U3G 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15 



Hoffman frame is all right in the brood-nest; 

 but the extracting-frames that I got with 

 the same shipment are very inferior. I would 

 be willing to pay better prices if I could get 

 such as are in the brood-nest. 

 Cuba, 111., Oct. 5. J .M. W. Murphey. 



stands with no extra protection, in eight- 

 frame Dovetail hi\ es. 



James T. Shackelfoko. 

 Nepton, Mo., Nov. 27. 



[The extracting-frames have been made 

 lighter to allow for more comb surface. To 

 use a top-bar I inch thick, in the extracting- 

 frame only 5| inches deep, same as is used 

 in the frame 9g inches deep, would make too 

 great a disproportion, and cut down the comb 

 space materially. We can very easily sup- 

 ply thick top-bars for such frames at a very 

 slight extra price. — Ed.] 



WHAT AN EXTENSIVE USER HAS TO S^AY OF 

 HOFFMAN FRAMES. 



I shall continue to use Hoffman frames 

 with the V edge. I have used the square 

 edges, and decidedly prefer the V. I have 

 perhaps 10,000 of them in use, as well as a 

 large number of unspaced frames. These 

 last I shall gradually replace with Hoff- 

 mans. We run for extracted honey exclu- 

 sively, using 9 frames in the super, and we 

 lind that the contention in regard to the 

 projections of the end-bars being in the way 

 while uncapping is almost entirely unfound- 

 ed in actual practice, as well as other claims 

 of their being harder to handle, etc. I am 

 well aware that some will say that, by the 

 use of 9 frames in the super of a ten-frame 

 hive, we do away with the self-spacing fea- 

 ture of the Hoffman frame. But when we 

 remember that it is desirable to have frames 

 that are interchangeable from super to 

 brood-chamber, all will be clear. Taking it 

 all in all, I consider the Hoffman the best 

 frame on the market to-day. 



William Rohrig. 



Tempe, Ariz., Nov. 12. 



STORES NEEDED FOR OUTDOOR WINTERING. 



Mr. Editor:— I notice that you say on p. 

 1059 that you figure on from 15 to 20 lbs. of 

 honey to the colony for outdoor wintering. 

 This may do for your locality; but it would 

 be hardly safe for all to go on that plan. 

 We need in this locality at least 10 lbs. more 

 than that. I followed the advice of the 

 ABC book for several winters, and allowed 

 25 lbs. per colony, and my bees generally 

 came through the winter weak, and short of 

 stores. I now leave 35 to 40 lbs. to the col- 

 ony, and get much better results. My bees 

 come out in spring strong in numbers and 

 stores, with comparatively no winter loss. 



HOFFMAN FRAME WITH SQUARE EDGES. 



I hope you will make the Hoffman frame 

 with square edges to the end-bars next 

 year, as I prefer them; otherwise the frame 

 suits me very well. I would not exchange 

 it for any other frame that I know of, as it 

 is. I use 7 frames in the surplus stories of 

 an e'ght-frame hive, and discard the follow- 

 er. I do not have very much trouble from 

 propolis. I winter outdoors on summer 



BABY NUCLEI ; MATING QUEENS FROM BIG 

 QUEEN-CAGES. 



I am glad to hear baby nuclei are so much 

 appreciated. This reminds me of something 

 I did a few years ago. I never told you 

 about it, but will now. One summer I 

 raised so many queens in a lamp-nursery I 

 did not have hives enough to introduce 

 them as fast as they were hatched; then I 

 put some in big queen-cages. I left them 

 caged till I thought they were ready to fly: 

 then I opened cages only after dinner, and 

 to be sure said queens flew out and got mat- 

 ed. But as these cages had no combs to lay 

 in, then the drawback came. D. E. Best. 



Best's, Lehigh Co., Pa., Oct. 26. 



HOW TO RP:AD GLEANINGS. 



Owing to the privilege of discussion which 

 is extended to readers of Gleanings, no one 

 issue of the journal is complete. To pick up 

 one copy and endeavor to get from it all it 

 contains is Hke reading a chapter or two of 

 a story and trying to imagine what has gone 

 before. There are so many references made 

 in each issue to things which have been print- 

 ed in past issues, that, in order to get full 

 benefit of the matter before one, constant 

 reference must be made to back numbers. 



There is also another peculiar feature of 

 Gleanings, resulting, hke the first, from 

 the practice of discussion; and that is, the 

 conversational tone of its articles. To open 

 a journal is quite like stepping into a com- 

 pany of people earnestly engaged in discuss- 

 ing the various phases of a certain subject- 

 one which has evidently been frequently dis- 

 cus-^ed in like manner before. To get the 

 full benefit of the present meeting, one 

 should, therefore, have been present at the 

 others, and it is just so with Gleanings. 



To illustrate I will quote from the first 

 page of the issue for Nov. 1. Six out of the 

 eight Straws on that page are references to 

 and further discussions of matter printed in 

 the preceding issue. Only by having read, 

 or referring to the former journal, can one 

 grasp all the meaning of the subjects men- 

 tioned. 



No ordinary memory can recall at a mo- 

 ment's notice just exactly what or all that 

 has been said on any subject to which refer- 

 ence may be made again at some future time; 

 hence it is a good plan to keep the last copy 

 at hand until after the next is read. The 

 way we have learned to do here is to hunt 

 up the last one when the next is received, 

 and sit down with both together. Then prob- 

 ably we shall have to go and get another or 

 two of still earlier date before we are through 

 with the last one. In this way nothing es- 

 capes us, for bv the time we get through 

 with any copy there is not much in it but 

 has been mentally digested. 



To any, if such there be, who feel Ihat 



