1118 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1 



move off at a good^smart walk. It would 

 be practically impossible to release a team 

 by unhooking the tugs if the horses got to 

 throwing themselves. —Ed.] 

 ■ Dovetailed hives have now been in use 

 long enough so that the question might now 

 be, not as to how they will last, but as to 

 how they have lasted as compared with 

 square joints or lap joints. I've had the 

 dovetailed corners ever since any were made, 

 and they stay in place decidedly better than 

 any other, and as yet show no sign of rot- 

 ling, and that without paint. [Yes, you 

 will remember I made the remark that, 

 since you persisted in not painting your 

 hives (when 1 had always advocated it) we 

 would have a chance to observe how well 

 the lock cornering would stand without 

 paint. This was ten or twelve years ago, 

 and I believe this is the first report we have 

 had from you. I am not surprised, howev- 

 er, because I have seen other lock cornered 

 hives all over the country, without paint, 

 that were still strong and good at the cor- 

 ners, while the lap-cornered hives of the 

 same age were a good deal worse for the 

 weather. All'e same'e, I advocate paint, 

 for the looks of the thing if nothing more. — 

 Ed.] 



Piling hives in cellar, as illustrated on p. 

 1014, has the objection mentioned, p. 1061, 

 that, when one colony stirs up, the disturb- 

 ance may be communicated to the whole 

 pile. You reply. Mr. Editor, " You are cor- 

 rect; but if room is limited, what are you 

 going to do? To put the hives on shelving 

 . '. . would be expensive, and wasteful of 

 room." Well, I will tell you what you can 

 do that will be no more expensive and waste- 

 ful of room than the page-1014 plan, and 

 leave the colonies just as much isolated as 

 on shelves. Pile the hives four or five high, 

 one hive straight on top of another, each 

 pile detached from every other pi'.e. That's 

 the practice "in this locality." L^ur hives 

 are piled up in the cellar with their bottom- 

 boards, said boards having good wide en- 

 trances. Your plan of piling one hiye square- 

 ly on top of another is all J-ight; but many 

 bee-keepers have hives with narrow en- 

 trances and detachable bottom-boards. The 

 hives are lifted off the stands, carried into 

 the cellar, lifted off the bottom-board, and 

 then piled just over the space between two 

 bther hives below. Of course, your plan 

 could be carried out even then by putting 

 four blocks between the cover of the lower 

 hive and the hive just above without bot- 

 tom.— Ed.] 



Ye editor asks, p. 1061, whether jolting 

 bees off a comb by holding one end of the 

 top-bar and striking the other end on the 

 ground would not have a tendency to make 

 the frame a little out of square. One would 

 certainly think so before trying it. The 

 practice was begun here perhaps two or 

 three years ago, first on very light combs, 

 with no thought that it would do with heavy 

 frames at all. Gradually, as no harm came 

 from the practice, heavier and heavier combs 



were thus jarred, until combs that were 

 entirely filled with honey, and sealed, 

 were jarred, and very careful watching has 

 never shown any jarring out of ."square. It 

 jars the bees off more quickly and more per- 

 fectly than any amount of shaking, whether 

 the combs are light or very heavy. One 

 reason, perhaps, that no harm is done is 

 this: When you take hold of one end of the 

 top-bar and attempt to strike the other end 

 of the same bar on the ground, you natural- 

 ly swing the comb out from yuu, letting the 

 force come upon the comb diagonally, the 

 top-bar not standing perpendicular, but at 

 ah angle. If you try it I think you will like 

 it. [I shall be glad to try the tiick at the 

 next opportunity. No doubt you are right, 

 that the damage in practice is nothing like 

 what it is in theory. — Ed.] 



A muddle appears to have occurred, page 

 1006. I said, Mr. Editor, that I was dazed 

 at your saying, page 964, that but for being 

 easily clogged you would prefer a winter en- 

 trance only one inch wide and | high. Re- 

 ferring now to page 964 I find you said "4 

 in. wide and J deep "—just four times as 

 much. Small matter how the muddle came, 

 but it is important to know what's right. 

 As that small entrance passed unchallenged, 

 page 1006, please tell us what is right, espe- 

 cially as the A^nerican Bee Journal quotes 

 Gleanings as giving a still different en- 

 trance, 6xJ. [No muddle at all. doctor, 

 unless you are muddled. Whde I advocated 

 an entrance J high and 4 inches wide, you 

 will note that I stated I preferred one an 

 inch wide and i high providing that such an 

 entrance would not clog up with dead bees. 

 But as such an entrance would clog, un- 

 doubtedly a larger one would have to be 

 used in practice. If you will look back to 

 the references I think the whole thing will 

 straighten itself out. The difference be- 

 tween 6X1 and 4x1 inches would be very 

 small. I may have recommendid the six- 

 inch width in one place and the four inch in 

 another. For a strong colony I should pre- 

 fer the six-inch width; for one of medium 

 strength a four fnch width, and for one that 

 is weak a two-inch. But, mind you, this is 

 for outdoors only. For the ct liar, the larger 

 I could have an entrance the better I should 

 like it. — Ed.] 



"Mr. Newell has presented in a nut- 

 shell the best arguments I have seen yet 

 against selling honey by the piece." So the 

 editor, p. 1089; and then he proceeds to give 

 in a nut shell the best arguments I have yet 

 seen on the other side of the question. But! 

 There are still some things that might be 

 said. It is very true that the trend is to- 

 ward selling things in ready packages with- 

 out weighing. But please note that in near- 

 ly all such cases the packages are of such 

 things as can be made, and are made, of uni- 

 form weight. You don't buy a chicken, a 

 beefsteak, nor a slice of cheese by the piece, 

 generally. Eggs are sold by the dozen. 

 Isn't that a relic of by-gone days, when 

 eggs were more uniform in weight than now? 



