574 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1. 



frames out because they seemed determined 

 not to be pried out, may not be a fair test. 



2. Because the frame is small enough for 

 ladies to handle, and also large enough to con- 

 tain considerable honey or brood. If the bot- 

 tom-bar is % inch thick, and the top-bar j&, 

 the comb surface is a trifle more than the Da- 

 dants use for extracting. 



4. In my opinion the ten-frame Langstroth 

 is better. 



3, 5. With top and bottom bars, as above in- 

 dicated for each frame, 13 of the frames you 

 speak of would hardly contain as much comb 

 surface as 10 L. frames. The latter are not 

 too heavy for me to handle, and I certainly do 

 not need to handle so many to accomplish a 

 desired result, which is quite a time-saver. 

 The L. frame is cheaper, as there are fewer 

 pieces to make. It is easier to lift, as you can 

 get your load nearer to you. To a man who 

 wants the hand-holes in the side of the hive, 

 this advantage may not be apparent. They 

 load to much better advantage in an ordinary 

 wagon. The lid is not so apt to leak rain, nor 

 the bottom to leak bees, as the broad hive 

 would be. The corners are not so apt to give 

 way in a few years with the L. hive as with 

 the broad shallow one. If I should want to 

 sell them there are five men who would prefer 

 the L. hive to one who would prefer the other 

 kind. 



However, I have no desire for a large frame 

 like the Dadant or the France " shot-tower " 

 frame. I used to want every thing big. A 

 few months with a big horse convinced me 

 that one of an average size is worth more to 

 me. A few years' experience with a six-frame 

 extractor has cooled me down in that line, and 

 next month I shall get a two-frame machine. 

 For three years I have had a little wife, and I 

 would not now trade her for any jumbo in the 

 State. 



Grayson, Cal., May 12. 



[I infer that our friend Mr. Gilstrap has had 

 an unpleasant experience with the Hoffman 

 frames. The-e he refers to doubtless had the 

 old-fashioned top-bars, and there is no deny- 

 ing the fact that in some localities they were 

 very difficult and unpleasant to handle ; but 

 any one who has these old-fashioned frames 

 can very easily convert them into the new 

 style, with suitable end-spacers. — Ed.] 



TRAVEL-STAIN. 



Do Bees Have Dirty Feet? 



BY A. J. WRIGHT. 



Hardly an issue of Gleanings but has one 

 or more articles on travel-stain. I believe the 

 expression as applied to the cappings of comb 

 honey to be practically a misnomer. A honey- 

 bee with dirty feet ! Why, bless you, no ! 

 They are the cleanest little fellows imagin- 

 able. I dare say they wash a hundred times 

 where you do once, and then you call them 

 dirty? Didn't you ever see a bee "making 

 its toilet"? Well, it's worth your time. 

 First it washes its hands thoroughly, then its 



face, then it passes its hands over the top of 

 its head, washing that ; also the back of its 

 neck. Next its body is gone over, and finally 

 it carefully finishes by washing its legs from 

 its body clear to the soles of its feet ; and now 

 after this thorough renovation do you dare 

 call it dirty ? 



I think somewhere in the A B C of Bee 

 Culture occurs the statement that " bees have 

 a fashion of running through their apartments 

 with muddy feet." Now, this must be a mat- 

 ter of "locality." My bees never do that, 

 but, on the contrary, take a great deal of 

 pains to have their feet clean. Pick up a bee 

 by the wings, and put its feet into mud or any 

 other sticky substance, and the first thing it 

 will do after being liberated will be to clean up. 



Now, if you want to find out whether the 

 so-called travel-stain is due to the dirty feet 

 of the bees, try the following experiment : 

 Take a board of any convenient size, not less 

 than ten or twelve inches square, and, after 

 thoroughly washing your hands, tack a piece 

 of clean white paper on this board, and place 

 it, paper side up, in front of a strong colony. 

 Do this when plenty of honey is coming in, 

 and the bees are working in the sections. 

 Place this paper close to the entrance of the 

 hive, so that the bees will use it as an alight- 

 ing-board, and be compelled to travel over it 

 with their dirty little feet. If you are sure 

 that your fingers are clean, handling the board 

 by the edges, and will put the board out late 

 enough in the morning, and take it up at 

 night before any dew falls, you will find this 

 paper, so far as the bees are concerned, as 

 clean and white at the end of a long honey- 

 flow as when you first placed it before the 

 entrance. 



Where, then, does this so-called travel-stain 

 come from ? It is quite difficult to state a dis- 

 agreeable fact in an agreeable way ; and about 

 the only palliative method that I know of is 

 to include one's self in the statement, so here 

 goes : So-called travel-stain has its origin 

 mainly in the dirty or neglectful habits of us 

 bee-keepers. If the bee-keeper wishes to have 

 nice white sections of honey, he must, at the 

 time of putting on sections, remove the old 

 bottom-board and put a new one in its place. 

 The stained appearance of cappings is due 

 almost entirely to the admixture of foreign 

 substances, and these are obtained to a great 

 extent from the dirt and litter of the bottom- 

 board. Keep every thing in and about the 

 apiary neat and clean, and you will have no 

 cause to complain about stained cappings. 



But some one asks, " Why do cappings of 

 finished sections that are perfectly white be- 

 come darker if left on the hive?" It is 

 because bees are usually doing something ; 

 and the honey -flow having ceased they use 

 the refuse of the bottom-board, and thicken 

 the cappings. Some one has said that the 

 bees daub propolis over the capped sections. 

 Well, if I had a colony that would do this I 

 would kill the old queen and give a new one. 

 Isn't there some other word that, in justice to 

 our friends the bees, can be substituted for 

 travel-stain ? 



I note that we are to have a new edition of 



