1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



S53 



plainer than words. Did it increase the 

 sales of honey? It came very near doubling 

 them; for each operator gave a little lec- 

 ture about the qualities of honey, the han- 

 dling of the bees, etc. This was to whet 

 the appetite of the crowd. In the mean 

 time one of the boys in the honey-stand, 

 with a speaking-tube, would keep up the 

 call, "Here is where you get your good 

 honey! " 



The largest sales, without the demon- 

 strating-cage, at any previous fair, was 

 $75; but the sales of honey recorded this 

 year, the very first one we tried the experi- 

 ment, was $120. A number of pictures 

 were taken, and more of the detailed story 

 will be given later. As many county fairs 

 will be held after this issue, those interest- 

 ed can profit by our experience. 



A good demonstration can be made in an 

 ordinary folding bee-tent such as is sold by 

 dealers in bee- supplies for $1.75. It is not 

 quite so roomy as the wire cage described, 

 but will answer a very excellent purpose, 

 besides being collapsible like an umbrella, 

 and portable. 



A CURE FOR BLACK BROOD. 



It is with considerable pride that Glean- 

 ings announces that it will soon publish 

 what we hope to be a reliable, simple, and 

 cheap cure for black brood. It is so simple 

 and cheap that it seems almost absurd. Yet 

 the proof of the pudding is in the eating. 

 Not many days ago I came from a yard that, 

 two or three years ago, had been seriously 

 affected with the dread disease. This yard 

 was none other than that of Mr. E. W. Alex- 

 ander. The disease was so virulent that it 

 wiped out his profits for two or three sea- 

 sons. To-day the whole apiary of 750 colo- 

 nies is perfectly healthy. Mr. Alexander 

 has struck on a plan which he has never yet 

 made public; but now having tested it for 

 two seasons he feels reasonably certain that 

 it is reliable. 



Gleanings has made him a proposition, 

 which he has accepted, for publishing it to 

 the world, and the treatment will appear in 

 these pages soon. I have every reason to 

 believe it will be the means of wiping out 

 the last vestige of black brood in all apiaries 

 when the treatment is inteUigently and 

 carefully administered. In other words, the 

 up-to-date progressive bee-keeper will not 

 fear the inroads of this terrible disease any 

 further; but the slovenly, careless, don't- 

 read-the-bee-papers bee-keeper will have to 

 go out of the business. 



I do not know whether this treatment will 

 be effective in a case of foul brood — I rather 

 doubt it; but you may be assured that it 

 will be tested by hundreds of bee-keepers 

 all over the country, At one time black 

 brood threatened to devastate the whole 

 country, and would have made serious in- 

 roads into other States had it not been for 

 the efforts on the part of the foul-brood in- 

 spectors of New York. I will not say more, 

 because I am going to let Mr. Alexander 

 tell his own story. 



HOFFMAN FRAMES; A FEW WORDS ABOUT 



HANDLING THEM, BY A BROTHER-EDITOR; 



TIT FOR TAT. 



Our readers may remember a little dis- 

 cussion between the editor of the Bee-keep- 

 ers' Review and myself, on p. 762. July 15th 

 Gleanings, regarding the merits of the 

 Hoflfman frame, the Dovetailed hive, bot- 

 tom-boards and covers. He copies in full 

 my reply, and then says: 



It affords me pleasure to have my brother- editor 

 admit that he has no trouble in spacing the old-style 

 Lang-stroth frames. I fail to see how any one of ordi- 

 nary intelligence need have any such trouble. If a man 

 does have trouble, let him do this: Let him carefully 

 space the frames in a hive, and then note the space 

 between them. Let him fix this in his memory and use 

 it as a guide. For instance, my frames are spaced IV2 

 inches from center to center, and my frames are % 

 wide, that is, the top-bars are that width, which leav. s 

 a space of ■"'s between the top-bars. When I am putting 

 combs into a hive I begin at one side and space them % 

 apart as 1 am putting them in. I don't put them all in 

 helter-skelter, and then even them up afterward. Of 

 course, I may have to press the last one or two a little 

 closer together before I slip in the last comb, then I 

 slip them back into place. The point is. I have in my 

 mind's eye that % measure, and use it when putting 

 the frames in the hive, just as the self -spacers would 

 use nails driven into the sides of the frames. Of course, 

 it is not important that the frames be exactly % apart! 

 They may vary 14 inch from this. It often happens that 

 the ability to make this variation is an advantage. 

 With self-spaced frames no variation can he given. 



Lock- jointed corners make stronger joints than those 

 that are simply nailed. Iron-bound corners would prob- 

 ably be still stronger, but such strength in a bee- 

 hive is wholly unnecessary. If bee-hives were to be 

 used continually for shipping goods by express, then 

 there would be good reasons for making the joints as 

 strong as possible; but, as a rule, a hive stands in an 

 apiary the whole of it? lifetime. If it is moved from 

 one apiary to another, or even if sent by express, it is 

 always attached to a solid bottom-board which holds it 

 square. If a hive is thoroughly nailed with cement- 

 coated nails of good size, the heart side of the lumber 

 being turned out. it will have all needed strength with- 

 out any lock joints, or even any halving of the corners. 

 In my opinion, these dovetailed corners will yet prove a 

 serious objection. It is well known that, where timbers 

 exposed to the weather cross each other, they are much 

 more liable to decay — for instance, in bridges and side- 

 walks. In a plain square joint at the corner of a hive, 

 the water can easily run down and out. Not so with a 

 dovetailed corner, as half of the surfaces are horizontal, 

 and the grain of the wood crosses at right angles. What 

 I fear is that those dovetailed corners will, in a few 

 years, begin to decay, because of their tendency to ab- 

 sorb and retain moisture. Of course, if they are kept 

 well painted this will not occur; but the painting of 

 hives is often neglected. To my mind, the making of 

 hives with dovetailed corners is worse than useless 

 expense— it will eventually prove a detriment. 



Bro. Root speaks of the advantage of being able to 

 handle Hoffman frames by the twos and threes. In 

 fact, he speaks of this point as being of more impor- 

 tance than the self-spacing feature— at least, I get that 

 idea from the way he writes. I have seen a good many 

 Hoffman frames handled, handled a few myself, and 

 have handled a large number of Heddon frames which 

 allow of this manner of handling, and I must confess 

 that I have seldom seen this manner of handling put 

 into practice to any great extent. If we are handling 

 frames in the production of extracted honey, they cer- 

 tainly must be handled singly. If we are looking for a 

 queen the frames must be handled singly. If we are 

 looking for a queen, and have been setting the frames 

 over into another hive, we can replace them, after find- 

 ing the queen, by taking them in threes if our fingers 

 are long enough and strong enough to stand the strain. 



I have never had any diflnculty in securing wide 

 boards for covers, but it is quite likely that the facto- 

 ries would have difiiculty in finding enough wide lum- 

 ber for this purpose at a reasonable price; and it is 

 probable that, whether we prefer them or not, we shall 

 eventually be compelled to use covers made of several 

 pieces. 



This shot about the Heddon hive and complication is 

 a close one, and compels me to reply by " telling tales 

 out of school," if such it might be called. In the new 



