little more, we shall, of 

 course, expect a little more honey. 



SHED APIARIES IN CUBA J EXPENSE OF ROOF- 

 ED APIARIES. 



AT the request of a subscriber we reproduce 

 elsewhere the two engravings that appeared 

 in our issue for April 15, 1895, showing the 

 Cuban apiaries operated by A. W. Osburn, 

 some 700 hives, all under one roof, having an 

 area of something like 17,000 square feet. The 

 main shed is 300 feet long, and is crossed by 

 two others of about the same length. Mr. 

 Osburn 's average crop of honey at that time 

 was something like 60,000 pounds annually ; 

 and it was his intention to run the amount up 

 to a quarter of a million. Somewhere about 

 a year ago he died, and, as our readers know, 

 we have had one article already from his son, 

 who writes under the nom de plume of A. W. 

 Osburn's son." 



As there has been so much interest mani- 

 fested in Cuba of late, it seems it is proper to 

 give our readers an idea of the expense involv- 

 ed in putting up an apiary in that hot climate. 

 If I understand it rightly, it is almost a matter 

 of necessity to put the hives under a shed, and 

 the shed itself is where the expense comes in. 



In order to make the business pay, as the 

 price of honey is so low there, one has to pro- 

 duce the honey on a very extensive scale. 



The illustrations referred to elsewhere will 

 give one an idea of the magnitude of the busi- 



ness carried on by Mr. Osburn. Whether 

 these sheds remain after the cruel ravages of 

 war, is doubtful ; and while the locality may 

 still be good when conditions have readjusted 

 themselves, one should understand that it 

 would require capital to carry on bee-keeping 

 in that climate. 



NO-WAEL FOUNDATION. 



In the Bee-keepers' Review for April Mr. 

 T. F. Bingham is quoted as saying: 



I take a little modest pride in the illustrations, com- 

 ments, and promises given on page 218 of the current 

 volume of Gleanings. I say this because the Mich- 

 igan bee convention, held at Mt. Pleasant in 1896, rais- 

 ed the money for the making of the first machine that 

 would make no-wall foundation. Gleanings says it 

 does not "know for sure just what shape the ideal 

 foundation will take." In this connection it is worth 

 while to notice that not one adverse report has ever 

 been made against the no-wall foundation. To be 

 sure, it has not been extensively used in many apia- 

 ries; but it has realized the expectations of its design- 

 ers. 



Either I misunderstand Mr. Bingham or 

 else he has missed the whole pith of the arti- 

 cle published in Gleanings on page 218. 

 I did not, as the article shows, in any way in- 

 dorse the no-wall foundation. If there was 

 any point that I tried to make clear, it was 

 that a zvall was an important desideratum; 

 that a thin base was another one equally im- 

 portant. A no-wall foundation with bases as 

 thin as bees make them can not be milled, be- 

 cause it would pull to pieces in making. 

 Accordingly, it has to have base made just 

 enough heavier to permit of its being manu- 

 factured. This makes, of necessity, a heavy 

 base, comparatively, but no heavier than in 

 some of the grades of super foundation with 

 walls. The photos, as I have shown, clearly 

 illustrated that, no matter what the thick- 

 ness of the wall, if the base only is thin, there 

 will be a no-gob foundation, for the wall is 

 almost invariably thinned to natural thick- 

 ness. It is possible to make a thin-base foun- 

 dation with the proper appliances, providing 

 there is wall enough to support the sheet 

 while it is being milled, or handled in the 

 plates. The difficulty of making no-wall foun- 

 dation, even with a base as thin as the bees 

 make it, is a mechanical one. Aside from 

 that it would have a decided tendency to warp 

 and stretch in the hive. Even making it as 

 they did with a thick base, comparatively 

 speaking, it had a tendency to warp in -the 

 hive, as was shown a year ago in the Review. 

 It is possible that Mr. Bingham means that 

 we are both working toward a no-gob comb 

 honey. If that is his idea, we are moving 

 toward the same goal, but over different 

 routes. 



EXTRA FANCY HONEY IN BEEWAY SECTIONS. 



In the Canadian Bee Journal for March, p. 

 497, appears an illustration of some very fine 

 honey in beeway sections. We have secured 

 the loan of this cut, and herewith present the 

 illustration. This honey was produced, if I 

 mistake not, in one-piece sections ; but instead 

 of having ordinary beeways the openings ex- 

 tended clear to the sides, the same as in the 

 four-piece section. This gives a little freer 



