488 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr, 1 



but they had no machinery suitable for that 

 kind of work. 



For the past year I have experimented 

 with the Tinker excluder zinc for separators, 

 and so far I think it the best separator 

 made. The fences, however, are hard to 

 beat; and, with the plain sections, they seem 

 to be just the thing; but for the beeway 

 sections, is there any thing better than the 

 old tin separator? 



Milan, 111. 



[The sample of wire cloth smeared up with 

 comb or wax we had photographed and en- 

 graved exactly as it was. The mesh of wire 

 cloth is the same as that used so successful- 

 ly in York State by Salisbury, House, Grei- 

 ner, and others. 



I well remember when this wire-cloth sep- 

 arator was first brought out, for I stepped 

 into Gleanings editorial chair about that 

 time. There were then reports that the bees 

 would build films of wax on the wire, and 

 otherwise smear them with propol s. It is 

 probable that these unfavorable reports at 

 the very start is what caused them to be 

 dropped prematurely; but certain it is that 

 several of the York State bee-keepers in late 

 years have made a great success with them. 



While they admit that bees will smear wax 

 on them at times, they claim this is true only 

 of certain colonies and in certain seasons, 

 and that, even where the separators are 

 daubed, they can be easily cleaned by im- 

 mersing them in hot water. You refer to 

 this, but urge as an objection that the sep- 

 arators so treated will rust. I can hardly 

 see why this should be so; for in the illustra- 

 tion here shown it appears that the wire 

 cloth was galvanized, for the zinc spelter 

 can be plainly seen that solders the wires to- 

 gether. A galvanized metal is not liable to 

 rust if it is immersed in hot water only once 

 a year for cleaning; and usually anything of 

 this nature taken out of boiling water will 

 dry almost immediately because of the ac- 

 quired heat. If the hot water did not clean 

 them perfectly I would use a little common 

 lye, as Emma Wilson recommends; and if 

 there were danger of rust, throw the sepa- 

 rators, immediately after cleaning, into a 

 box of sawdust, and then give them a good 

 shaking. They will come out dry, I will 

 guarantee. This method of quick drying 

 small metal articles that have been immers- 

 ed in water or other liquids is well known to 

 manufacturers. 



But, friend D., I really believe you are of- 

 fering testimony that is favorable rather 

 than otherwise. You say that ycu tried 200 

 of them the first season, "and to say that I 

 was delighted with them expresses it mild- 

 ly. " You had clean separators to start on. 

 Now if, the second season, you had immers- 

 ed them in a solution of hot lye and water, 

 and dried them in sawdust, I infer that you 

 would have been "delighted" with them 

 the next season; for your chief and only ob- 

 jection was the building of wax on the mesh 

 of the cloth; and because they were smeared 

 up you abandoned them. If i there^ is any 

 one among our contributors who can 'make 



a balky thing work, I beheve it is yourself. 

 I would respectfully suggest that you gather 

 together your old wire-cloth separators and 

 clean them with a lye solution as recommend- 

 ed. If there is one colony inclined to build 

 on to the cloth, requeen it. 



We have never tried these wire- cloth sep- 

 arators; but I was so favorably impressed 

 with what I saw in York State that I am 

 forced to believe that what several good 

 bee keepers can do, a lot more, including 

 yourself, can likewise do. Now that this 

 subject is up for discussion, we should be 

 glad to hear from those who have tested 

 these wire- cloth separators in years gone by, 

 no matter what their testimony may be. 



I might add further that some of the York 

 State bee-keepers use these separators with 

 plain sections, in order that the bees may 

 have a free passageway across the surface 

 of the sections and through the wire cloth 

 from one section to another. 



Twenty years ago you probably were us- 

 ing beeway sections. These, you can readi- 

 ly see, would cause a much larger amount 

 of propolis, because the edges of the sec- 

 tions would come in contact with the wire 

 cloth. The separators that have been used 

 in York State do not touch the plain sections 

 at any point except at the extreme ends, 

 the sections being locked closely together in 

 straight lines, with the separator exactly 

 half way between them, also on a straight 

 line. 



So far the Root Co. has not been able to 

 solve the problem of making these separa- 

 tors cheaply; but many of the benefits of 

 them might be secured by using the four- 

 beeway section, and then going to the hard- 

 ware store and purchasing a roll of wire 

 cloth. This can be taken to a tinshop and 

 cut up into desired sizes. Plain sections re- 

 quire having the separators bound with fold- 

 ed tin, top and bottom, to hold the separa- 

 tor straight. 



This reminds me that N. N. Betsinger 

 was a user of plain sections over twenty years 

 ago; and when I met him in a convention 

 some six or eight years ago he called my at- 

 tention to the fact that we were resurrecting 

 an old idea of his. 



I think you are mistaken as to the date of 

 the Betsinger patent on wire-cloth separa- 

 tors. I was told it ran out about a year 

 ago. That would make the date of the pat- 

 ent about 1888. How long prior to this he 

 may have been using them I do not know. 

 Perhaps Mr. S. D. House, a neighbor of his. 

 could tell us. Indeed, we should be pleased 

 to have him give us his experience, for Mr. 

 House is the man who obtained the idea of 

 Mr. Betsinger, and who has recently brought 

 the merits of the device before the bee-keep- 

 ers of his State.— Ed.] 



On page 402, 1905, I read "Swarming was induced by 

 the flora from cleome." What kind of cleome have you 

 that yields nectar in June? Here we have five kinds, 

 and count on a bloom about the 15th of July. Occasion- 

 ally, but rarely, about one out of 4,444.444, will bloom in 

 June. It lasts until frost. James H. King. 



TCarlton. Ck)l. 



