FEBRUARY 15, 1916 



167 



Heads of Grain From Different Fields 





The Backlot Buzzer 



BY J. H. DONAHEY 



Talk about hard luck, a prominent/ bee-man ovt in 

 Indiaiia prided himself on the way hifi hives were 

 arranged in nice neat rows out in his back yard. 

 Somebody thought they were tombstones and filed a 

 complaint against him for keeping a dog cemetery 

 inside the city limits. 



Wiring Frames and Transferring Colonies 



My plan of wiring combs may not be new, 

 but I have never seen it mentioned by any 

 one. I use a common soft-iron wire about 

 No. 14 or 16. In fact, I use common wire 

 used for baling hay. I cut a piece exactly 

 as long as the frame is wide, so as not to 

 extend out. The wire is nearly the size of 

 the hole in the frame made for it. I then 

 run the wire thru the second hole from the 

 top, and fasten it to the wax by pouring a 

 little melted wax along the upper edge of 

 the wire. This fastens it securely. It might 

 be better to use two wires^ — -one thru each 

 of the two center holes in the frame. I put 

 up some with two wires, and some with only 

 one. I cannot see but one wire answers 

 every purpose. The bees will draw out the 

 combs right over the wire, and I have yet to 

 see a comb the least sagged. You can cer- 

 tainly get perfect combs drawn by this 

 method. A wax tube or wire-inibedder might 

 be better, for fastening the wire to the 

 combs; but as I did not have one I simply 

 ran a little wax along the top edge with a 

 spoon. You can do it very fast. 



Here is my method of transferring bees 

 from box hives: I lay the box hive down on 

 the side. From the top end I measure down 

 20 inches and saw thru the board. I then 

 pry this piece of plank off, set my hive-body 

 over this hole after putting in three or four 

 frames of drawn combs containing some 

 brood, fill out with foundation, put on the 

 cover, and the job is completed. The bees 

 will go immediately up to cover the brood, 

 and soon the queen will be up, when you 

 can put your excluder under. When I have 

 the old box open I remove as much of the 

 old wax as possible, so as not to interfere 

 with the brood. You can nail a piece over 

 the bottom of the old hive, just leaving an 

 entrance for the bees. The piece taken from 

 the old hive can be used for this purpose. 

 Should the hive body be a little wider than 

 the box you can easily nail a strip along the 

 side to make it the desired width. 



Newborn, N. C. F. A. Ganes. 



[The principal objection to the use of one 



or two heavy wires instead of a greater 

 number of fine wires is that the combs are 

 not as well protected against breakage, ei- 

 ther in the extractor or when they are be- 

 ing handled. — Ed.] 



The New York Contest 



We are getting many inquiries, asking for 

 particulars about our proposed postal-card 

 scheme having for its object the booming of 

 honey as an article of food. Some want to 

 know what ideas we want incorporated, 

 others what size the sketches should be; 

 others ask whether we want them in colors 

 or in black; whether photos of apiaries 

 would do, etc. To all these inquiries we can 

 only say, "This is for you to work out." It 

 is more the idea than the perfect execution 

 of the idea we are after. 



A very good thing has been suggested to 

 us— a label to be pasted upon the top of 

 every honey section as it stands in the ship- 

 ping-case, the label nearly or entirely to 

 cover the wood, with reading as follows: 



This section of honey (14 oz.) equals in 

 food value 



2-1 oz. heefsteak (30c) 



30 oz. of codfish (40c) 



20 eggs (50c) 



11.2 oz. cream cheese. . . . (16c) 

 2 quarts of milk (16c) 



[The comparative figures on label were taken 

 from American Bee Journal, Dec. 1915.] 



One of our committee says: This is the 

 best thing which has been offered, altho not 

 exactly in line with the postal-card scheme. 

 But we may recommend it, also in connec- 

 tion with a photo of the articles named, all 

 upon a postal card. 



H. L. Case, F. Greiner, W. F. Marks, 



Committee. 



