342 



Gleanings in Bee Culture 



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Converting Eight-frame into Ten-frame Hives. 



1 have, at ditfeient times, met wltli an uncalled- 

 for objection to the eig:ht-l'rame hive, the objection 

 reading something like this: "Von can make an 

 eight-l'rame hive out of a ten-frame liive, but you 

 can not make a ten-frame liive out of an eight-frame 

 hive." In a way this is correct. One can not malce 

 ten frames out of eight frames of like proportions: 

 but one can change an eight-frame hive so that it 

 will accommodate the furnishings of a ten or twelve 

 frame hive. 



To do the work you need a square, a saw, and a 

 plane, something like what we use to match boards 

 foi- floors— the tongue-and-groove plane. Mark your 

 hive with a straight line, perpendicular to and par- 

 allel with the locked corners of the Dovetailed hive, 

 somewhat nearer one corner than the other, so 

 that you will not have the grooved hand-hole to 

 work with. Saw the end of the hive on the line, 

 and groove the edge of each side of the newly 

 sawed end. Take a %-inch board of the proper 

 length (height of the hive-body), and the proper 

 width, which will vary according to whether you 

 wish a ten or twelve frame hive, and woi-k this 

 board down with a tongue on each side and the 

 rabbet at the top end, and place the same (board) 

 between the now two-pieced ends of the hive-body. 



Nail one of the hive-cleats (such as Dr. Miller uses) 

 at the top of the hive and another near the bottom, 

 and put a ten-frame tin rabbet in place of the for- 

 mer eight-frame one. Perhaps the bee-hive facto- 

 ries will see fit to manufacture these boards. 

 Montpelier, O. G. W. .Joice. 



Reform in Grading and Packing ; the Editor's Poli- 

 cy Indorsed. 



1 have just read your editorial on page :^0. Jan. 15, 

 with much interest. I have been handling sectimi 

 honey in this market for the past two years, and 1 

 find very little that does not require regrading to 

 make it satisfactory to the retail dealers. I repack 

 and regrade all I handle, and by so doing 1 have 

 gained the confidence of most dealers. I had one 

 dealer who said there were always enough dam- 

 aged sections to absorb the profit. 1 told him to 

 try one case of mine and be convinced, as 1 would 

 pay him retail price for all damaged in any case I 

 furnished. He tried a case, sold it out quickly, and 

 has continued to handle it ever since. 



In regard to the crating of section honey in car- 

 riers 1 have requested all who ship to me to pack 

 the cases so that the combs will be parallel to the 

 long way of the carrier. When so ijacked I have 

 none damaged. The carriers are handled on trucks 

 by the railroad laborers, !tnd it is when they are 

 dumped off that the damage occurs. When the 

 sections are crated flatwise, to fore and aft, they are 

 much more likely to break loose in the sections. I 

 hope the good work you are doing toward reform 

 in packing and grading comb honey will prove to 

 be a mutual benefit to all concerned. 



Chattanooga, Tenn. (i. K. Leavitt. 



[The experience of our correspondent as to the 

 necessity of regrading and repacking comb honey 

 that is purchased to be sold again is largely that of 



most dealers, ft is a lamentable fact that many If 

 not most producers do not grade and pack their 

 honey as they should. If they would onl.y take 

 time to learn huir. they could realize anywhere 

 from 25 to 50 per cent more for their honey. It is 

 said that none are so blind as those who won't see. 

 We sometimes think none are so blind as those 

 who don't try to see. So with some producers — 

 they don't even try to learn how, after they have 

 received their crop, to get the best price for it by 

 putting it up in iiroijer shape. 



The suggestion of our cori-espondent, as to how to 

 put the shipping-cases in the carriers, may be a 

 good one. It all depends on which htji/ the truck- 

 men load them on their trucks. We should like to 

 know what has been the experience of others. — Ed.] 



Bees Desert Clover to Work on Cherries Cracked 

 Open because Overripe. 



I have a few colonies of bees, and am able to get 

 fairly good yields from them in the late spring. 

 They work very fast and hard on fruit-bloom, pop- 

 lar, and locust. Right after locust and poplar the 

 clovers begin to bloom, and near the bee-yard we 

 have large fields of red, alsike, and white clover, 

 but, unfortunatel.v, the cherries are ripe about the 

 same time, and my bees spend nearly their whole 

 time at the cherry-trees: and as we have a succe.s- 

 sion of fruits through the summer they never get 

 down to honey-gathering again until fall. 



During the time the bees are at the peach, plum, 

 apple, or cherry trees, as the case may be, I find 

 other bees from the woods, and a few of mine, out 

 in the clover, but none compared to what are on 

 the fruit-trees. The bees work on the fruit Itself. It 

 has been hot during cherry time for several years: 

 and when a shower or rainy day comes it causes 

 the fruit to crack open, and then it is that the bees 

 seem to become demoralized: and as we have fruit 

 all summer they work on one kind of fruit and then 

 another. 



We have large clover-fields around us; but I nev- 

 er get any honey except a little from fruit-bloom, 

 and considerable from locust and poplar. When I 

 think they should be working hard on clover they 

 go to the fruit. 



Sometimes 1 get a good flow in the fall. We have 

 a succession of bloom all summer, if not too dry. 

 and it would .seem that they ought to get some 

 honey all summer. 



Some say that the bees are used to getting honey 

 from the trees, and hence do not search as low as 

 they would have to go for clover. I can hardly 

 credit that, and think it must be due to some mis- 

 management of mine, as I have not noticed any 

 complaint ab(5ut it in (iLEANiNG.s. Will you kind- 

 ly advise me whether it is general? I have had a 

 few bees for five or six years, and have always no- 

 ticed the same thing. 



Port Tobacco, Md. Mrs. ,I. A. Gray. 



[Your experience, to the extent that bees will de- 

 sert the clover-fields for the juices of ripe fruit. Is 

 quite unusual, it goes to show that clover proba- 

 bly does not yield much honey in your locality. 

 When the clovers secrete nectar well, the bees, aft- 

 er they have once started to the fields, except In the 

 case of some old professional robbers, could not be 

 induced to touch raw honey on the ground or ex- 

 posed in ojjen vessels in the apiary. Never have 

 we known them to attack the juices of overripe 

 fruit except during a dearth of honey, or in a flow 

 so moderate as to be hardly worth taking into ac- 

 count. In no case that we have ever known have 

 bees punctured or cut into sound fruit. Taking 

 every thing into consideration. It seems very clear 

 that, at the time your cherries become fully ripe, 

 your natural sovirces of nectar supply are very lim- 

 ited, and hence the bees find it necessary to eke ovit 

 a living on fruit-juices. — Ed.] 



Questions of Queen-rearing. 



1. Is it true that a ciueen hatched from a grafted 

 cell is short-lived, owing to having been torn from 

 her previous cell, being attached to it by the navel 

 cord? Is she in any way Inferior to a queen that 

 is hatched otherwise? 



2, Is a queen from a cell on the side of a comb 

 good to save? Is she all right, providing the cell is 

 large and perfectly formed? 



