448 



gijEANInCtS in bee culture 



July, 1922 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



not too hot they can be left closed up until 

 til ere is more time to attend to them. 



If robbers have discovered an opening be- 

 tween the hive and the cover, wet a large 

 cloth and throw it over the hive so that it 

 will hang over and close the crack. A por- 

 tion of the carbolic acid solution, which 

 should be kept in a Mason jar, applied to 

 that portion of the cloth where the rob- 

 bers liave been entering will tend to dis- 

 courage them. S. E. Miller. 



Ehineland, Mo. 



SAG PROOF THIN TOP BARS 



A Metal Truss of Folded Tin Embodied Within 

 the Top Bar 



I was much pleased with the article of 

 Morley Pettit on page 87 of the February 

 Gleanings, in which he advocates a thin 

 top-bar. Only I shall go him one better, as 

 I am planning to make all my frames with 

 a %-iach top-bar. Of course, some one will 

 get up and say: "They will sag." I will 

 answer: "No, they will not when I get done 

 with them." I am preparing machinery to 

 make them with a slot cut through the cen- 

 ter of the top-bar of the frame lengthwise, 

 excepting about one inch at each end, 

 using a saw that will cut nearly 1-12 of an 

 inch kerf. Then I shall use a strip of tin 



Thin top-bar strengthened by a truss made of 

 folded tin. 



cut about one inch wide, and folded lengtli- 

 wise through the center, but leaving tlie 

 edges about % inch open, tlie tin strip to 

 be about Vi inch shorter than the inside of 

 the frame. Then when I put in the founda- 

 tion I insert the folded tin in the slot just 

 lightly and insert the edge of the founda- 

 tion in the fold of the tin, and with a block 

 of wood force the tin and foundation clear 

 through the top-bar. Then I drive about four 

 %-inch brads or small wire nails down into 

 the edge of the top-bar through tin and all. 

 Sucli top-bars do not sag, and the edges of 

 the tin can be crimped so that it will be 

 impossible for the foundation to pull out. I 



can also recommend the above method of 

 fastening those wood center combs H. H. 

 Root tells us about on page 79, that is, for 

 those who prefer thin top-bars. 



Biddle, Mont. E. W. Powell. 



a ■ =ia ^,Qp= t o 



SOURWOOD UNCERTAIN YIELDER 



Like Basswood it is Extremely Sensitive to Weather 

 Conditions in Nectar Secretion 



In the bee journals there is mention made 

 quite often of sourwood honey and its high 

 price and rare quality. It may seem to one 

 who lives in a section where honey brings 

 only 12c a pound that we mountain bee- 

 keepers are certain to get rich in no time. 



For example, without advertising, I sold 

 my entire crop to the consumer this year at 

 $3.50 per 10-pound pail. This was all the 

 sourwood honey that 100 good strong colo- 

 nies of Italian bees made. But it was only 

 1100 pounds. Other good beekeepers in the 

 same section had only enough honey gath- 

 ered to supply the bees. 



Once in a few years the sourwood yields 

 an enormous amount of honey, but the flow 

 is never more than five weeks in duration. 

 Honey may be coming in as fast as the bees 

 can go after it, and there may be a profuse 

 bloom on the sourwood trees, but day after 

 tomorrow the bees may be robbing, because 

 the weather-man has pulled the wrong lever 

 for the beekeeper. In another day or two 

 the flow may come back to some extent, 

 but it will not fully recover. It is highly 

 probable that the bees will gather no more 

 than a living, after the honey flow has failed 

 once, except in case of excessive rain. The 

 blooms are not often damaged by rain, and 

 sunshine starts the nectar again. The queer 

 thing about it is that often the beekeeper 

 does not know what caused the failure. 



So when I read about the long honey flows, 

 and harvesting honey by the carload, I wish 

 I were there. I believe that it takes more 

 careful beekeeping here in the mountains to 

 make a success of honey production than in 

 most localities. If we miss sourwood, we 

 have no salable crop. 



My crop is generally about half bulk 

 comb honey, and half extracted. The price 

 is the same. The demand for extracted 

 grows faster than that for bulk. 



The "skyscraper" hive is unknown here, 

 but I suppose that where it is known the 

 skyscraper price is unknown. If I can't 

 have an average of three supers per hive, 

 all well filled with honey, I can get as much 

 for my one super as my brother beekeeper 

 in the clover belt gets for his three, and feel 

 that it is worth what I get for it. As long 

 as it is so, I think that we should both re- 

 frain from kicking. 



Hendcrsonville, N. C. J. J. Slattery. 



