1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



609 



A FKNCK, DUMMY. OR DIVIDER; A SELF-SPAC- 

 ING FRAME. 



I send a drawing of my bee space dummj'. 

 I am fioin^'^ to use it this summer in work- 

 ing tor comb honey. I will also use it when 

 the bees are drawing out foundation It is 

 's thiok, same size as the standard frame, 

 and spaced at both top and bottom. 



1^- 



J9-ya 



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OF 



Hive 



^X 



Top Sar 



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I also send you other drawings showing 

 how I space my frames at the bottom, and 

 how I increase the length of top bar on the 

 frames. Frank Brunskog. 



Harvey, 111. 



[Your fence, or dummy, I believe, will 

 be satisfactory for the purpose of securing 

 regularly built combs; but it will not be as 

 good as a solid dummy for dividing the 

 brood-nest off or for reducing it down to, 

 say, two or three frames in the spring in 

 order that the little cluster may not be com- 

 pelled to warm up more cubic air-space 

 than is necessary. 



The scheme of lengthening the top bar by 

 cutting out the rabbet, and nailing a cleat 

 on the end of a hive, is a good one. We 

 would have adopted this feature long ago 

 but for the ditficulty of making old covers 

 for hives, now in use, tit new hives with 

 cleats as shown. There can be no question 

 at all but that, if all hives could be changed 

 over to the plan shown in the cross-section 



of the sketch, it would be a great advantage 

 all round. The cleat, moreover, reaching 

 clear across the end of the hive, would make 

 a most excellent handle to lift it by. The 

 projection of the top-bar would be length- 

 ened out, which, to many of our friends, 

 would be a very great advantage, and we 

 should also secure a regulation bee space 

 between the end of the top bar and the end of 

 the rabbet, or what will be in this case the 

 inside surface of the cleat. — Ed.] 



BEES MIXING IN SWARMS; VARIATIONS IN 

 DRONES. 



I have been in the bee busir ess for about 

 22 years, and have seen some things that I 

 did not understand, nor have I ever seen 

 them explained. 



1. I have hived a swarm of black bees 

 half a mile from any Italians, and found 

 several tine ones among the blacks, with 

 pollen on the legs. Do field -bees often 

 unite with a new swarm in that way? 



2. I have never seen in your old ABC 

 book any account of barred or yellow drones. 

 I had one last year at Middlebourne, and 

 have yet if it stood the winter all right. 

 The drones had two (I believe) yellow 

 stripes, but were not as bright as the work- 

 ing bees. The fuzz or long hair on them 

 hid them more. Does this often occur, or is 

 it a freak of nature? G. W. Carpenter. 



Rapidan, Va., May 23. 



[The ordinary field-bees will very often 

 unite with a swarm of bees; and it will be 

 nothing unusual to find a few yellow Ital- 

 ians among the blacks after they have been 

 hived. Swarming is a gala day — the one 

 holiday of the year for the bees; and ap- 

 parently a few field-bees can not resist the 

 temptation to take a hand in the fun, with 

 the result that they become a part of the 

 swarm. 



The typical color of drones imported from 

 Italy is decidedly on the leather colored 

 order. The yellow bands, if they show at 

 all, are very dull or indistinct; but occasion- 

 ally we get some sports from imported stock 

 that show considerable yellow. Drones of 

 the five-banded stock show beautiful bright 

 yellow bands or bars. Sometimes the whole 

 of the abdomen is one mass of yellow ex- 

 cept the tip. It should be understood that 

 the color of the drone does not determine 

 his purity any more than does the color of 

 the queen. — Ed.] 



SOME HONEY 44 YEARS OLD. 



I clip the inclosed item from the Lewiston 

 Journal of Jan. 14, which I think will be of 

 interest considering the discussion now go- 

 ing on in Gleanings. I am trying to find 

 the Brunswick man, and see that honey; 

 then I will report about it. 



Lewiston, Me. S. J. Hyde 



A Brunswick, Maine man boasts of some honey that 

 has been preserved in a glass case for 44 years, and 

 which appears to be as good as new except that it has 

 shrunk from five to three and a half pounds. 



