THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



227 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



The Standard Size of Frame. — The 



J>oiii]on Journal of Hurticultute, says: 



A meeting of the special committee 

 iippoiiited by the meiDbers of tlie As- 

 sociiition at the recent general meet- 

 ing. Iield on Feb. 15, for the purpose 

 of (li-ierraining the form and size of a 

 staiiihird frame for general nse 

 throughout the United Kingdom, was 

 held at theLangham Hotel, on Thurs- 

 day. March 16. Present : Messrs. T. 

 W. Cowan (in the chair), C. N. Ab- 

 bott, F. Cheshire, J. M. Hooker, A. 

 Neighbour, Rev. G. Rayuor, and the 

 Rev. F. T. Scott. Mr. J. G. Des- 

 borough was unavoidably prevented 

 from being present. After the con- 

 sideration of a large amount of corre- 

 spondence, and the question having 

 been fully discussed, it was unani- 

 mously resolved that the outside di- 

 mensions of the standard frame 

 should be 14 inclies long, S^^ inches 

 deep ; the top bar to be ?8 of "an inch 

 thick ; bottom bar }a of an inch thick ; 

 side bars y of an inch thick. These 

 dimensions do not refer to anything 

 outside of the rectangle. It was also 

 resolved that standard frames duly 

 stamped should be provided at one 

 shilling each. 



Fastening: Starters.— Dr. C. C. Mil- 

 ler, Marengo, III., gives the following 

 suggestions in Gleanings for April : 



I have had some trouble with foun- 

 dation dropping out of sections just 

 at the most annoying time when 

 honey is coming in with a rush, and 

 every minute counts; and I suppose 

 others who use full-size starters are 

 not entirely free from this trouble. 

 Where they have been fastened with 

 Parker s foundation fastener, I have 

 found it to occur either where the 

 starter was put in too cold or where 

 too big a " bite " was taken by the 

 fastener. I have been putting in 

 several thousand starters in sections 

 ivith my own bunds, and apprehend 

 less difficulty the coming season. I 

 formerly supposed that I could not 

 well put in starters in cold weather; 

 but I now prefer winter. Perhai)s I 

 had better tell you just how I do it. 

 I do the work in the kitchen. The 

 fastener is screwed tight to a board 

 which is clamped tight to a table, the 

 fastener being close to tlie edge of the 

 board nearest me, the length of the 

 fastener running parallel with the 

 board, and the handle at the right 

 side. The table without the board 

 would be as well, or better, only I do 

 not want to drive screws in the table. 

 Just beyond the fastener I init a pile 

 of. say, 50 starters, and at the left of 

 the pile stands a hot flat-iron, such as 

 the women-folks use for ironing, while 

 another iron stands on the stove ready 

 to replace this one when it gets cold. 



Seated on a seat 6 inclies higher than 

 an ordinary chair (1 put a chair on a 

 hive cover)", I am ready for work. The 

 edge of the starter next the llat-iron 

 is heated so that it is quite soft; I care 

 little how soft, so that none of the 

 starters are actually melted. This 

 soft edge is the one, of course, to be 

 mashed down by the fastener, and the 

 object is to get as small a " bite" as 

 possible, only so that a little of the 

 wax is actually mashed the whole 

 width of the starter. The ordinary 

 direction is to put tlie foundation un- 

 der ig inch, which I think quite too 

 much. Instead of " turning the piece 

 of foundation up against the end of 

 the lever," as usually directed,! leave 

 it lying flat till I pick up the section ; 

 and on turning the section right side 

 up. the foundation will, by its own 

 weight, be found hanging right every 

 time without any attention. 



Frands. — The punishment of frauds 

 and adulterations is now command- 

 ing much attention. The New York 

 Tribune of March 21st, gives the fol- 

 lowing item : 



Some of those oily reformers who 

 cry so loudly now for anti-monopoly 

 may soon have an opportunity for re- 

 form that will be in their own im- 

 mediate grocery line. Considerable 

 progress is reported toward making 

 laws of the bills at present under con- 

 sideration in the State Legislature to 

 prevent the sale of imitation butter, 

 and to do away with the fraudulent 

 use of glucose and the like. The Anti- 

 Oleomargarine bill passed the Senate 

 yesterday. 



Ont Door Feeding. — From the Bee- 

 keepers'' Magazine we copy I. L. Sco- 

 field's (Chenango Bridge, N. Y.,) 

 method of feeding bees in the open 

 air : 



He makes a box 3x3 feet square, 

 23>2 feet deep, and hangs two pans. 

 5 inclies deep, 30 inches long, and 10 

 inches wide, down in the top of the 

 box. Cut a door-hole in one side, to 

 put the lamps in under the pans ; 

 these are common kerosene oil lamps. 

 Put the feed in the pan, and a float on 

 it, so the bees will not sink it, and get 

 daubed ; regulate the lamps so that 

 they will keep the food about 85-' to 

 90^ r. Put the box in some sheltered 

 place in the yard ; put some boards up 

 to keep the cold winds from it. Every 

 day the bees can fly with safety, have 

 this feeder ready for their use, the 

 feed quite thin. Sap from the maple 

 tree, with a little extra " C " sugar 

 added, makes a good feed ; there is no 

 danger in using " C " sugar when the 

 bees are flying every day or two. The 

 bees fly from the "hive, and get tlie 

 feed in the natural way, and when 

 they fill their sacs with feed at a 

 temperature of 85° to 90° F., they are 

 in as good condition to get home to 

 the hive as they were to get out of it 

 and fly to the feeder, and you lose no 

 bees as you do by their tilling their 

 sacs with cold water at the creek, or 



some other place, then tremble and 

 shake for some time, and if the sun 

 clouds over they never return to the 

 hive, but if it shines out brightly they 

 will come back with a load of water, 

 to thin their honey so they can raise 

 brood. The bees all stay at home 

 until there is i)ollen on the trees and 

 they can fly with safety. The two 

 pans will feed a yard of from 60 to SO 

 colonies. The pans and float must be 

 kept clean, and the feed not let get 

 sour. This management makes a 

 little summer for the bees just when 

 it is most wanted. 



" The King- Bee."— Mr. J.M. Hicks, 

 in tlie Grange Bulletin, relates a little 

 of his experience as follows : 



Bees throughout the country have 

 wintered well. Now and then we 

 visit farmers who keep and have kept 

 bees for many years, and find that 

 they think the " king bee " is 

 monarch of the hive and boss of all 

 the other bees. Sometimes they still 

 have it that the old king lays all the 

 eggs and produces all the bees. We 

 quite often get a rebuff from such 

 ignorance. We cannot help but feel 

 sorry for them and in several instances 

 have changed Italian queens with 

 such in order to prove our assertion — 

 first capturing the native qtieen and 

 then introducing the Italian queen at 

 once before the eyes of my Old Father 

 Luck, and as per agreement, if the 

 bees were not of a different color from 

 the occupants of the hive in 65 days, 

 1 should lose the Italian queen and 

 pay Old Father Luck ten dollars for 

 the native queen destroyed, but if 

 otherwise, then they were my bees, 

 free of charge. You may guess 1 

 carried the bees home, and the old 

 gent is wiser than he was before. 



CLUBBINfcf LIST FOR 1S82. 



We supply the WeeblyA-merlcitu Bee «Jour- 

 nnl and any of the following periodicals, for 1882 

 at the prices quoted in the last column of fltrurea. 

 The first column Rives the recular price of both 

 All postage is prepaid by the publishers. 



Publishers^ Price. Club. 

 The Weekly Bee Journal |.2 00.. 



and GleaninKsinBee-CulturetA.l. Root) 3 00.. 2 73 



Bee-Keepers' Magazine (A..!. King). 3 00 2 60 



Bee-Keeper8'Instructor(W. Thomas) 2 50.. 2 35 



The 4 above-named papers 4 50. . 4 00 



Bee-Keepers'Exch'n«e(H(mk&Pt;et)3 00.. 2 SO 



Bee-Keepers' Uuide (A. G.llillj 2iA).. 2 35 



Kansas Bee-Keeper 260.. 2 40 



The T above-named papers (i30.. 5 50 



The Weekly Bee Journal one year and 



Pnif.O'uk'sManuahbound in cloth) 3 25.. 3 00 



Bees and Honey. (T. G. Newman) .. 2 40.. 2 2.5 



Binder lur Weekly, 18S1 2 8.5. . 2 75 



Binder for Weekly for 1 882 2 "5.. 2 50 



Premiums. — Those who get up clubs 

 for the Weekly Bee Journal for 

 1SS2, will be entitled to the following 

 premiums. Their own subscription 

 may count in the club : 



For a Club of a,— a copy of " Bees and Honey." 

 3,— au Emerson Binder for lass. 

 4.— Apiary Re^'ister for 5U Colonies, 

 or Cook's (Bee) Manual, paper. 

 5,— " *■ cloth. 



" " 6,— Weekly Bee Journal for i year, 



or Apiary Register for lioO Col's. 



Or they may deduct 10 per cent in cash 

 tor their labor iu getting up the club. 



