1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



573 



would say, ' Jonas, you ought to be stirring 

 around ; you know we are in debt ' If Jonas 

 read a book she would say, ' My cousin Jeru- 

 sha used to tell me not to ever marry a book- 

 worm.' If Jonas was in the kitchen she 

 would say, ' Why don't you come in the sit- 

 ting-room with the rest of us?' If he went 

 into the sitting-room, 'Jonas, why didn't you 

 take off your boots ? ' and if he stood up she 

 would say, ' Why don't you sit down ? ' If he 

 went to sit down it was, ' Don't sit down in 

 that chair, the cat has been in it.' If he talk- 

 ed of hiring a man she would say, ' Don't, 

 Jonas ; if you only thought so you could do 

 your work alone; and, besides, a hired man 

 might talk about us.' If he tried to do his 

 work alone it was, ' Why don't 5'ou keep 3'our 

 work up, and not get so behind ? ' If he kept 

 cows she was sure to think there was less work 

 and just as much money in sheep ; and if he 

 had sheep she was sure to tell him that wool 

 was away down, and it did not pay to keep 

 sheep. I don't wonder his pigs are of the 

 caseknife breed, or that he wants to try bees. 



" Well, I didn't encourage him very much. 

 I just told him he had better look the business 

 up carefully before he invested, for it was a 

 good deal easier putting money into bees than 

 it was to get it out of them." 







DRAPER BARNS FOR BROOD REARING AND 

 FOR nONEY. 



3fr. Root: — "Blasted Hopes" is what I 

 have to report now. I will mail you a sample 

 section. 1 have never seen nice clover honey 

 come in any faster than it has to-day. But 

 then, the first thing in the niortring and the 

 last thing at night the old black honey dew 

 comes just as fast. If 3'ou know any way to 

 keep it separate, telegraph me at once. I don't 

 know how to do it, and I " don't know that I 

 know who does know." Excuse me for quot- 

 ing Dr. Miller, but it seems to fit. The sec- 

 tion I send you would make a nice picture for 

 Gleanings. I have never had my bees in as 

 nice shape as I have them right now for a crop 

 of honey, and the prospects were never better, 

 if it were not for the bug-juice. If Mr. A. I. 

 R. and Mr. F. A. S., on page 490, June Glean- 

 ings could St e the bees in those 20 barns I 

 got of you las^t fall (or, rather, summer), they 

 would never mention chaff hives or Danzen- 

 baker hives either. I got them strong last 

 summer, and young queens in every one of 

 them. I put the molding for handles on the 

 winter case instead of the body. My object 

 was so that I could raise the winter case up 

 around the super when it was put on this 

 spring. The leaves were packed tight enough 

 between the body and the winter case so that 

 the packing would hold the winter case in 

 place around the super. The winter-case roof 

 was filled with leaves, and a burlap follower 



was nailed inside of the roof an inch and a 

 half above the lower edge. During the latter 

 part of February and the whole of March and 

 part of April the wintering roof was removed 

 every warm sunny day, so that the sun could 

 shine direct on top of the brood-frames, cov- 

 ered with a quilt, and the packed roofs were 

 turned upside down so that the sun shone on 

 the burlap inside of the roof. I scratched the 

 honey in the upper part of the frames with 

 a fork a time or two, some of it three or four 

 times. The result is that eight of those deep 

 combs are filled with brood solid clear to the 

 top-bar. With this arrangement there is no 

 scattering of the leaves. The difference in 

 color alone makes several degrees difference 

 in warmth between chaff and the leaves. 

 Now, then, the theory that deep brood-frames 

 can not be equal to shallow ones on account 

 of not getting the frames filled with brood 

 clear up to the top-bar, is all bosh. The bees 

 in the deep hives will get into the sections 

 quicker than in the shallow hives, for there 

 are about twice as many of them to get there. 

 ChaflF is not to be compared with leaves for 

 packing. The proof of the pudding is in the 

 eating. Try it. 



Now, if you follow these hints, before the 

 three y ears are up you will be a " Draper-barn ' ' 

 man, beyond the peradventure of a doubt. I 

 am by the barn as our old deacon was by the 

 Bible. It was in prayer-meeting. He said he 

 believed the Bible, every word of it. He be- 

 lieved that the whale swallowed Jonah ; and 

 if the Bible had said so he would have believ- 

 ed that Jonah swallowed the whale just as 

 quick. I wonder if Jonah felt any bluer while 

 he was "in the belly of the fish" than I do 

 now over the honey-dew. I'll t''y it over. 

 A. N. Draper. 



Upper Alton, 111., June 6. 



[There is no question but those large barn 

 frames are well adapted for brood-rearing. 

 The queen seems to like to fill them up solid ; 

 for on these frames she can make an almost 

 perfect circle of brood ; while in a Langstroth 

 or a shallower frame the circle is broken. Per- 

 sonallv I expect much from Draper barns in 

 the future in the way of honey — for some lo- 

 calities at least. One can go through one of 

 these barns and see every inch of comb in very 

 much less time than he can see an equivalent 

 surface of comb in a double-brood-chamber 

 hive. Neither are the big frames awkward to 

 handle. 



The fact that these barns use the same bot- 

 tom-boards and covers as the regular ten-frame 

 Langstroth size is quite a recommendation in 

 their favor. — Ed.] 



BELGIAN HARES. 



I have raised Belgian hares for two years, 

 and find it profitable. They would gnaw 

 young trees if they got a chance, but I have 

 always kept them confined. There is too 

 much danger from dogs and cats if they run 

 loose. They are very prolific, as a doe will 

 bear from six to ten every two months th' ough 

 the year. They have thick fur, and the hide 

 is as tough as a musk-rat's. Their meat is as 



