1899 



GLEANINGS N BEE CULTURE. 



543 



color and odor are a consideration in working 

 among bees. M. H. MendlESON. 



Ventura, Cal. 



AN IDEAL HIVE-TOOL. 

 There have been several hive-tools described 

 in the bee-journals, and none of them appears 

 to be a success. I call mine an ideal tool, 

 from its easy working and simplicity. I think 

 the cut will be explanation enough, ai though 



^ 



a few points will help to make the construction 

 of the tool more simple. 



No. 1 is a round point with a long taper, run 

 down until ;i V inch thick, for raising covers, 

 prying up supers, and loosening frames. No. 

 2 is a thin piece of steel riveted to the blade, 

 for removing burr-combs and propolis. This 

 scraper should be 1 inch long. No. 3 is a 

 square hook for lifting division-boards and 

 frames. This hook should be % inch long. 

 The tool should be 10 or 11 inches long, \% 

 wide, 2 from the hook up to the scraper. 



Arden, W. Va. J. H. Allen. 



BEE-VEILS AND W. Z. 



If you want to win my hearty thanks, make 

 the No. 3 veils three inches longer. Until you 

 do, mine must have a new tail fastened on, for 

 there is little romance in having the veil come 

 out of my collar, and result in a big neck. The 

 better (?) grades of veils do not interest me. 

 How men with long necks like " W. Z." get 

 along with such short veils is more than I 

 know. W. A. H. Gilstrap. 



Grayson, Cal. 



[Three inches longer ! Why, I do not see 

 what you want of so much veil. If you put it 

 on the way we do, by drawing the lower edges 

 under the suspenders, as shown herewith, you 



^ ■-. will find the veil 



[ amply long. By 



t . I r '"J measure I find 



they are 24 inches 

 ■•■'.. in length, which 



ought to make 

 them reach from 

 the hat down to 

 r , r-> the shoulders, 



;'. and leave plen- 



: «■' | ty of selvage to 



- ...-L- jk spare. Per- 

 il haps you wear 

 ' '! an extra-broad- 

 1,1 1 brimmed hat. 

 If such be the case, the veil might be short; 

 but if we add 3 inches to all our bee veils, then 

 some other fellows would be ready to give us 

 their " hearty thanks " if we would make them 

 shorter in the first place. But, say ; if you will 

 make, in your future orders, a distinct speci- 

 fication for 27 or 30 inches, or any length you 

 may name, you can have the veils just to your 

 liking. — Ed.] 



m 



J. R., Iozva — Hives in which bees have died 

 should be closed up bee-tight ; then, when 

 wanted, swarms can be hived in them, or the 

 individual combs be placed in other hives 

 where the bees are in need of stores or more 

 room. 



J. R.. Mich. — Bees build combs night and 

 day. They work for nothing and board them- 

 selves, and then divide the"" profits " at the 

 end of the season ; that is to say, if they have 

 any profits to divide. But bees will not draw 

 out foundation at certain seasons of the year. 

 If it is not placed between two frames of brood 

 or next to one frame of brood, or made to 

 stand by itself when no honey is coming in, 

 bees will not draw it out. 



E. E. Jl ., Mass. — Always leave a bee-space 

 over the top of the frame. The best way we 

 know of to find queens is to pull the frames 

 out, one at a time, and examine loth surfaces 

 until she is found. If you have never seen a 

 queen you had better get some old bee-keeper 

 to point her out the first time. No amount of 

 rapping oh the hive will compel bets to stay 

 in a location if they have been moved from 

 some other portion of the apiary. 



H. M. Z., Cal. — The acid we use for refin- 

 ing beeswax is sulphuric — the ordinary com- 

 mercial article. It should be reduced in water 

 from 50 to 500 times. If the wax is then boil- 

 ed in this water, or heated by a steam-pipe, 

 and then allowed to stand for a few hours, it 

 will turn to a bright lemon yellow. The 

 amount of acid to be used will have to be de- 

 termined by experiment If you reduce it to 

 one in a hundred, and then keep reducing as 

 long as you can get the clarifying effect, you 

 will get the proper solution. 



F. IV., Wis. — Entrxnce-guards should be 

 placed on the hive, and secured at the entrance 

 with two nails. They are used, generally, 

 either to confine in the hive any undesirable 

 drones, for mating purposes, or lo prevent the 

 escape of a swarm by holding a queen in a 

 hive. Entrance-guards are very often used 

 instead of clipping, because they save the 

 trouble of hunting up queens. We prefer 

 clipping as a rule ; but when we are a little 

 crowded in our work, and do not wish to both- 

 er to hunt up a queen in a populous colony, 

 we clap on a guard and let the hive go. If 

 a swarm issues when the apiarist is present, 

 all he has to do is to put an empty hive 

 with frames of foundation on the old stand, 

 removing the old hive to another location. 

 The supers, if there are any on the old hive, 

 should be placed on the new one. When the 

 swarm returns it will go back into the new hive 

 and begin work, and the old queen can be put 

 with the swarm or not as may be preferred ; 

 but as a rule swarms should be supplied with 

 queens — if not with an old one, with young 

 ones. To prevent swarming, queen-cells should 

 be destroyed in nine days ; but this operation 

 only serves to discourage swarming. 



