34 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 1 



to 24 extracting-combs. I have no swarm- 

 ing. The flow was very heavy from orange, 

 but most of it was lost, as most colonies 

 were not strong enough to store so early, 

 and weather was unusually cool in April, so 

 my general crop is only fair. 

 Redlands, Cal.,Oct. 14. Frank McNay. 



HOFFMAN-FRAME TOOL ; PROPOLIS, HOW TO 

 KEEP IT OFF. 



I have long wanted to say something about 

 the discussion on the Hoffman frame. A 

 very important factor has been neglected — 

 that is, the proper tool to use in connection 

 with them. I believe it was described in 

 Gleanings once or twice before. It is sim- 

 ply a pryer and hook made of the narrowest 

 piece of seat-spring steel you can get. Ham- 

 mer and grind sharp one end; draw the oth- 

 er in the form of a shank like that of a large 

 file; have the end § in. wide; turn square, 

 also I of the end; file it sharp, chisel shape; 

 let the whole tool be 10 or 12 in. long. Such 

 a tool will promptly fetch them out for me, 

 and also most conveniently, no matter how 

 much glued. When much strength is nec- 

 essary, use the wide end; otherwise insert 

 the hook end between the frames to pry 

 apart; then push the hook underneath the 

 end of the top-bar furthest from you, hold- 

 ing the nearest end with the left hand. I 

 have used the Hofi^man frames ever since 

 you put them out, and like them well. 



When you work in propoHs time or locali- 

 ties, do not forget to grease your hands. It 

 is much easier to keep propoHs off the hands 

 that way than to wash it off when once on. 

 The wide end is specially to pry apart hive- 

 stories. A. MOTTAZ. 



Utica, 111., Nov. 7. 



[There has been considerable said in these 

 columns about different solvents for remov- 

 ing propolis, but very little comparatively 

 regarding satisfactory methods for prevent- 

 ing this deposit on the fingers. Last year one 

 of our correspondents did mention that a 

 little oil on the fingers would prevent their 

 being soiled. There are certain seasons of 

 the year when propolis is abundant; and if 

 grease of some kind will do the work, by 

 all means use it. If any of our subscribers 

 have had any experience I should be glad to 

 have them tell us about it. — Ed.] 



large hives; destroying a part of the 

 apiary to keep down increase. 

 I am an amateur in bee-keeping, but have 

 been an attentive reader of your journal 

 during the past year. There are one or tWo 

 points I should like further fight on. First, 

 to what extent are very large hives effica- 

 cious to prevent swarming? More honey 

 and less trouble — that's what we all want. 

 Why, some years even the veterans up here 

 leave swarms hanging on trees because ev- 

 ery old hive, keg, and box on the farmis 

 full. One man last fall had increased to 100 

 stands; killed 70 and wintered 30. This year 

 he has but 70 in all — 40 to kill. 



Very few in this vicinity care to winter 

 more than about ten stands, on account of 

 the time and attention required to handle 

 the increase. 



Another question I am after information 

 on is the distance bees will work from their 

 hives. Most people, I believe, claim three 

 miles or thereabouts. One of your corres- 

 pondents, however, argued half to three- 

 fourths of a mile only. The latter strikes 

 me as correct. A. M. Colwell. 



Waconia, Minn., Oct. 26. 



[It is too bad to see such a wholesale de- 

 struction of bees. Some enterprising bee- 

 keeper in the vicinity should buy them cheap. 

 You had better do it yourself, and sell them 

 to your bee-keeping friends at a profit. Do 

 not let any "old-timer" destroy good prop- 

 erty like that. 



Large hives, when run for extracted hon- 

 ey, with proper management, will prevent 

 swarming almost altogether. The Dadants, 

 with their large Quinby hives, have, I think, 

 not to exceed over two per cent of swarm- 

 ing in a season. For particulars you are re- 

 ferred to "Hives" and "Swarming" in 

 our A B C of Bee Culture. 



The distance bees will fly in quest of stores 

 varies according to the locality. The aver- 

 age flight is not much over a mile and a half, 

 although they will often go three miles. 

 In our issue for Dec. 15 I pointed out how 

 the Alexander bees would go five miles. 

 Bees will often fly across a valley or across 

 a body of water further than they will fly 

 over level ground more or less covered with 

 woods and underbrush. —Ed.] 



some of the honey- PRODUCING PLANTS OF 

 EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA. 



On page 1031 Mr. W. R. L. Dwyer, of 

 Hillsboro, Ohio, wishes to know some of the 

 honey-producing plants of this section, the 

 usual production per colony, length of hon- 

 ey-flow, and quality of honey. 



In answering Mr. Dwyer's questions I am 

 sorry to state that modern bee-keeping in 

 this section is in its infancy, so I can not 

 give him the exact information on the aver- 

 age production per colony, but I should say 

 about two supers per colony. I hived a 

 swarm this spring in a Danzenbaker hive on 

 half-inch starters, and in five days the 

 brood-nest was two- thirds full of snow-white 

 honey; but before the bees began work in 

 the supers that flow gave out, and since 

 then there has been scarcely any flow at all. 



Fully a third of the bees in this section 

 have died from starvation this year — some- 

 thing which has not happened before in 

 years. All of my weak colonies died in 

 spite of all the feeding I did, the web- worm 

 eating up the comb. Such a year as this, I 

 have been told, has never been experienced 

 before. One bee-keeper in another section 

 says, "We are about to lose the seed of 

 bees over my way. " 



The general quality of honey here is well 

 flavored, thick, and what I should call am- 

 ber, although the whitest honey I ever saw 



