178 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 15 



cost nearly as much as the wax-press it- 

 self. By making- steam in the wax-press, 

 so that it can rise up gradually through 

 the mass, it is not necessary to have press- 

 ure or an elaborate boiler. Till the press- 

 ure goes up five cr ten pounds there is but 

 very little increase in the heat of steam 

 over mere vapor. I have had considerable 

 experience in steam heat, and know this is 

 one of the principles that have been laid 

 down by those well up in the art; so I 

 question whether very much will be gained 

 by a separate g-enerator except in the mat- 

 ter^of convenience. — Ed.] 





A COUPLE OF SUGGESTIONS. 



An^Excellent Metal-spaced Hoffman Frame; a Hive- 

 tool. 



BY L. R. PERGUSON. 



^ I send a sketch and description of a hive- 

 tool which I find very useful and convenient, 

 fulfilling- the requirements in more ways 

 than any other tool I ever used. 



The one I use 

 is 1>8 inches 

 wide and 12 

 inches long, 

 and is made 

 from an old 

 flat file ; but 

 part of a leaf 

 f rom an old 

 buggy or wag- 

 on seat spring 

 would answer 

 very well, and 

 require less 

 forging to draw 

 out the thin 

 end. 



The thin or 

 chisel end be- 

 ing so wide, it 

 will separate 

 the hive parts 

 without bruis- 

 ing them, as in 

 the use of a 

 screwdri ver ; 

 and the extra 

 length and strength enables one to reach 

 any part of the hive to clean or scrape off 

 burr combs or bits of propolis, tig-hten up 

 bottoms of frames (Danz. ), loosen the di- 

 vision board, loosen bottoms and covers, 

 etc., to much better advantage than with a 

 shorter or more flexible tool. 



When the end- bars of the division-boards 

 are notched all around, about an inch from 

 the end, as shown in the cut, no matter 

 which side up they are inserted, the hook 

 will easily catch in either the back side or 

 end notches; but care should be taken not 

 to notch so deep as to weaken the end-bars 

 too much. 



I should also like to submit for your crit- 

 icism a plan for a cast-metal frame-hanger 



THE FERGUSON HIVE-TOOL. 



and end-spacer combined, which strength- 

 ens the cover of the frame and reduces the 

 point of contact with the hive to the mini- 

 mum. 



In nailing up the frame, one nail should 

 be driven down through the top bar into 

 the end-bar to hold the parts in place, when 

 two long barbed or cement coated nails driv- 

 en through the hanger and end-bar into the 



FERGUSON'S METAL-PROJECTION HOFFMAN 



FRAME. 



top-bar, and one short nail through the 

 hanger at the lower end, and clinched in- 

 side the end-bar, would make a f istening- 

 twice as strong- as the ordinary top-bar pro- 

 jection. 



But their principal merit would be in the 

 fact they are so narrow that there is plenty 

 of room between them for the thumb and 

 finger, and the shape is such as to give a 

 firm hold, thus making the handling of 

 frames much more easy and rapid. 



For use on the loose unspaced frame, the 

 chances for propolizing are so small that no 

 tool would ever be needed to loosen them; 

 and by slig-htly denting or notching the tin 

 rabbet at regular distances, so the hanger 

 would catch in these notches when slid 

 along the tins, these frames would become 

 perfectly self-spacing; but care should be 

 taken not to make these notches so deep as 

 to interfere seriously with sliding- the 

 frames from side to side of the hive. 



The outer ends of these hingers being- 

 pointed when a frame is stood on end to 

 give the operator the free use of one hand, 

 the point will enter the cover, or whatever 

 the frame stands on, enough to prevent any 

 slipping off and breaking out the Cf mbs. 



The use of this hanger would not inter- 

 fere with the standard goods in any way 

 except in the one item of length of top bar; 

 and even this could be sawed off from thrse 

 already in use, and the iron n iled on, thus 

 making useful many old frames with one 

 ear broken off, or loose top bars, and these 

 could then be used with the regular goods. 



