224 



GLEAivINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



^VIRIING FRAMES. 



A WAY TO DO IT WITHOUT MAI'IIINERY. 



MERE is my way of wiring frames. Take a piece 

 of ^A board 3 feet long by 9U inrhes wide, 



and on it place another piece 5-16 thick, and 



perfectly square, that will Just lit inside of frames, 

 and lined as in diagram, and fastened with four 

 small screws. This board should be hollowed on 



bottom edge 1-16 in. with a true sweep from corner 

 to corner, so the bottom of frame, in wiring, may 

 spring up to the board. Now for the operalinn, the 

 board being ready (understand, my frames are all 

 made without being piuiehed:) Taki; this board 

 across jour knees, place the frame upon it, swing 

 your button on, to hold the frame on to board; have 

 a small awl, and make holes right where lines <m 

 board come to frame; then "cant" up your board 

 and drive a six-oz. tack about half way in to center 

 of bottom of frame; measure off your wire, 7 ft. 3 

 in.; take hold of the two ends, and slant from top- 

 bar, through the two center-holes, down through 

 bottom-bar, back up through, and bring ynur diag- 

 onals down through bottom : draw tight, and take a 

 turn or two around the tack with each end, and drive 

 the tack in, leaving it sticking through. Place the 

 bottom of your tin bar over the point of the tack, 

 and spring in top swing of your buttons, and you 

 have a perfect frame, and I can wire one every S'i 

 minutes. I send this for the benefit of beginners. 



You will see, by springing in the bar, that it will 

 press the bottom of frame back on a straight line. 

 I punch the two center-holes in top under the guide- 

 bar, next two over, and ends under, passing diag- 

 onally over one and under the other, bringing them 

 down to the tack. L. S. Smith. 



Cherryfield, Me., Apr. If, 1881. 



Many thanks, friend Smith. Although 

 your plan of l)oring the holes by hand seems 

 a little ]al)orious, if you can do a frame every 

 2^ minutes, you do pretty well. The uay 

 we manage here to get the wire just the 

 right length, we take a thin hoard, just i- 

 the length wanted, and sharpen both ends. 

 Cover these ends with folded tin so tlie wire 

 Avill not cut into it, and then wind the wire 

 from a pair of swifts over the board. When 

 all on, cut the folds at one end, and you have 

 exactly the length, and a bend right where 

 the middle comes. This enables you to draw 

 it through right. Girls about a dozen years 

 old put the wires in with a frame quite sim- 

 ilar to yours. We pay them SUc per hundred 

 frames, and they can do a hundred in a day 

 without working hard. 



Neiohuor jAQUiTH,of New Portage, bought of us, 

 July 21st, 1 lb. of bees and queen, which he put at 

 once on empty combs, without any brood, and he 

 says now, April Vth, that they are a good swarm. Of 

 course, they were fed, the season being poor; but 

 they had no other help. This answers partly the 

 question that has been asked so many times, as to 

 what 1 lb. of bees and queen will do, in a hive tilled 

 with combs. 



|^^oj% §n§cumgmg. 



^ AST fall I packed in chaff 03 swarms, and have 

 Jlyjl now 57; wintered a few on 3 combs. Many 

 here have lost all their bees. Fiiend Townley 

 (I believe he is the man) has placed allot us under 

 obligations for having introduced chatf as a protec- 

 tion for bees. The bee-keepers of America should 

 present him with a medal or a handsome sum in 

 cash. J. A. Newton, M.D. 



Boonville, Ind., April 10, 1881. 



I think a>)OUt half of the bees in this part 

 of the State are dead. I wintered in the cellar, 

 and had unusual success. Out of 90 stocks, Cyp- 

 rians, I lost onlj' 3 (one was queenless, and 

 one starved.) In an experience of some 10 

 years, I never had my bees conic through so well be- 

 fore. Give me a good cellar for a winter such as 

 this. For early and late breeding, give me the Cyp- 

 rians. I. B. R. Sheurick. 



Mt. Zion, Macon Co., 111., April 15, 1881. 



In consideration of the multitude of gloomy re- 

 ports, we would add another cheering one to ours of 

 an earlier date. We have a small apiary of 8 stands 

 of blacks, about miles in the country; 3 chaff, i L. 

 and 3 old box hives, all of which are in splendid or- 

 der, and are to-day testing the new candy you sent us 

 last week. They.were warmly tucked up under 4- 

 inch chaff cushions, but had no other protection or 

 care; were out on their summer stands. 



Cleveland, O., March 31, 1881. A. C. Kendkl. 



I put 155 in a cellar, or bee-cave, on the loth of No- 

 vember, and have just finished taking them out to- 

 day, the 1.5th of April, live mouths, or 151 days, with- 

 out a fly, and all are alive and kicking. Have not 

 lost one so far. Some few had dysentery. One of 

 these were Italians; about 30 were hybrids; the rest 

 were blacks. Now how will this jibe with friend E. 

 A. Morgan's report in last Gleanings? he says, "If 

 you must winter in cellars, put none in but pure 

 Italians." I merely refer to this to show that black 

 bees can be wintered in cellar as well as Italian. 

 Quite a large number of bees have died in this coun- 

 ty, as we have had a terrible winter. There is still 

 lots of snow on the north hill-sides yet. 



ROBT. QuiNN. 



Shellsburg, Benton Co., Iowa, April 15, 1881. 



Or liCtters from Those "IVlio Iiave MficIo 

 Bee Culture a Failure. 



(^ITAKTED. into winter-quarters with 

 ^jj) about 140 stocks, in chaff hives, well 

 protected, but pretty weak in bees. 

 During the Avinter and spring, the queens 

 Avere sold out of perhaps 20 of them, and the 

 bees were put Avith otliers. To-day, April 22, 

 I have 12 hives with bees in them. Three of 

 the 12 are gathering pollen fairly, but the 

 other 9 will pull tlirough, only Avith the A'ery 

 best kind of weather and care. The cause 

 of the loss, so far as I can tell, is, hrst, too 

 few bees ; second, that the combs were 

 liandled and mixed during the process of 

 uniting after queen-rearing, so that the bees 



