March, 1923 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



155 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



ward, and this again causes leakage. When 

 the supers reach the shop or honey-room 

 more leakage occurs. Follow those supers 

 wherever they go and you will find much 

 leakage. One must always furnish a rim of 

 some sort upon which to place the bottom 

 super, or else get floors of car and room 

 sticky with honey. 



Compared with the inconvenience of the 

 bee-space above, consider that super with 

 the space below. This super can always be 

 set on the auto floor or upon the shop floor 

 without first setting a something else upon 

 which to place it. Even if there are lumps 

 of comb upon the bottom-bars, or even if 

 those bars are warped, they will not go be- 

 low the bottom edge of the super. Leakage 

 will occur only when the super is placed 

 upon some loose small object like a chip, a 

 butternut, or a nut from the auto. If one 

 keeps floors free from loose objects, there 

 is no likelihood of leakage when the bee- 

 space is below the frames. 



The comb-honey super also is much bet- 

 ter with the space below. When set down 

 on any but a flat surface with the space 

 above, there is much likelihood of pushing 

 the sections up and causing some of them 

 to get jammed. The great advantage, how- 

 ever, is the tin-rest in the case of the bot- 

 tom-spacing. Who can think of a poorer con- 

 trivance than the tin strip tacked to the 

 bottom edges of the ends of the comb-honey 

 super? These tins prevent a close fit of one 

 super upon another, and they are the worst 

 invitation for the deposition of propolis that 

 man ever devised. When the space is below, 

 a very narrow saw-kerf can be made about 

 15/64 of an inch from the bottom of the 

 super edge and the tin-rest slipped into 

 this. It is an arrangement infinitely superior 

 to that in vogue. 



All inner covers should be made with bee- 

 space on either side. The double strip, that 

 is, strip on either edge, greatly reinforces 

 the cover and prevents to a large extent 

 warping and twisting. It can be placed 

 either side down, and is convenient when 

 one wishes to present a clean surface to the 

 bees. It also is better when the escape-board 

 is inserted, for there is no chance that the 

 hole be blocked by bottom-bars or top- 

 bars. 



I made my first hives with spaces above. I 

 knew no better. As I learned better I adopt- 

 ed the other arrangement, making the top 

 of the hive flush with the top-bars, and al- 

 lowing the space below. I have now used 

 this arrangement for 19 years and could not 

 be hired to change. 



Whenever I buy hives which I do not 

 wish to sell again, I at once convert them 

 to my arrangement. This is done very 

 easily. The tin frame rest is removed. A 

 strip of wood is inserted and the tin re- 

 placed. It is a simple thing if you have only 



a few hives, but to do it to 500 hives and 

 the accompanying supers would mean some 

 task. It is too bad the mistake was ever 

 made in the first place. 



Hard as that task would be, I verily be- 

 lieve that I should perform it if it came my 

 way. I surely would do so rather than be put 

 to the inconveniences incident to a bee- 

 space above the frames. No reform can be 

 brought about without some loss, and usually 

 much labor. Allen Latham. 



Norwichtown, Conn. 



SAVES FEEDI NG IN THE SPRING 



Five or Ten Acres of Yellow Biennial Sweet 

 Clover Will Do This 



Every beekeeper should have at least five 

 to ten acres or more of this variety to build 

 up brood-rearing early in the season for the 

 honey flow from alfalfa and other clovers. 

 It blooms so much earlier that a beekeeper 

 can afford to pay $5.00 to $10.00 per acre 

 for the land, for it will keep 100 colonies 

 or more from starving, and it is much bet- 

 ter than to have to feed, besides being 

 cheaper. 



Afalfa often fails to give any nectar the 

 first blooming, but I have not had the yellow 

 sweet clover fail in 20 years. Alfalfa failed 

 to secrete any nectar in my locality the en- 

 tire season of 1921; but I had 50 acres of 

 the yellow sweet clover and about the same 

 amount of the white, and my 100 colonies 

 gave me a good surplus, some colonies filling 

 five shallow extracting supers. In addition 

 to the honey I secured a good crop of seed 

 that I am selling at $6 per bushel. 



In the 20 years or more that I have been 

 raising the yellow sweet clover I have not 

 had a failure in a honey crop; besides, it 

 has built up the land greatly. It is far bet- 

 ter for hay than the white, laeing much more 

 easily cured. E. L. Snodgrass. 



Augusta, Kan. 



PROnT IN BACKLOT BEEKEEPING 



Began When 56 Years Old and Has Got a Lot 

 Out of It 



I am sending you two photos of my back- 

 yard apiary, taken in summer while the crop 

 was on, and in the winter after the hives 

 were packed. The photos might be of some 

 use to you to show to other backlotters (be- 

 ginners) what an ordinary backlotter with 

 a few colonies of bees will do in the way of 

 making money, and the other benefits he de- 

 rives in the way of exercise and pleasure. 



I started this little plant just four sea- 

 sons ago, by purchasing for $3.75 two colo- 

 nies of bees in old hives and transferring to 

 new lO-frame hives. Since then I have each 



