1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



391 



about here despair of any paying crop this 

 season. They feel that, if they get enough 

 to keep the bees, it will be all they can expect. 

 I know of several who have taken their bees 

 north, in the region of the large alfalfa-fields. 

 I saw our friend Martin in Los Angeles last 

 Monday. His bees are between Los Angeles 

 and Santa Monica, and he tells me he has 

 hopes of a partial crop, though he spoke of 

 others, who have had many years' experience, 

 who have given up all hope of any honey for 

 market this season. 



Last year we had about the same rainfall as 

 this, and got almost no grain crop in this 

 vicinity. This year we shall have quite a 

 grain crop. It is to be hoped that there may 

 be a light change in the honey harvest. 



Claremont, Cal., April 26. A. J. Cook. 



VARIOUS ITEMS. 



Novel Frame - support ; Hive Doorways: Ball- 

 bearing Extractor; Gearing; Deep Dadant 

 Hives; an Easy Way of Making Increase; 

 those Honey-leaflets; Candied Comb 

 Honey ; Rambler's Skunks. 



BY E. H. SCHAEFF^E. 



Inclosed please find sketch of staple for 

 supporting and end-spacing section-holders 

 and frames. With the lower point clinched 

 Tast, the staple could not be loosened by usage. 

 For a metal frame - 

 spacer, cut from a 

 sheet of lead % inch 

 thick, pieces with a 

 face 1 inch long, and 

 the required width. 

 Set these close up to 

 the top - bar inside. 

 The 1-inch face will 

 prevent the spacer 

 from becoming en- 

 tangled in the meshes of the extractor, while 

 its soft material will not dull the edge of the 

 uncapping-knife. 



For convenience, and on account of irriga- 

 tion, toads, ants, and grass, my hives are set 

 up on scantling, 2 in. above ground. I find an 

 extra alighting-board, like the inclosed sketch, 

 a great convenience to the bees. On raw days 

 they tumble down on it, lie there for a minute, 

 and then crawl into the hive, while those that 

 alight in the grass lie there and die, unable to 



recover from their chill. On warm working 

 days the board is covered with alighting bees, 

 and it is necessary to drop the front edge so 

 they won't strike it coming in. As the board 

 is removable, it is not in the way in moving 

 the bees. 



The Cowan extractor is geared too slow, 

 and there is not sufficient depth under the 

 baskets. Each season I have a large per cent 

 of very heavy wax-like honey. To extract it 

 the extractor must be run at a very high rate 

 of speed, and the same kept up for some time, 

 which is very tiresome work for an invalid. 

 I have secured an old-style dentist's foot- 

 treadle, with heavy driving-wheel, and turned 

 it and the extractor over to the tinsmith ; but 



he reports that the sides of the extractor are 

 too light to fasten any thing to, so I must 

 devise some other method of securing the 

 extractor quickly and securely to the floor. 

 My extractor rests on the same floor I uncap 

 on. When the extractor is full I slip the 

 hook of the pulley under the bail of the ex- 

 tractor. With two pulls of the rope it is up 

 to the level of and on to the table adjoining, 

 which is just high enough to hang a wire 

 gauze strainer on to the faucet, and slip a can 

 and funnel underneath. I prefer this to stand- 

 ing on a platform while extracting, as I can 

 sit down to it. 



An extractor should hold at least five gal- 

 lons below the baskets, so as to fill a can with 

 each extracting. As it is, the honey over- 

 flows the socket that the center- rod rests in; 

 the fine iron mixes with the honey, runs out, 

 and spoils that lot. Can't that socket be 

 raised 6 inches above the baskets, and the 

 weight be supported on ball bearings ? That 

 would make it run lighter, wear longer, and 

 always have it out of the way of the honey 

 below. 



This is the season of the year when queen- 

 less hives can be detected by the bees not car- 

 rying in pollen. Don't take my word for it, 

 or allow the theory of another to influence 

 you, but open the hives and prove it. Make 

 your examination early in the morning. 



I have concluded to try some hives built on 

 Mr. Dadant's suggestion, 12-inch-deep bodies, 

 and 12 frames, for extracting ; and I will try 

 an extracting-super of the same depth. Among 

 my pick-ups is a hive with frames 14 inches 

 deep. For several seasons past I have used it 



