1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



773 



ing one in water, or rubbing it over a bacon 

 skin. 



There is no better all-round hive-tool (and 

 I have used every thing from a machete to 

 a butcher-knife) than the broad-bladed 

 paint-scraper or putty-knife — a knife with 

 a blade at least three inches across, and 

 strong enough to break loose any cover. It 

 is all right for digging out frames, scraping 

 covers, and handling combs that have been 

 built where they should not have been; in 

 fact, it is the onhj hive-tool; and when you 

 are through working with it, put it in your 

 hip pocket. 



As to bee-brushes, one is seldom needed 

 unless handling frames of new honey or a 

 frame with a queen- cell. Take the frame 

 with the thumbs across the ends of the top- 

 bar, and the knuckles of the fingers on the 

 end pieces ; then give the frame two or three 

 sharp shakes (shake with your arms, not 

 your back). If you have to use a brush, 

 there is nothing better than the well-known 

 Coggshall brush. With it you can sweep the 

 bees off the combs — not just chase them 

 around and spoil their good temper as this 

 Ferry double-acting back- acting machine 

 will do. 



In uncapping, all that is necessary is a 

 strip running across the uncapping-tank in 

 front of you, about four inches wide. Have 

 it hang in so that it can be easily taken out 

 at odd moments when you wish to work up 

 the uncappings. As to having to put a 

 knife into water to uncap, there may be 

 times and places when it is necessary to do 

 so, but I have never seen it. I have seen 

 people who claimed it had to be done, but I 

 found no trouble in uncapping the same 

 combs. One such occasion was in the Prov- 

 ince of Santiago. I uncapped the same 

 combs as fast as an eight-frame Cowan 

 extractor could handle them, and put the 

 full frames into the machine as the operator 

 took out the empty ones, and he was as good 

 a man as I ever had run an extractor for 

 me. The fastest uncapping is not done with 

 a sawing motion. Strike a downward blow 

 with the knife at an angle, taking off a strip 

 of cappings not over two inches wide; then 

 when the blade strikes the board over the 

 uncapping-tank (if done correctly that edge 

 of the knife which comes in contact with 

 the board is never needed to cut with) push 

 the knife point foremost across the end of 

 the frame, and an upward sweep holding the 

 knife at an angle to get a draw cut, and the 

 side is uncapped. 



Guines, Cuba. 



[Conditions and methods of management 

 are so different that what will answer for 

 one would hardly do for others. The putty- 

 knife would be ill suited for prying apart 

 Hoffman frames, for the reason that the 

 blade is too wide. It is all right for prying 

 off hive-covers— nothing better. 



In a dry climate, where honey is very 

 thick, hot water greatly assists the honey- 

 knife. Yet in a climate like yours it is not 

 needed.— Ed.] 



SPACING FRAMES BY MEANS OF MARKS 

 ON THE HIVES. 



Making one's own Hives. 



BY J, A. CRANE. 



I have read with much interest the 

 discussion in regard to the Hoffman frame, 

 and it seems to me to narrow down to about 

 this: For bee-keepers who move their bees, 

 or who make colonies for sale, it is the best 

 thing out; but for the man who keeps his 

 bees at home, or is near outyards, why be 

 bothered with any thing so cumbrous as a 

 frame built of propolis half way down the 

 end-bars, and that you can't get apart with- 

 out breaking one out of three every time 

 you open a hive in cool weather? 



I recollect the editor saying one or two 

 years ago, that he never found more than 

 one apiary having loose frames that were 

 properly spaced. Now, we all know that, 

 without some guide, it is a hard job to space 

 a set of frames just right; but we also know 

 that it is no more work to space a set of 

 frames right, if we have a mark to set them 

 by, than it is to pack a set of Hoffmans cov- 

 ered with hard gum. 



The simplest way of using or spacing Sim- 

 plicity frames that I have ever heard of is 

 my own invention, unless it is so old as to 

 have been discovered before my time. It is 

 like this: Take a common carpenter's mark- 

 ing-gauge, and set it so as to scratch the 

 center of the top-bar. Scratch an inch or 

 more from each end, then mark the scratch 

 with a lead-pencil hard, so that it will show 

 deep and black, then mark the top edge of 

 both ends of the hive crosswise also with, 

 first, a scratch- awl, then with the lead- 

 pencil, so that the marks on top of the 

 frames will match those on the hive; then it 

 is easy to space correctly without the use of 

 wood, staples, or nails to be in the way or 

 catching in the next comb. 



For marking the hive- ends, take a strip 

 of wood the length of the end of the hive, 

 two inches wide, and saw in one inch where 

 each frame-center is to be; then with a jack- 

 knife cut a notch on one side of each slit 

 and lay this on the hive-end and mark by 

 the square edges. It is but a short job to 

 mark a lot of hives, and, when done, it 

 lasts. If the bees pack propolis into the 

 marks it does no harm, for they can be seen 

 better than ever; and if any one has hives 

 and frames once marked it soon becomes a 

 fixed habit to set the frames in so the marks 

 jibe, and there are no more bulged or thin- 

 ned combs. 



There is a saying, "Don't monkey with a 

 buzz-saw." The advice is good for some; 

 for others, not. Hutchinson's advice to get 

 a saw and make your own hives, etc., 

 applies equally. Now, any one who knows 

 nothing about machinery and tools had bet- 

 ter leave the buzz-saw alone and buy his 

 supplies ready made. But, on the other 

 hand, any bee-keeper, farmer, or laborer, 

 not a mechanic by trade, who is capable of 



