1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



489 



and not leak. I am using it on 150 new 

 covers this spring, and my covers are flat. 

 You can draw your own conclusions. 



G. Brundage. 

 Salisbury Mills, N. Y., March 8. 



HOME-MADE UNCAPPING-BOX. 



I enclose a rough sketch of my uncapping- 

 box. The box is made of ^-inch pine, 20 

 inches wide, and 30 inches long, by 20X24 

 inches deep. It is lined with galvanized 

 iron, and has a strip of pine on one side to 



wipe the knife off. The screen you see 

 standing at the end goes in the inside, so 

 that the caps can't drop on the bottom of 

 the box. You see it is just the right height 

 so you don't have to bend over while at 

 work. The above works better than any 

 thing else that I have seen. 

 Monroe, N. Y. Harley Smith. 



[In California this is a very common form 

 of uncapping- box. If the uncapper is at 

 any time ahead of the man with the ex- 

 tractor it will hold the extra combs and still 

 allow the former to keep right on. Either 

 you or our artist failed to show the cross- 

 board on which the combs are uncapped. 



It would be better to set the combs in the 

 box cornerwise so that they could be picked 

 up more easily. — Ed.] 



THIEVES DESTROYED ALL THE HIVES. 



In our town there are only fifty voters to 

 each saloon, and the result is distress, pov- 

 erty, and crime. I had a few colonies of 

 bees, and one after another was taken by 

 thieves who took all the honey after wreck- 

 ing the hives. All my hives have been de- 

 stroyed in this way. 



I would like to keep bees again, but how 



can I be protected from cold in winter and 

 thieves in summer? I consulted Gleanings 

 and your ABC, and find but little about 

 house-apiaries. I have a fine location for 

 bees, but can not keep them without winter 

 and summer protection. Could the hives in 

 a house-apiary be placed close against each 

 other with their entrances on the same level? 

 Would the bees mix and make confusion if 

 the entrances were only the width of a hive 

 apart? Can you help a fellow out? 



E. Van Fradenburg. 

 Liberty, N. Y., March 2. 



[One saloon to fifty voters! my, oh my! It 

 is a wonder decent people can exist at all in 

 such a place. No wonder your bees were 

 stolen. Saloons are invariably the accom- 

 paniment of lawlessness. We hope you will 

 have a local-option law in your State better 

 than the one you have, whereby you can de- 

 bar these nuisances out of your community. 

 Then, and not until then, will you be able to 

 keep bees in your yard in peace. At present 

 your only solution of the question is a house- 

 apiary. The hives outdoors should be placed 

 inside, with a tube or channel way, connect- 

 ing the entrance of the hive inside to the 

 outside. Of course, it is desirable to keep 

 the hives as far apart as possible. But I 

 have been in house-apiaries where hives 

 were crowded together in actual contact, and 

 good crops of honey were secured. 



The alighting-boards on the outside of the 

 hives should be painted dift'erent colors, and 

 each board should be differently constructed 

 from the one next to it. A little ingenuity 

 would devise quite a variety of alighting- 

 places. Some of the entrances might have 

 porticos and others only plain alighting- 

 boards. One board might be narrow and the 

 other wide. — Ed.] 



A NEW USE FOR BASSWOOD-TREES. 



Bass wood- blossoms dried in the shade and 

 kept from the air are one of the best fever 

 medicines for children (as any German doc- 

 tor will tell you) ; and they are not so harm- 

 ful in their effects as are quinine and gelsa- 

 mine. I don't think you will find a single 

 drugstore in Germany without a goodly sup- 

 ply of basswood-blossoms on hand; and it is 

 a shame for the drugstores in this country 

 not to have basswood- blossoms on hand. I 

 think it would be healthier for all if they 

 had more such good and simple herbs and 

 teas in stock, and less patent medicine. 



The only place I have found in this coun- 

 try where they keep ba?swood-blossoms is 

 at Montgomery Ward & Co. 's. in Chicago, 

 and they have to import it. Don't you be- 

 lieve it would pay poor people to gather the 

 flowers? There might be a little industry in 

 it. A. Baumann. 



Marquand, Mo., March 3L 



[Please accept our thanks, friend B., for 

 calling our attention to this matter. If 

 there is a demand for basswood-flowers, as 

 you state, they certainly ought to be fur- 

 nished in our own country. I find Montgom- 



