March, 1921 



GLEANTNGS IN BEE CULTURE 



143 



The objection to this plan, says Mr. Sams, 

 is the duration of three weeks of time; 

 and if this is at the beginning of the lioney 

 flow, an extra super beneath is required. 

 There is also the difficulty of getting tho 

 queen with the bees. If the queen is left 



closed, so that the bees must go downward 

 in order to get outdoors. Of course all fly- 

 ing bees will be forced into the lower hive 

 where they will have to stay when once 

 down. The young bees will stay above to 

 take care of the brood. After tlie brood liave 



Pig. 11. — A characteristic log-gum apiary. There 

 are several rows of these gums that were trans- 

 ferred by Mr. Sams. This is not at all a rare sight 

 in the Southland. 



above, housekeeping is liable to start over 

 again upstairs. It takes skill and experi- 

 ence to drum out tlie queen with half the 

 bees. 



It should be explained that the entrance 

 to the gum when placed on the new hive is 



Fig. 12. — The same bees as show^n in Fig. 11 after 

 being transferred into modern hives. This is an 

 apiary belonging to W. J. Martin. This apiary of 

 100 colonies, with the help of Mr. Sams, wa.s easily 

 transferred from the log gums in onei week's time. 



all emerged, the remaining bees that liave 

 not gone down are removed by the drum- 

 ming process. This plan obviates the neces- 

 sity of cutting and fastening into frames 

 patches of brood, and, where the conditions 

 are right, is ideal. 



AS paint ma- 

 terials f 

 all kinds 

 have been high 

 in price for the 

 past two years 

 until quite re- 

 cently, most bee- 

 keepers have put 

 off painting. 

 Now that the wholesale price of linseed oil 

 has dropped over 50 per cent, and the price 

 of turpentine has dropped still more, be- 

 sides a heavy drop in prices of lead and 

 zinc, which are the principal raw materials 

 entering into the manufacture of the best 

 white paints, we should naturally expect to 

 purchase good ready-mixed paints at half 

 the price of a year ago. However, such is 

 not the case, as manufacturers are on Jan. 1 

 holding up the wholesale price around .$.').50 

 per gallon and expect the retailer to pass 

 along the high price to the consumer at 

 around $4.50 to $5.00 per gallon retail. 



On Jan. 1 raw linseed oil was quoted in 

 New York at 80c per gallon wholesale, and 

 turpentine at 75c. Both are cheaper than 

 that now. The St. Louis market price of pig 

 lead was down to $4.50 per 100 pounds, and 

 zinc at $5.65. The present prices of raw ma- 

 terials would warrant a retail price of not 

 to exceed $3.00 per gallon for the very best 



PAINT FOR BEEHIVES 



Importance of Using Only High 

 Grades of Paint. How to Interpret 

 Formulas on Labels of Mixed Paint 



By A. N. Clark 



m i X e <1 paints. 

 About the only 

 w ay to avoid 

 p a y ing tribute 

 to jiaint profit- 

 eers would seem 

 to be to mix 

 your own paints 

 out of such ma- 

 terials as you 

 can purchase at reasonable prices. If white 

 lead and zinc white in paste form can not be 

 purchased at a satisfactory price, the farm- 

 ers' old reliable red-barn paint, made of a 

 good quality of Venetian red, raw linseed 

 oil, and turpentine, mixed by the user, is a 

 very durable paint, and has goo<l hiding 

 power. It is very satisfactory on chaff hives 

 and on single-wall hives that are fairly well 

 shaded from the sun, but is too warm for 

 sun-exposed hives. In ordinary times under 

 ordinary circumstances it is the best econ- 

 omy to use the best white paint for single- 

 wall hives. 



What Constitutes a Good Paint. 

 The requisites of a high-grade paint are: 

 Durability, leaving a good surface for re- 

 painting, hiding power or opaqueness, 

 spreading capacity, and failing only by 

 gradual wear. 



White lead has great hiding powers, but 

 when used alone chalks off as dust. When 



