1881 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



373 



that the good qualities found in the blacks and hy- 

 brids are also found in the Italians. 



L. W. Van KIRK. 

 Washiug:tOD,ra., June 10, 1881. 



i* m w 



HO^V AN A B C SCHOLAR 7IA:VAGES. 



SWAS just tbinkinj?, friend K., I would like to 

 " toot roy horn," as I see many of the ABC 

 — ■ class are doing. On the 30t"h of March, 1880, I 

 purchased a colony, brought them home, drove 4 

 stakes in the ground, leaving them about 2 feet 

 high; set up the hive, thinking I might shortli' be a 

 bee-keeper. They never swarmed last summer; at 

 least, I never saw them. I watched them closely— 

 the bees hanging in clusters outside of the hive 

 nearlj' all summer. The entrance was U of an inch 

 by 3 inches long. To make things better, a colt got 

 in in early winter, and over went the hive, loosening 

 many of the combs. I left them there all winter 

 without protection, and they came out all right. Re- 

 ceiving from a friend one of your circulars of Janu- 

 ary, I purchased ABC, made a couple of Simplici- 

 ties, and a smoker, as per directions. On the £2d of 

 April I transferred, using little smoke; got along 

 well. Care assures success. The fun was, I could 

 not find the fjueen, and was afraid I had a fertile 

 worker inside. So I sent to one of your advertising 

 patrons on the 30th, and on the 12th of May she came 

 safely to hand. J went to take the last look for the 

 black queen, when, right before my eyes, there she 

 was. I did not like to kill her, so I took out two 

 frames of sealed brood, and what bees were on, and 

 started a nuclei. They ha-\c a nice lot of sealed 

 brood now, which will hatch out in three or four 

 days. In introducing I took the Italian, and drew 

 open the door. She passed out on the comb, which I 

 was holding in my hand, and my smoker in the oth- 

 er. They were soon in the act of taking her to parts 

 unknown, when I gave them a little smoke, when 

 they let go. 1 did so a couple of times, when they 

 let her pass as an old friend. Will Ellis. 



St. David's, Ont., Can., June 3, 1S81. 



Fl RTUER BHPROVEiTIEATS IN THE 

 FEET CAGE. 



^[pj VEN a very little improvement is quite 

 JTO an item, in an article tised in the apia- 

 ry as much as queen-cages are now; 

 and although the cage below differs but lit- 

 tle from the one we pictured recently, it has 

 features that make it worth while to be il- 

 lustrated again. The first of these is the 

 groove for holding the tin slide. 



LATEST IMPROVED FEET CAGE. 



Instead of making the groove near the 

 corner, and slanting outward, we now make 

 them as you see, right on the corner, slant- 

 ing in toward the center of the block. The 

 tiji slide is simply folded over to an acute 

 instead of obtuse angle. This improvement 



was made by two friends at just about the 

 same time, for both cages came in the same 

 mail. One cage was from our old friend Oli- 

 ver Foster, and the otlier I have had the 

 misfortune to mislay. The other feature is 

 the little tin water-bottle which you see. A 

 description of this will also be found on page 

 397. These little bottles are made bv rolling 

 tagger's tin on a steel rod, say about the size 

 of a round lead-pencil, and putting a cap on 

 each end. The size should be just as largo 

 as it can be and still let a bee "pass over it 

 freely without getting fast between it and 

 the wire cloth. Although this water-bottle 

 is needed only for long distances, queens are 

 much safer with it, and they seem to stand 

 the trip looking much better. The bottle is 

 long enough to just squeeze in across the 

 cage. The orifice is made with the point of 

 an awl. To be sure your bottles do not leak, 

 just put one to your mouth, and, after suck- 

 ing the air out, see if it Avill stick to your 

 tongue. AVe can not have any leaky bottles 

 when shipping queens. We can not, at pres- 

 ent, make these bottles for less than S2.00 

 per liundred. I wish some one else would 

 make them cheaper. Where are our ama- 

 teur tinners ? The bottles are hlled with an 

 oil-can, as I have before explained. 



AVINDING THE WATERBIRY AVATCH. 



EKE is the way I make a " windlass " for wind- 

 ing the Waterbury watch: Take a small 

 piece of wire, and bend it as I have marked. 

 The end at the point catches in 

 one of the grooves on the stem, 

 and keeps the wire from slippiug. 

 A. T. McIlwain, 

 Abbeville C. H., S. C, July 6, '81. 



Many thanks, friend M.; as 

 soon as I saw your idea, I 

 went down into the counter 

 store, and taking a blanket 

 pin from the o-cent counter, 

 with a pair of the round-nose plyers I soon 

 bent it into the shape of the accompanying 

 cut. and the girls who Avind the watches 

 every morning were very much delighted 

 with them. \v e have sent a sample to the 

 factory, and perhaps they will improve on it 

 still more. They might easily be made for 

 a penny each. 



GRAPE SUGAR. 



I HAVE washed a piece of the crystal grape sugar, 

 exactly as Mrs. Harrison has rojiiested me to do, in 

 another column, and I find no residue whatever. 

 The sugar dissolves as perfectly as a piece of rock 

 candy. I presume I am perfectly acquainted with 

 what she alludes to. In feeding grape sugar from 

 the Davenport factory, in a glass jar on a grooved 

 board, as 1 have so many times described to you, wo 

 invariably find a green scum on the surface of the 

 water. This scum has an offensive look, but I have 

 always supposed it was a vegetable scum, like that 

 from sorghum. The Buffalo A sugar shows a very 

 little of this scum, but the crystal sugar that I com- 

 mended so strongly has no residue, and no taste but 

 that of pure sugar, so far as I can discover. As I 

 can not think that Mrs. H. has ever seen any of the 

 genuine, I ha^■e sent her a lump. 



