MARCH 15, 1914 



231 



Heads of Grain from Different Fields 



$75 Worth of Honey the First Year 



I started in the spring with 12 colonies. I got 

 nine swarms, some my own, and some from my 

 neighbors. I also bought nine colonies (in old 

 hives), making a total of 30 colonies. I lost two by 

 old queens dying, leaving 28 to winter. 



Fred E. Osborne witli a couple of his combs of bees. 



Secured $44.12 for the comb honey sold, and 

 $.31.72 for the extracted. This is a fair average, 

 considering some of the diflficulties under which I 

 labored. 



Norwalk, Ohio. Fred E. Osborne. 



Wires Held by Staples instead of Being Threaded 

 Through Holes in the End-bar 



During the past season I liave been using V4-inch 

 double-pointed tacks to fasten the wires to the frames 

 instead of threading them through the holes in the 

 end-bars, and find it easier, requiring no special 

 apparatus to hold, measure, or tighten the wire. 

 The staples are also better since the wires can be 

 drawn tighter, and they do not become slack after 

 the foundation is put in the frames, as they always 

 do with the usual method on account of the wires 

 sinking into the wood. 



My usual method is as follows: In a small board 

 I drive a ten-penny nail deep enough to be firm, set 

 my spool on this, and drive another nail far enough 

 from the spool to allow the spool to turn freely and 

 prevent the wire from unwinding M'hen it is cut. 

 Then I take a case of hives, turn it down so the hive- 



bodies rest on the end, and seat myself with one end 

 of this workbench opposite my left hand ; place my 

 spool near the center, and a pile of tacks at my right, 

 and with a good tack-hammer I am ready to begin 

 work. 



Taking a frame in my left hand, and resting the 

 end-bar flat on the bench, I start my first tack, tie the 

 wire in it, reverse the frame, draw enough wire from 

 the spool to reach the other end of the frame, place 

 second and third tacks over the wire, driving them 

 about half way in; reverse the frame, and continue 

 till the last tack is reached, when the wire is cut 

 and tied. All tacks should be set parallel with the 

 frames. Then placing the end-bar flat on the bench, 

 all tacks are driven in till the wire is tight enough. 



The only disadvantage I find is that it requires 

 care to keep all wires in the center of the frame: 

 and until one becomes used to the method he will 

 likely get a few sheets of foundation slightly out of 

 line. Occasionally driving in a tack to tighten the 

 wire will pull the tack at the other end, but with a 

 little practice this will seldom happen. 



The advantages are that the wire is taken directly 

 from the spool, and there is no chance for it to snarl 

 or kink, and there are no loose ends to bother at 

 any time. Personally I find it much easier to place 

 the tacks over the wire than to thread the wire 

 through the holes. The great advantage of thir, 

 method is that the wires never become slack; and 

 if the foundation is not drawn out at once after 

 being put in, the injury is far less from buckling 

 and warping. 



BULK COMB HONEY HET.PS THE SALE OF EXTRACTED. 



Perhaps most beekeepers would prefer producing 

 extracted honey to any form of comb honey, but 

 realize that the extracted not only brings a much 

 lower price but is much harder to sell at any price. 

 This season I have been selling on the local market 

 bulk comb and extracted honey piit up in the same 

 style of glass packages; and while at first the bulk 

 comb sold much more rapidly than extracted, of late 

 the demand for extracted has been increasing in 

 proportion, a greater number taking advantage of 

 the difference in price. The bulk comb attracts the 

 attention of the customers, and the price of the ex- 

 tracted attracts their pocketbooks. 



The uniform packages, and the fact that they are 

 put up by the same party, help to avoid suspicion 

 that the extracted is adulterated. I believe that I 

 have sold at least twice as much extracted honey as 

 I could have sold had I been selling it alone, besides 

 the larger amount of bulk comb I have sold with the 

 same effort. 



What we need for bulk comb is a wide-mouth 

 glass jar sold at the price of the Mason. The Pre- 

 mium is very good, but is hard to get, and the price 

 is too high and breakage in transit too heavy. 



Oklahoma City, Okla. W. H. Hobson. 



[If one does not like the usual plan of threading 

 wires through holes in the end-bars we should think 

 a more rapid method would be the bent-wire-nail 

 plan which has been suggested several times. The 

 nails are driven in part way, bent over, forming 

 hooks, and the wire strung back and forth. — Ed.] 



Heat in the Hive as a Cause for Swarming 



After reading the article in your September 1st 

 i.s.sue, p. 593, about Mr. Vernon Burt's scheme to 

 prevent swarming, I thought that possibly the ex- 

 perience of an amateur with bees might be of inter- 

 est; and when I say "an amateur," and inform you 

 that I am the owner of one single colony of bees j'ou 

 will agree that my experience along the lines of bee- 

 keeping will not add greatly to the knowledge of 

 your readers; but that idea of heat in the hive being 



