1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



663 



used nail spacers for about ten years, and 

 all my frames (260 colonies) are nail-spaced, 

 and I know of at least six other apiaries and 

 several others the owners of which are go- 

 ing to discard the HolTman in favor of nail- 

 spaced frames as they require fresh supplies. 

 All these apiaries are run for extracted 

 honey, and for that very reason the nail 

 spacing has been adopted. 



C3 



End 



B ^ 



-L-i'. 



Frame, Top Vietv. 



"^i^ 



Tollotver 7'op i/ieiv 



With a frame as shown in the drawing, 

 the objections you have so often urged 

 against nail spacing do not exist. The nails 

 do not catch in the extractor-baskets when 

 the frame is dropped into the side nearest 

 the operator and with the top-bar to the 

 left; and they are not in the way of the un- 

 capping-knife as top, bottom, and one side- 

 bar are level on each side. I use a twelve- 

 inch knife, stand the frame on one end, top- 

 bar nearest to me, and draw the knife up- 

 ward from A to B, uncapping the whole 

 face of the comb in one cut, top and bottom 

 bar acting as a gauge to the beveled edge of 

 the knife. In this way I can uncap five of 

 these frames to two Hoflfmans. 



The spacing is 1|, nine frames and follow- 

 er in a ten-frame body for brood, and nine 

 frames without follower over a queen-ex- 

 cluder. One hive-wall and the follower 

 have projections to match the frames, the 

 follower being tightened by a piece of jxj, 

 with projecting nail resting in cut in follow- 

 er. 



The frame is made, top-bar iXj; side- 

 bars IgXi'g; bottom- bar iX/'g. Top and 

 bottom bars are of white Baltic pine, which 

 is much stiffer and only half the price of 

 American lumber (here). 



In reference to immunity of Italians from 

 foul brood, page 1144, there is, here at any 

 rate, no doubt on the point; but the reason? 

 You say possibly blacks, being more inclined 

 to steal, might account for it. Why, I al- 

 ways thought Italians kept free from foul 

 brood because they were much better at re- 

 moving any foreign substance, dead larvae, 

 or wax-moth grub from the comb than 

 blacks. 



At the autumn overhaul of colonies I found 

 five cakes of foul brood all in colonies of 

 blacks, of which I have only seven stocks. 

 I killed all the black queens and introduced 

 pure Italians. As they bred nearly all 

 through the winter they came out as Ital- 



ians in spring (September), and perfectly 

 clean, and they are perfectly healthy still 

 (February), although I never cut out a cell 

 or doctored them in any way. True, the 

 cases were mild ones, and the locality is not 

 so favorable to foul brood as some others: 

 but there was no doubt about its being rtal 

 foul brood, of which disease I had some 

 wholesale experience in another part of this 

 State. 



I have, however, also had Italians which 

 would not keep foul brood under, and have 

 made it a practice for years past to kill the 

 queens of all colonies showing either foul 

 brood or paralysis. 



Tooborac, Aus., Feb. 24. 



[Your nail-spaced frame is an improve- 

 ment over that used by Dr. Miller, in that 

 the wood projects on one side just far enough 

 to protect the keen edge of the uncapping- 

 knife. Then your arrangement of the spac- 

 ers on diagonally opposite corners, and your 

 special manner of procedure in uncapping, 

 enable you to overcome, to a great extent, 

 the objections to the nails. The general 

 and almost only objection is that they inter- 

 fere with the baskets of the extractor and 

 in uncapping. 



Regarding the immunity of Italians to 

 foul brood, I believe you have suggested a 

 very good reason why they protect them- 

 selves and the blacks do not— namely, their 

 disposition to clean up their combs of all 

 filth and waste matter. This, together with 

 the further fact that they are a little less 

 inclined to rob than blacks or hybrids, will 

 explain why they resist the disease, and also 

 why they do not catch it in the first place as 

 readily as the German race. — Ed.] 



MUSTARD AS A HONEY-PLANT. 



Requires little Cultivation; Seed valuable; Blos- 

 soming Period from a Month to Ten Weeks; 

 Honey Mild, and of Good Color. 



BY W. J. GATES. 



I notice in the A B C of Bee Culture that 

 you would like to have the results of some 

 practical experiments in regard to mustartl 

 as a honey-plant, and the amount of seed it 

 produces. 



Here at Lompoc it is grown in merchant- 

 able quantities, equaled, perhaps, by no 

 other place in the world, excepting, possi- 

 bly, Austria, which is a competitor in our 

 markets. From this crop alone in a single 

 year the farmers of this valley have realized 

 a quarter of a million dollars. The average 

 yield per acre is from 800 to 1000 pounds, 

 though in wet seasons a ton is a more com- 

 mon figure. The average price of the seed 

 is 3 cents per pound, and as high as 8 cents 

 has been obtained. Last year it sold for 5 

 cents. 



Its cultivation is easy and inexpensive; 

 and the general summary of the experience 



