1881 



GLEAXIXGS IX BEE CULTURE. 



269 



was even better than the wire friend Bliss sent. 

 You want your frame all wired as usual, and your 

 sheets of fdn. cut so as to just fill the frames. Have 

 a board also, eut so as to just slip inside the frame. 

 Lay the wired frame over the hoard, and put the 

 sheet of fdn. between the diagonal and upright wires. 

 Now run your button-horik along on each wire, with 

 force enough to imbed the wire slightly. Turn the 

 frame over, and do the same with the diagonal wires, 

 and it is ready to hang in the hives. We can mail 

 you a hook, already grooved, for 10c. , if you can not 

 make one cheaper. Of course, the Given machine 

 does all this cheaper, but it costs $40. CO, and every- 

 body can not afford one. 



FRIEND ALLEY ON QUEEN-CAGES. 



.VL,SO SOME RE.MAFKS IN JiEGARU TO SENDING 

 QUEENS BY .MAIL. 



S SHALL use a sponge tilled wilh honey instead of 

 sugar candy. Experimenting with candy last 

 year cost me the loss of many queens. I do not 

 lose one queen in fifty with sponge and honey. Now 

 I will explain about the cage. ]t is made ?3 inch 

 wide, so as to give more space of sponge tothebees. 

 thus making the food hold out longer. In shipping, 

 the tin might press in: but as I make them the tin is 

 on solid against the wood on all sides, and can not 

 press in. 



In shipping 2, 4, 6, or more queens at one time, I 

 will place '.the wire face to face, but reversing the 

 sponges, so that the bees in one cage can feed from 

 the sponge in the other. In shipping 3 queens, I will 

 make the tin one inch shorter, and cover the sponge 

 with wire cloth, and then the bees in all three cages 

 can draw food from their neighbors. Bees in such 

 cages will live from 2 to 3 weeks. I think the press- 

 ure of the wire cloth will hold thesponge in place; 

 if not, drive a sharp nail through the side into it. 

 Half a dozen bees to a cage will be all the company a 

 queen will want. 



To put the bees in the cage, keep up the corner of 

 wire not nailed down, and raise it with the index 

 finger. The spring of the wire will keep it down. I 

 have done this all my days. 



alley's improvement on the peet cage. 



I can bore the holes in them with power, and can 

 do it much quicker than I can nail them up. Then 

 again, the cages used to-day are much stronger and 

 neater. I have put a few bees in them, and covered 

 the tin with paper, to keep the bees away from the 

 cold tin. I have no idea that the bees will be alive 

 when they get to Medina, as they have not had a 

 chance to fly for a few days, and the weather is too 

 cold to ship them. Cloth would be much better 

 than paper to protect the bees against the cold tin. 

 My object in sending these cages is to have you 

 make some improvement, if any can be made. My 

 experience in the queen-shipping line is as exten- 

 sive as almost any one's; but it takes everybody to 

 know everything. I have bothered over cages more 

 or less for a month past, and have finally settled on 

 the style sent you to-day. H. Alley. 



Wenham, Mass., April 16, 1881. 



The principal feature of the above oa^e is 

 the manner of holding the tin slide. This 

 slide has each side folded up partially, say 

 at about an angle of 4) degrees. Well, 

 grooves are cut for this slide to slide in, on 

 the same angle, near the edge of the cage, as 

 you see in the cut. These grooves need to 

 be far enough from the edge so there will be 

 no danger of splitting out. We will place 

 .•<o.00 to the credit of friend A. for this sim- 

 ple device, and I expect to get my money 

 back by making you such cages for 6 cts. 

 each, or 50 cts. per doz.; you may have a 

 sponge or candy in them, as you choose. 

 ^ly experience with the sponge of honey has 

 resulted in so much daubing of all parties 

 interested, as well as the bees, that I have 

 given it up in favor of the candy. Friend 

 JNIoore and others use candy and a sponge 

 too. In making them by the quantity, we 

 shall use thick basswood plank, and "after 

 boring the holes into the edge of the plank 

 by machinery, the cages will be sliced off 

 with a saw, planed on both sides, groove cut 

 for the slides and wire cloth, in long pieces, 

 and then the cages will be cut up. By sli- 

 ding the wire cloth into a groove just like 

 the one that holds the thi, the rough edges 

 are covered, so if you put a cage into your 

 pocket, it is not going to catch on your hand- 

 kerchief, etc. The idea of putting two to- 

 gether, so the bees can get candy or honey 

 through the wire cloth of the next one, is 

 also a brilliant conception, if I may be ex- 

 cused. By leaving off one tin and'one wire 

 cloth from two of them, they can be tied to- 

 gether, so as to send a single queen long dis- 

 tances. I very much dislike so many 

 changes, but I think this cage offers suffi- 

 cient advantages in the two features men- 

 tioned, as well as cheapness. I should put 

 the bees in by drawing back the tin slide. 

 The bees mentioned came all alive. 



FRIEND FLANAGAN'S FIRST EXPERI- 

 ENCE IN SELLING BEES BY 

 THE POIND. 



ALSO SOME HINTS ABOUT GETTING THEM TO SELL. 



-^y^OU see, we sent friend Y. some orders 



2| to hll, and here is what he says about 



—' it : — 



Friend Root .-—Don't scold. On coming back from 

 the express office this evening I went to introduce a 

 young queen (virgin) to the nucleus from which I 

 had taken one of those I sent out. I thought I would 

 see how many bees they had, and if they would need 

 more in the place of those removed; and behold, on 

 the second comb, the queen as large as life. I felt 

 bad, I tell you. No chance of getting her with her 

 bees, as the express had left an hour before. I went 

 and got a Peet cage, caught her and about 15 bees, 

 and will send her by mail in the morning when I 

 post this letter, and will write to Loveland and ex- 

 plain how it came that there was no queen with one 

 of his packages. In the other I caught her majesty 

 after I had caged and weighed the bees, so I am sure 

 one is all right. I saw her (the one that was left) on 

 the comb when I shook it into the tunnel, but she 

 must have taken wing instead of going down with 

 the other bees. It has taught me a lesson that I will 

 try to profit by. And now for a question or two, and 

 then a little chat, and I will bid you good-night. 



In selling bees by the pound, is it safe to shake in, 



