1881 



GLEANIKGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



541 



I might mention here, that Mrs. Rice has 

 been sending us so many nice queens this 

 fall, that I inquired a little and found she 

 had, besides this 81 of his, been using about 

 30 nuclei, and she has alone sent us altout 

 one hundred dollars- worth of queens. What 

 do you think of that. ladiesV -Again : Last 

 Sunday morning, as I was going down to the 

 factory Bible-class, I heard a humming. 

 Wlien I saw what it was, I went after John, 

 and, placing him right before a clump of 

 blaekheart that grows close to the depot, I 

 bade him look. 



'• John, that is xiolygnnimi 'persiciria that 

 those bees are working on, and " don't you 

 forget it.' " 



The above is the Latin name of blaekheart, 

 or big smartweed. You can always identify 

 it, for it has seeds like miniature buckwheat 

 or beechnuts, for it is a member of the same 

 family. ^Vho knows but that these little 

 buckwheat seeds are not of some value, so 

 that it would pay us to raise the plant, aside 

 from the honeyV Smartweed griddle-cakes! 

 just think of it! To come to ])erfection, the 

 plant seems to need a great deal of water, 

 and grows finely in swampy places along 

 streams. I have heard that it is a great pest 

 in corn-fields in the AVest. This clump by 

 the depot, that the bees were making such a 

 roaring on, was, however, growing right in 

 some hard gravel that had been drawn from 

 a gravel bank, to cover up the Medina clay. 

 Each plant branches out, so that a single 

 root will make a large bed of blossoms. I 

 feel just now like starting a large bed of 

 polygonum down by the pond, near the Simp- 

 son held. May be I shall never get to it, 

 though. Perhaps you will, my friend. If 

 you do, I want to see it when I get around 

 your way.— Friend W., we want to be thank- 

 ful for even a late crop, and make the most 

 of it. 



AVHAT DADANT TELiL^i EUROPEANS 

 ABOUT COMB FOUNDATION. 



TRANSLATED FROM THE BULLETIN D'APICULTURE, 

 BY W. P. ROOT. 



fjHE first sheets of fdn. were made with a press, 

 in Germany; but the impressions, not being 

 ' deep enoug-h, it often happened that the bees, 

 instead of continuing the worker cells (which at best 

 were but outlined), built drone-cells; defeating one 

 of the chief advantages of this invention. 



One day I learned that a New Yorker was selling 

 sheets of fdn. I bought a pound for trial, for a dol- 

 lar. The bees were no more astonished at the arti- 

 cle than I; which, being made of parafflne, was very 

 beautiful, though the bees hastened to throw it out. 



Some time after, Mr. A. I. Root, editor of Glean- 

 ings, announced that he had made a machine, made 

 with rolls, and otfered for sale fdn., and afterward 

 the machines. I tried the new fdn., and I was so 

 well satisfied that I proposed to my son, who is my 

 partner, to buy a machine to make up about 300 lbs. 

 of wax which we had at that time. He consented, 

 and we then started out In the fabrication of frames 

 of artificial foundation. 



No one then, not even the maker, knew exactly 

 how to manage the machine. At times the sheets 

 would come from the rolls with extreme ease; an 

 hour after, they would all stick, and it was an ever- 



lasting job to clean out the dents in the rollers. But 

 experience came at last, and, by adding remark to 

 remark, we have succeeded in manufacturing 

 smooth fdn. without trouble. 



Soon a new machine appeared. Mrs. Dunham, a 

 Wisconsin lady, produced rolls with deeper cells. 

 Our business having extended, it was necessary to 

 have this machine in order to have an assortment. 



Two other kinds are made, but I have seen the 

 work, which leaves much to be desired. 



Then the press was reinvented, which, I think, is 

 much inferior toroUs, and costs nearly as much. 



At last, the wax-mold was invented. The plaster 

 molds, which are dipped in a bath of wax, to till 

 them, mil with the wax, and are not durable. 



We now come again to speak of the rolls at the 

 bottom of the shallow cells. One can now obtain 

 sheets of extreme thinness, which are used for hon- 

 ey in sections; but this article has limited sale, es- 

 pecially in France. 



There are, then, really, but two makers in the 

 United States who deserve serious mention; they 

 are: A. I. Root, whose prices are,— 



Mac'hiiifs for sheets 12 inches hmy. .m'l iiiinimetiTs $100 



Mrs. Dunham : — 



Maeliiiies for sheets 13 iiiehes long. »i:t millinieter.- 



Mrs. Dunham's machines make less finished fdn. 

 than those of Mr. Root; but it suffices— at least, it is 

 accepted by the bees. Root's machines are better 

 finished, also more firm; those of Mrs. Dunham have 

 been preferred on account of the thickness of the 

 fdn., which prevents its sagging under the weight of 

 the bees, or of the brood, or honey. But Mr. Root 

 also makes them with deep cells when ordered. 



With the Root machine (such as he makes without 

 contrary orders), one can make from 6 to 7 feet to 

 the pound. The Dunham machine can make only 

 ■iJi feet to the pound. 



As I have said, I have had a Dunham machine sent 

 to R. Denis, of Vendhuile, a member of our society. 



Perhaps it would be well here to give directions to 

 fasten the sheets in the frames; but I am afraid of 

 abusing the kindness of the members of the Soc. de 

 la Somme. Ch. Dadant. 



DIVISION-BOARDS, IMPORTANCE OF. 



HEN I first began bee-keeping, I felt the 

 need of an expansible and contraotible 

 hive, so that I might, without having 

 two or three sizes, keep my colonies properly 

 proportioned to the room they occupied; and 

 for a long time I was greatly troubled for a way 

 in which to overcome this difliculty. At last I stud- 

 ied out the remedy. It was division-boards. These 

 boards, properly constrvicted and judiciously used, 

 are important accessories to successful bee culture, 

 and no apiary can be said to be well furnished that 

 does not keep a stock of them constantly on hand. 

 By their use, many stocks can be successfully win- 

 tered that otherwise would perish, and weak ones 

 build up to strong ones that otherwise would have 

 to be united with others in order to save them. This 

 subject I deem of great importance to A B C schol- 

 ars; and in order that they may know just what to 

 use, and how to use them, " I arise to explain." 



They must be made of some material that will re- 

 tain the warmth generated by the bees, and I know 



