OCTOBRR 15, 1<)U 



819 



My object is to make use of the winter case in 

 Bummer, and not to have any bulky parts to store. 

 I am trying to find some way of nailing on pevma- 



ir-j-^ 



L^ 



/i 



nently the padded cL^ats whicli ocime with the winter 

 case. 



Highwood, N. J., July IG. J. ILTIS. 



Sponge to Hold Water in Mailing Cage 



Could not euousli water for, .say, a week in the 

 mails Le afforded by a saturated piece of sponge in 



a smaller added compartment at one end of the 

 usual three-hole cage, thus, and waxed inside? 



INVERSION OF COMBS A VALUABLE FEATURE. 



In looking over some recent back numbers I no- 

 tice your reply in the Nov. 15th issue, p. 777, to D. 

 W. Howell, on "reversing," or, as we call it, "in- 

 verting." (By the way, is not the latter the more 

 correct word when we want to signify turned upside 

 down? Besides, "reversing" cases of hives — that. is 

 to say, turning back to front, has the advantage of 

 being distinct and separate from inverting them.) 

 In your footnote you depreciate the value of inver- 

 sion, so that one would conclude it is among the 

 scrap-heap of at one-time popular ideas, and un- 

 worthy of further notice. Permit me to combat this 

 conclusion. For 25 years I have been making my 

 living from bees in Australia, and found no hive so 

 handy, so profitable, and so well adapted to out- 

 apiary expansion as one that is always readily in- 

 vertible ; and why? Just because inverting (at the 

 right time) does destroy cells and does check swarm- 

 ing; that it enlarges the brood-occupied space; con- 

 sequently, it sends the honey upstairs, and that it 

 gets the combs built to the bottom-bars ; and by thus 

 doing one can entirely dispense with wires in frames. 

 But to have the benefits of inversion one must have 

 a hive adapted to it— that is, a divisible shaliow- 

 case hive. There is all the difference in the world 

 between the process as we do it and as described by 

 D. W. Howell, with Hoffman frames. 



Cavendish, Australia. Thomas Bolton. 



[Years ago, before queen-cage candy had become 

 perfected, a little piece of sponge soaked in warm 

 honey was used as a means for supplying food to a 

 queen-bee and her attendants when sent by mail. 

 It did not give as good results as the candy now 

 employed, principally because the sponge would not 

 hold enough honey, and because it dried out. While 

 water could be given to bees in a sponge in the 

 same way, it would have a tendency to dry out, 



probably before the bees reached their destination. 

 Of one thing we are certain : A continual supply of 

 water, providing the supply can .be regulated so as 

 not to feed too fast, is a good thing. 



The word invert is better than reverse; but the 

 two terms have been used indiscriminately for many 

 years, and it seems hard to eliminate the less de- 

 scriptive word. We are glad to know you have had 

 a favorable experience with inverting; but we re- 

 ceived reports in 1885 — 1887 showing that it failed 

 to do some of the very things that you claim for it. 

 There is one thing that we are all agreed on : that 

 inversion will accomplish filling out the comb clear 

 to the bottom-bar. If reports we get in this coun- 

 try are to be believed, it is not infallible in bring- 

 ing about the other things claimed for it. — Ed.] 



Refining Wax; Keeping Queens Out of 

 Upper Stories 



1. If all the bees confined with the queen in a 

 mailing-cage die, would other bees from the same 

 hive injure her if placed in the cage with her? 



2. I have heard that, if burr-combs and pieces of 

 wax that are not very dirty are boiled in vinegar, 

 they will be cleaned. Can you tell me how this can 

 be accomplished? 



3. I have seen some two-story hives with brood in 

 both upper and lower stories. How is it that the 

 queen will sometimes lay in both ujiper and lower 

 story, but not in an extracting super? 



Philadelphia, Pa., July 30. J. Sweeney. 



[1. It does no harm to the queen to renew the es- 

 cort bees. As a precaution, however, select young bees, 

 for they not only make better escorts, but they have 

 more vitality. You do not need to renew these bees, 

 of course, if you merely want to introduce the queen. 



2. Wax may be refined with vinegar; but the 

 process is quite uncertain, and quite an elaborate 

 equipment is necessary. For this reason, and also 

 because of the fact that there is the greatest danger 

 of discoloring the wax or making it water -soaked, we 

 never advise the use of any kind of acid for the 

 average producer of wax. 



3. Queens do lay in extracting-supers, and for this 

 reason quite a large percentage of extracted-honey 

 producers use queen-excluders under the extracting- 

 super to keep the queen out. By special manage- 

 ment the queen can be confined to the lower story 

 without the use of the excluder ; but the safest way 

 is to use an excluder and be sure. — Ed.] 



Modifying the Escapes to Afford an Easier 

 Passage when Used as Robber-traps. 



I am interested in A. J. Plummer's plan for stop- 

 ping robbing and disposing of robbers, for I believe 

 it will be of great benefit to the beekeepers of to-day. 

 I tried it out on a little different plan, and found 

 that it worked to a success. 



Take three, four, or even half a dozen Porter bee- 

 escapes. Cut off the ends that have the holes in, 

 leaving a straight passageway for the robbers. Insert 

 the escapes into the entrance of the hive alongside 

 each other so that there will be no projection on the 

 outside of the hive, and the robbers will go in with- 

 out resistance. In a very short time thousands of 

 robbers will be trapped. 



Meadville. Pa., Aug. 29. A. B. McGuiRE. 



Transferring from Box Hives. 



My method of transferring from box hives is as 

 follows: The box is turned bottom side up, and a 

 central section of the bottom is torn off, thus avoid- 

 ing the breakage of honey and bringing the brood 

 in closer contact with the frame of brood which is 

 placed in tlie hive set on tup. With a few empty 



