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GLEANINCiS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 15 



ly for it. The day may never come when 

 the bee-keeper shall have a legal right to 

 territory; but if so, then the day will never 

 come when bee-keeping will be on a stable 

 footing like^any other business. 



After getting that Portland cement laid I'm 

 not sure but every thing else would be about 

 the same as I have to-day; so I'll tell you 

 what I have, mentioning it wherever I'd like 

 any thing different. It is well to premise 

 that white clover is pretty much the only 

 source of surplus in my locality, making it 

 advisable to work for comb honey; although 

 a fall flow from cucumbers and some other 

 things generally helps to fill up the hives for 

 winter. ' 



My hives are eight- frame dovetailed, used 

 two- story high whenever needed before the 

 honey- harvest, but always reduced to one 

 story when supers are given. (If I were not 

 giving close attention to my bees I should 

 want larger hives so as to avoid the danger 

 of starvation in winter. ) 



My frames are Miller frames, and here is 

 a good place to say that preference is always 

 given to that which is like what others have 

 —in other words, to that which is in fashion 

 and to be found listed in the catalog of deal- 

 ers so long as they catalog any thing nearly 

 as good as the best; so I'm pretty well in 

 fashion. I think the Miller frame is the 

 most unfashionable thing I have. That's as 

 much as to say that I think it a good deal 

 better than any thing regularly listed, al- 

 though it doesn't vary so much from the 

 fashion after all. It's a plain wood frame, 

 with top bar, end- bars, and bottom bars all 

 the same width, 1| inches. Top-bar is i 

 thick, with the ordinary double saw-kerf and 

 wedge for fastening in foundation, with cut- 

 off ends ■ Bottom bar is in two parts, each 

 J inch wide, the lower edge of the founda- 

 tion occupying the | space between the two 

 parts, thus makiniar the finished bottom-bar 

 1| inches wide. The frame is filled with 

 foundation which touches the end-bars at 

 each end. It is deep enough so that, after 

 it is wedged in the top- bar, it comes down 

 between the two parts of the bottom- bar. 

 Only one part of the bottom-bar is nailed on 

 until the foundation is in place; and after 

 the foundation is in place the second half of 

 the bottom- bar is nailed on, and at the mid- 

 dle a nail is driven through both parts, 

 squeezing the foundation tight between the 

 two parts. "The frame is spaced automatic- 

 ally endwise by the usual staple; but the 

 side spacing is by means of common IJ-inch 

 nails driven in so as to project | inch. If I 

 lived in Europe I'd use nails with heads of 

 the proper thickness to be driven in automat- 

 ically the right depth. But I don't live m 

 Europe. If I were beginning all over, I'd 

 send to Europe for the right kind of nails, 

 or else have them made to order, although I 

 suppose it would be an expensive thing to 

 have only a few thousand made to order. 



As already shown, the frame is entirely 

 filled with foundation, and to prevent its 

 sagging or buckling I again depart from the 

 fashion by using five foundation- splints per- 



pendicularly, each splint being iV square, 

 and boiled in wax. 



Proof that I am not over- conservative lies 

 in the fact that I have deserted the reversi- 

 ble bottom- board— my own invention— al- 

 though the one I am now using is equally my 

 own invention, if any thing so simple can be 

 called an invention. It is nothing more than 

 a plain box two inches deep, open, of course, 

 at the entrance end. That allows a space of 

 two inches under the bottom bars all the 

 year round except during the honey- harvest. 

 At that time the space is filled up so as to 

 leave only J or | inch under bottom- bars. 

 To fill up this space a sort of rack is made 

 of any old stuff t-plit up and then nailed to- 

 gether, raft- fashion, by cross-pieces. This 

 keeps the bees from building down just as 

 well as if it were solid, but gives extra 

 chance for ventilation. 



For surplus arrangement the T super (but 

 I wouldn't Uke to have the T super without 

 knowing how to use it), with plain wood sep- 

 arators, and one-piece two-beeway sections 

 4iXli, with possible experimenting to get 

 a section of same weight but a little thinner 

 and taller. 



For hive-covers I'd get an outfit to start 

 with of zinc- covered ones with dead- air 

 space, groan at the thought of paying about 

 30 cents apiece for them, and then go to ex- 

 perimenting on cloth, paper, ruberoid, etc., 

 to see if I couldn't find something just as 

 good at less cost. 



Perhaps that's as far as I need to go; for 

 those are about all the things that would 

 make any serious trouble for one if he should 

 make the wrong start. Of course, I would 

 have smoker, bee-brush, hive-tool, bee-veil, 

 tent-escape, etc., but it wouldn't be a seri- 

 ous matter to change any one of these; but 

 it would be a serious matter, as I know 

 from experience, to change hives. 



THE FERRIS SYSTEM OF PRODUCING 

 COMB HONEY, AND SWARM CONTROL. 



The Ferris Comb-honey Attachment ; its Advan- 

 tage over other Forms of Supers. 



BY A. K. FERRIS. 



Continued from page SS2, 



A comb of brood is used on either side of 

 the attachment, as shown in cuts 11 and 12. 

 These combs of brood are the most power- 

 ful agents we have to induce comb-building 

 and honey- storing. 



A few days before we remove the old 

 queens we slip a frame or two of foundation 

 in the center of each brood- nest, in order to 

 get nice clean white combs to be used in 

 connection with the attachment. This will 

 be drawn out, and, if done properly, will be 

 well filled with eggs and larv^. It is very 

 important that they be as full as possible. 



In some localities where pollen is very 

 abundant at the time of the flow, drone- 

 comb foundation may be used in sections to 

 exclude it, for, no doubt, nearly all have no- 



