1578 



GLEANINGS IN BEK CULTURE. 



Dec. 15 



the hive with his hands in his pockets and 

 see what is going on there. 



WAX. 



Wax is made from honey. When the bee 

 wants some wax for her comb she takes a 

 sip of honey, then she takes a nap. When 

 she wakes up she finds her wax-pockets full. 

 But she is not surprised. She moistens the 

 wax in her mouth. Then she pushes and 

 pulls and pats till there is a comb. 



COMB. 



There is drone comb and worker comb. 

 I think it is best to have hatching brood in 

 all of your hives. 1 have seven bee-hives 

 full of bees. 



HIVES. 



Hives ought to be made as well as they 

 can be. You ought to use well-seasoned 

 wood for hive-making. Make your hives 

 very deep. Never have your hives right on 

 the ground. Always have a box under the 

 hive. Have your hives under a tree. A 

 half-barrel shade does not do much good. 



If your hive is being robbed, make the 

 door smaller. D. H. Wilson. 



[This is a Ijetter essay, certainly more cor- 

 rect in statement, than many of the pub- 

 lished magazine articles on bees by profes- 

 sional writers who get their information 

 solely from books. Our young friend has 

 the advantage of them in that he is writing 

 from personal experience. He indulges in a 

 little "poetic license" in one or two places, 

 it is true; but aside from these he is quite 

 correct. — Ed.] 



FASTENING FOUNDATION. 



The Groove-and-Wedge Plan for Holding 



Foundation in the Top-bars; a Simple 



Tool to Imbed the AVedge. 



BY S. E. MILLER. 



I have noticed in Gleanings that many of 

 the readers have trouble in fastening foun- 

 dation in frames by the wedge method. 

 Many claim that the wedges fall out. You 

 have told them reapeatedly that the wedge, 

 in order to be effective, must be imbedded 

 beneath the surface or level of the wood in 

 the top-bar, but to the best of my recollec- 

 tion you have not given a simple and effec- 

 tive method whereby this can be done. I 

 have tried driving them in, but that is far 

 from being satisfactory. I notice that even 

 some such men as Mr. Alexander recom- 

 mend using melted wax and resin for fasten- 

 ing foundation to the top-bar. That is prob- 

 ably the best way when we are obliged to 

 fasten it to a plain surface; but I do not hes- 

 itate to say that the wedge method, if prop- 

 erly done, is the simplest, quickest, and 

 most satisfactory way of any that have come 

 to my notice. 



I am sending you a little tool of my inven- 

 tion, designed especially for imbedding the 

 wedges. Before you pass judgment, and 

 say a lot of things about it, try it according 

 to directions given below. If you are t<>o 

 busy to leave your desk, have one of the 

 boys bring you some frames, wedges, and 

 foundation. 



D. H. WILSON, THE YOUNGEST BEE-KEEl'KK IN PENNSYLVANIA. 



