288 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



thei-e was Joe's face witli tliat incredulous 

 smile. 



The stimixlating effect was wonderful. I 

 bought all the bee journals and books about 

 bees that I thought would help me and read 

 them on every occasion that I had time. 

 As this article is principally for the benefit 

 of amateurs and not for the amusement of 

 the professionals, I will speak of some of 

 the difficulties to be overcome. 



When Joe left I put on my veil and 

 gloves and sat down to think it over. The 

 warm sun came out, so did the bees. I 

 didn't think we could buy so many for $100. 

 They made me think of a lot of Indians 

 that I once met on the plains. They were 

 about as careless with their weapons. The 

 first thing I did was to open a hive. It 

 looked very interesting to me. There were 

 three or four frames of brood, but at that 

 time I could not understand what all that 

 brown capping meant until I opened several. 



There were many little burrs of comb 

 between the frames which I decided to clean 

 off. Cleanliness is next to godliness, so in 

 the next day or two I cleaned up the rest of 

 the hives. Here is where I made my first 

 mistake, for in my tinkering I lost four 

 queens as I afterward discovered. 



As I intended to run my apiary for comb 

 honey the swarming question was all the 

 more absorbing for me. I concluded to try 

 the Alexander plan of increase on the six- 

 teen remaining colonies. This was my sec- 

 ond mistake. It afterward turned out, how- 



ever, that it was a good thing I did it, for 

 the season was poor for June honey, and I 

 got the increase but no June honey. There 

 was no swarming to speak of in the sixteen 

 colonies divided nor in the increase, but 

 those four colonies with queen-cells were 

 surely a caution. In the future, when I 

 need a queen for increase or any other pur- 

 pose I will buy a laying one. It is more 

 economical and less bother, especially when 

 they can be bought for 50 or 75 cts. 



In a good fall flow the bees got enough 

 for winter (all except a few which I united 

 in the fall), and a fair surplus for a begin- 

 ner, considering the season and other things. 



The honey sold at 15 cents per pound. 

 Adding the value of this to the value of 

 increase at $5.00 per colony, deducting 

 $12.00 for Italian queens, and not counting 

 my time, I have made $3.40 each, or $68, 

 on the twenty colonies, and a world of 

 experience which money can't buy. The 

 $100 at interest would bring me only $6.00. 

 To sum up, I think I made a good invest- 

 ment, especially when one considers that I 

 now have thirty good colonies in the cellar, 

 which are wintering well. 



In the future I shall run for extracted 

 honey. I believe that, with the help of Joe's 

 grin (which still haunts me), and the A B 

 C and X Y Z, and Miller and Alexander 

 ind several journals, I may give a good 

 account of myself and the bees this com- 

 ing summer. 



Wauseon, Ohio. 



MAKING FRAMES EASIER OF ACCESS 



BY L. E. KERR 



Some of the most pleasant hours in all 

 my beekeeping exi^erience have been spent 

 in working over new problems in hive 

 oonstruclion. Langstroth did aiot expect 

 others to Avork out all the fine points of 

 removable frames; tho, as yet, the best of 

 them at times come remarkably near being 

 unmovable. 



In an apiai-y of no more than a few 

 colonies one soon learns to realize the dif- 

 ference in the way frames loosen from the 

 various hives. One of the very first colo- 

 nies that I ever owned was in a home-made 

 telescopic hive the frames of which could 

 be removed far more readily than those of 

 the much lauded factory-made hive of to- 

 day. Tho having ever since considered, 

 more or less, a means of adapting its un- 

 usual frame rests to a cheaper and simpler 

 hive, no entirely satisfactory solution has 

 been forthcoming, and it is here submitted 

 to the beekeeping public in hopes that an- 



other may show how a plain (or at least 

 plainer) hive may be so provided. 



Upon this rabbet 

 the frames are rais- 

 ed above the hive- 

 ends, tho not neces- 

 sarily the sides. As 

 the cut plainly il- 

 lustrates, frames 

 are consequently 

 tenfold more easy 

 of access. 



Supering with the 

 rabbet show n is 

 more complicated, 

 and has, so far. 

 been accomplished' 

 by substituting 1/4- 

 inch wooden rests 

 for the customary 

 flat tins. 



Fort Smith, Ark. 



