1881 



GLEA:Ni:srGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



29 



over them, or wrap the cage up? and when will you 

 have your Bee-keeper's Diary and Acoouut-book 

 ready? "We are waiting- patiently for one. 



T. & C. l)r\Ar,i-. 

 Spencervillc, Mont. Co.. Md., Dec. 10, 1880. 



Which is the best (lueen cage? is just the 

 ((uestioii I would like to have answered. At 

 l)resent. J feel most favorably toward some- 

 thing like the ^Nb'Coid cage, i)ictured on ]>. 

 445, Sept. No. We may adopt the iilau of 

 letting the (jueens out, embodied in the Peet 

 cage. Friend Martin's remarks in this Xo. 

 ill regard to it, so nearly coincide with my 

 own experience, tliat I feel anxious to get 

 as many reports as we can, Itefore making 

 cages for another season.— -Most assuredly. 

 we can not send a pound of bees by mail. 

 JIow long do you think the department 

 would allow us even to send queens, should 

 such a thing be attemiitedV— Cover the wire 

 cloth, by all means. MeCord's cage accom- 

 plishes this nicely.— The account-book will 

 be out some time this winter. 



ORAPE SUGAH. 



I am thanklul that there is such an article as 

 grape sug-ar. My bees take it up rapidly out of the 

 barrel as it came from the factory, or in a liquid 

 state out of inverted glass jars, or candy, molded in 

 wooden butter-plates, in\'erted over the bees on the 

 frames in hives. 1 have no fear that feeding grape 

 sugar to my bees will injure the sale of my honey. 



Du Page, Ills , May 18, IS.'^U. S. Anglemire. 



THE PARIS machine; WHITE WAX FOR STARTERS; 

 GROOVINCi SECTIONS FOR STARTERS, ETC. 



Concerning the Faris fdn. machine: I inclose sam- 

 ples, so that you can see where the trouble is. I 

 can not get perfect impressions on both sides by 

 dipping one plate; but by dipping both plates I can 

 get it right, except that it is a little too thick for 

 starters. I have no trouble with my large plates. 

 I have quite a quantity of this white wax (like the 

 spniple inclosed.) Is it not better for starters than 

 the yellow? When one of 1 he plates gives out, will 

 they both have to be put in? if not, how would you 

 do it? 



P. S.— I forgot to say, that the sections came all 

 right. I was a little disappointed when I found that 

 you did not go as per order; but when I found that 

 "Parker machine" away down in the middle of one 

 of the boxes, and tried it,— well, I wilted. I suppose 

 you know better what we want than we know our- 

 selves; you did in this case, any how. How much 

 shall I send you for that Parker machine? 



Lekoy Vankirk. 



Washington, Pa., Dec. 11, 1880. 



I think you are succeeding as well as any- 

 body, friend y.\ for, if you will recollect, I 

 have never yet decided the Faris machine to 

 be a success all around. There is this to 

 console us, however : although the work does 

 not look just as we would like to have it, it 

 is used by the bees, so far as I can see, just 

 about as well. White wax is not good; it is 

 too hard. This has l)een fully deiiionstrated 

 by many experiments. If the yellow is light 

 colored and veiy thin, it makes so little tlif- 

 ference in tne appearance of the honey, that 

 it is really no object to have white. When 

 one of the Faris plates gives out, I presume 



you will have to make a new pair. This is 

 why (or, rather, the constant liability of the 

 machine to give out) I have declined to offer 

 them for sale. However, if each bee-keeper 

 makes his own, and can set to work and till 

 his machine anew as often us a plate fails. I 

 do not know but that it may do very well. 

 Now a word in regard to nice sheets of fdn. 

 for making these plates. As we have to 

 take umisual care, to get the cells perfect, 

 and have also to take extraordinary care in 

 packing, we shall have to charge, hereafter, 

 double ordinary prices for sheets wanted for 

 makinj^ plaster casts.— Many thanks for your 

 P. S., friend Y. Once in a great while we 

 have a customer ^\•ho orders his sections 

 grooved for fdn.; btit as Ave know very well 

 he is making a mistake, and the trouble of 

 grooving them will be more than the cost of 

 a "Parker machine," we have been in the 

 habit of putting them in without charge, as 

 we did yours. 



A GOOD REPORT FROM BOX HIVES AND BLACK BEES, 



ETC. 



I Started this spring with .5(5 swarms, ail blacks, ex- 

 cept 3 that were hybrids, and all in box hives except 

 4, and those were in such bad shape that there was 

 only one whose frames I could remove. In June, .'> 

 of my swarms proved to be queenless from some 

 cause. Perhaps the cause was old ago of queen. I 

 transferred them into Simplicity hives, and had 

 some dilficultj' in getting them to raise queens and 

 build up, as there came ou a honey dearth just at 

 that time, and I had to feed the most of them 

 through July, as I took about all the honey from 

 them when transferred. I have had only 5 natural 

 swarms this season, and one of them went to the 

 woods. I have made one artiflcial swarm, so that I 

 have til good swarms; 10 in Simplicity hives, and 51 

 in box hives. Those in the Simplicity have not made 

 any surplus honey this year, as three of the natural 

 swarms came in August. Honey all told this year, 

 from new swarms and transferred, would be about 

 50 lbs. My 51 other hives have done better for me 

 this year than the average, 1 think. I have taken 

 5C00 lbs. of honey in ~-\h. sections from the 51 

 swarms. Two swarms in box hives, and black bees, 

 made ~50 lbs. of honey apiece in 2-lb. sections. How 

 is that " for high," and black bees and box hives? I 

 have sold almost all of it, and could sell 5 tons here 

 if I had it, at 14 to 15c per lb. ; of course, it is not a 

 very large price, but it pays at that. 



I shall use the Simplicity hive after this. They 

 are the best style of hive that 1 ever had, and I have 

 tried a good many different kinds. 1 have had bees 

 for 23 years, but never paid any attention to them 

 until lately, of any amount. There has always been 

 trouble in getting bees through the winter here, and 

 I was in hopes that somebody would find some plan 

 that would work well without loss. I have always 

 let my bees remain on the summer stands with sur- 

 plus-honey boxes on, and the last two or three win- 

 ters they have done well— hardly losing a swarm. 

 They face the south, and are under sheds; and when 

 the sun shines too warmly I put boards up before 

 them, if it was not warm enough for them to get 

 back to the hi\ es. I shall pack them this winter in 

 straw, but shall leave them on the stands. 



E. Rathbun. 



Millington, Tuscola Co., Mich., Dec. 8, 1880. 



