AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



51 



Changing the Lioose Hanging 

 Frames to Fixed, Etc. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY DR. C. C. MILLER. 



J. W. Tefft has sent me a sample of 

 his plan of changing common hanging 

 frames to fixed frames. He nails on a 

 little strip of wood on each side of the 

 end-bar at the upper end, making it 

 after the fashion of the modified form of 

 the Hoffman frame favored by Mr. Root, 

 that is, on one side of the end-bar is 

 nailed a square piece, and on the other 

 side a three-cornered piece, thus making 

 a sharp edge of one frame fit against 

 the flat surface on another frame. 

 Those who want to change loose to fixed 

 frames, will not find it difficult to follow 

 this plan, although I-. hardly believe the 

 sharp edge will be permanently favored 

 by those who are troubled with much 

 propolis. 



An easier, although no better way, is 

 to nail a piece on only one side of the 

 end-bar. Suppose your end-bar is %- 

 inch in width and you want your frames 

 to hang 1% from centers. That leaves a 

 half inch between one end-bar and its 

 neighbor. So, nail on one side of one 

 end-bar, near the top, a piece perhaps 

 2}4 inches long, half an inch wide, and 

 the same thickness as the end-bar, only 

 nail it on the opposite side. I arranged 

 some in this way that give very good 

 satisfaction. 



CAN BEES PUNCTURE FRUIT ? 



On page 759, Geo. A. Stockwell says 

 they can, adducing as proof the fact 

 that they can bite hard wood. At one 

 time I held the same view, and ex- 

 pressed it in a convention of bee-keep- 

 ers. The younger Dadant brought me 

 up standing, somewhat after this fash- 

 ion — I can't give the words, but this is 

 the idea : 



" You can bite in two a piece of bro- 

 ken plaster from the wall. That wal- 

 beside you is of the same material, there 

 fore you can bite it. Now stand facing 

 the wall, and bite a hole in it." 



He had me. 



Every bee-keeper of experience knows 

 that bees can and do gnaw wood, but 

 that doesn't prove that they can gnaw 

 sound fruit. The shape has something 

 to do with it. You might find it a diffi- 

 cult thing to bite into a pumpkin or a 

 foot-ball, although you might readily 

 bite into the same material if it were 

 different in shape. The assertion that 

 sound fruit has no attraction for bees. 



" needs confirmation,' 'as the newspapers 

 say. If they tear open some flowers to 

 get at their sweets, why would they not 

 tear open the skin of fruits, if they 

 could ? 

 Marengo, 111. 



Queen-Breeders and Queen- 

 Buyers — Suggestions. 



Written lor the American Bee Journal 



BY J. F. EGGERS. 



Accidents will happen in the best of 

 families. So will some of our best colo- 

 nies turn up queenless in the early 

 spring. Being anxious to save these 

 colonies we order queens at once from a 

 breeder whose location and reputation 

 would seem to warrant the prompt flll- 

 ing of our orders. We count the days, 

 expecting the queens by return mail, for 

 the old bees will die, and of the young 

 bees there are few, if any. Even if 

 queen-cells are present, the drones are 

 missing, or so few in early spring that 

 there is little chance for young queens 

 to become fertilized. 



Return mail brings us the notice that 

 our order has been received, and will be 

 filled "in a few days." We would rather 

 have received the queens than the no- 

 tice, but as the queens are to follow in 

 a " few days," we go home contented, 

 though we know that each day lost 

 means so many hundred or thousand 

 bees less in our queenless colonies. 



We go to the post-office every day for 

 a week or two, until at last we find, 

 " Mortal hopes defeated and o-'erthrown; 

 are mourned by man, and not by man 

 alone," for our queenless colonies have 

 reached the stage where comes in " The 

 good old rule — the simple plan, that they 

 should take who have the power, and 

 they should keep who can." Robbers 

 will soon finish weak queenless colonies, 

 and when at last the queens arrive, they 

 are too late to be of any use to us. 



Now I do not wish to blame or decry 

 queen-breeders, although I have been 

 served thus repeatedly. I know the na- 

 ture of their business is such that dis- 

 appointment cannot always be avoided, 

 but as we bee-keepers are laboring to 

 advance our calling and improve our 

 methods in every conceivable way, 

 should we not find a way out of this 

 dilemma, which is so trying and ruinous 

 to all concerned ? 



If queen-breeders would return the 

 order and money when they see that 

 they cannot fill the order in less than 



