972 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 15 



May 1— on less than 10 lbs. of honey; and 

 another fact, that any time when bees can 

 fly, and no honey can be gathered, if fed 

 daily half to | lb. of honey reduced to the 

 consistency of nectar, that colony so treat- 

 ed will thrive, will be stimulated in brood- 

 raising, and will increase slightly in weight. 



In feeding back freely, is there not a 

 waste which can not be fairly charged to 

 keeping bees alive, furnishing heat, secret- 

 ing wax, or raising brood ? 



Winsted, Ct. 0. S. Rexford. 



[There is much in what you have to say, 

 and I believe you are right. I should like 

 to hear further from Mr. Getaz. — Ed.] 



WETTING BEE-BRUSHES TO KEEP FROM BE- 

 ING STUNG. 



Extracting generally three or four weeks 

 after the flow has ceased, and there being 

 no honey coming in at that time, I got pret- 

 ty well stung; but last year I found a sim- 

 ple remedy— just wet the bee-brush before 

 using it. The bees are rolled off" on the 

 ground, and very few attempt to take wing. 

 After getting started I carried a pail of 

 water with me while brushing off the bees, 

 and I did not get a tenth of the stings that 

 I got before. GusTAVE Gross. 



Dilly, Wis., July 19. 



[Some bee-keepers regularly wet their 

 bee-brushes when extracting. While it pre- 

 vents stinging, it also keeps the brushes 

 clean. — Ed.] 



WHAT MAKE OF BICYCLE TO GET. 



What kind of bicycle would you advise a 

 bee-keeper to get for hard service? What 

 make? what grade? what weight? what 

 gear? what kind of tire? what kind of 

 brake, if any? What do you think of a 

 coaster brake? I think a little article in 

 Gleanings on these points would interest a 

 good many bee-keepers. W. T. Gary. 



Wakenda, Mo. 



[Most of the bicycles piat out by the Pope 

 Mfg. Co., with head ofl[ices at Hartford, 

 Ct., and Chicago, 111., are high grade, capa- 

 ble of standing hard service. This company 

 makes some medium grades that are very 

 fair. The Crescent, made at Chicago, is 

 perhaps the best of the medium-priced ma- 

 chines. Among the high grades I would 

 recommend the Columbia, the Rambler, and 

 the Cleveland. These cost all the way from 

 $40 to $75. I would advise you to have 

 nothing to do with a bevel-gear drive ma- 

 chine of any make. Our experience with 

 them has been decidedly unsatisfactory. 

 While the gears wear well, they easily get 

 out of alignment, and then consume power 

 enormously. Better get the cheaper chain 

 model with coaster brakes, a device that en- 

 ables one to stop pedaling while going 

 down grades, thus saving strength as well 

 as general wear. If the country is a little 

 rolling, one can run almost half the time 



with the pedals still; and a high-grade bicy- 

 cle, with slip gear and coaster brake, comes 

 as near furnishing a sense of flying as any 

 thing ever made to carry a human being. 



While you can get $15, $16, and $25 ma- 

 chines, the parts are not as carefully nor as 

 well made. Better pay a little more money 

 if you desire to run outyards, and save your 

 pocketbook in the end as well as your mus- 

 cles. 



We often wonder why bee-keepers do not 

 use bicycles more in going to outyards. 

 W. L. Coggshall's men make a very large 

 use of them. Where one desires to see 

 only a few colonies in an outyard for only 

 a few minutes the bicycle is next to the 

 automobile, and a good bit cheaper. —Ed.] 



AN IMPROVEMENT ON THE DANZENBAKER 

 BOTTOM-BOARD. 



Fully one-third or more of the bees that 

 take flight from the bottom of frames cap- 

 size and strike on their backs. I made a 



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bottom with the alighting-board slanting 

 down from the inside bottom edge of the 

 hive-board, and have never seen a bee strike 

 on its back yet on this board except by col- 

 lision with another bee. With the Danzen- 

 baker reversible I set the bottom-board one 

 inch back from the outside of the front of 

 the hive. For full entrance I turn the cleat 

 down and plane the edge intended to be the 

 outer one on a bevel one inch back, and 

 leave the edge j\ thick; insert in grooves 

 with beveled side up and it will give a good 

 slant down as in the diagram. 



Geo. Hildreth. 



[While some bees alight on their backs, 

 the proportion in our experience is not near- 

 ly so great as you speak of. — Ed.] 



