1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



5Q5 



•setting: wires, aud hing'ed on to the block, 

 at each corner. 



No. 3 is a plain frame, made to hold eifj^ht 

 •sections, 4\{ X4!i(, and used for feeding- un- 

 finished sections to bees in the cellar that 



out breaking- the wires at annoyinfjly fre- 

 quent intervals, we have a device that could 

 be used to very pood advantag-e by every 

 bee-keeper. We will endeavor to give the 

 idea a trial ourselves. In the mean time 

 we should be pleased to have reports from 

 those who can test it. — Eu] 



No. 1. — Block of wood with saw-cuts therein, corres- 

 ponding to vsire in frame 3. 



No. 2.— Saw-cuLs; can be made in anj' direction, and 

 crossing each other at any point, same as the wires in 

 frame 



No. 3. — Iron frame, with handles 5-5 and stops 6-6. 

 provided with strung cutting-wires 4-4 and thumb- 

 nuts 9-9 for tightening wires. 



7-7.— Hinges with bolts on which frame moves. 



S. — Screw-holes to secure block or machine to table. 



The machine consists of the iron frame, necessary 

 wires, thumb-nuts, block of wood for foundation, 

 •screws, 2 small bolts for hinges. 



are short of stores, by removing- one or two 

 frames. This is put in place, and bees a^e 

 not disturbed. If not needed for feeding- 

 they can be put in the extractor the same 

 as brood-frames. This is better than stack- 

 ing up supers and letting- bees clean up, as 

 you get it where needed, and can feed it any 

 time. To put sections in the frarne, loosen 

 the top-bar; when in, drive nails to hold 

 firm. A. A. Clarke. 



Le Mars, Iowa. 



[All three of your devices are excellent. 

 The frame for holding the sections is simply 

 the application of an old principle of the 

 wide frame when comb honey was produced 

 wholly in such frames in full-depth supers. 

 The scraper is very simple and cheap; but 

 would not the glass become dull very soon? 

 and would it not be just as well to use pieces 

 of glass without handles and throw them 

 aside as soon as they are dull? A wooden 

 handle would be more convenient, it is true, 

 but it would be a rather nice job to put the 

 piece of glass into the handle, for the simple 

 reason that glass varies in thickness; and a 

 saw-kerf that would just fit one piece would 

 be all wrong- for the next. 



Your scheme for cutting foundation is very 

 unique. I would not have stipposed for a 

 moment that a wire, drawn however taut, 

 could be shoved through a whole pound of 

 foundation, leaving a nice clean-cut square 

 ■edge. If it will do this in every case, with- 



ouEEN.s balled; suffocated or stung to 



DEATH. 



After reading Stray Straws for Mar. 15, 

 p. 224, I"m of the opinion that you did not 

 quite strike the kej'-note when you sajs 

 "But haven't I seen stings lodged in the 

 body of a balled queen?" No, Mr. Editor, 

 bees never leave their stings in a queen or 

 drone, neither do they leave their stings 

 when stinging other bees to death. I be- 

 lieve I wrote you a short time ago that 

 queens are never stung while being balled. 

 It is true that a queen is worth less, as a 

 rule, after once being balled; but she meets 

 her death through suffocation and starva- 

 tion. I once saw one queen sting to death 

 7 queens, and the first queen was stung 7 

 times, held off at arm's length. For just 

 cage a queen and put in a bee from another 

 hive, and watch results. You will never 

 find a sting left in the one killed. 



Matanzas, Cuba. C. E. Woodward. 



[Perhaps you have stated the general 

 rule; but I am very sure, for I remember 

 the circumstance, that I took one queen out 

 of a ball that had a sting in her body. The 

 fact was strongly impressed upon my mind 

 at the time. I have spent some five or six 

 summers rearing queens in an apiary of 

 400 nuclei. My chance for seeing the ex- 

 ception that proves the rule was good. Isn't 

 it another rule that has come to be accept- 

 ed, that bees never invariably follow a pre- 

 cise rule? — Ed.] 



paraffine paper for covering sections 

 in the spring. 



What is best to place over the sections to 

 keep them clean when in the supers over 

 the bees? I used the Danzenbaker paraf- 

 fine tnats, but the bees eat them badly. I 

 don't know why — possibly " location," or 

 possibly "starvation," or possibly a mis- 

 chievous inclination; but this I know, it is 

 "an abomination," and I should like to 

 know what others use. A. J. Kilgore. 



Bowling Green, O. 



[We regret to say that the paraffine pa- 

 per did not prove to be a success, largely 

 for the reason that the directions were not 

 in all cases carefully followed, where it 

 was stipulated that old newspaper, or some 

 other packing of some sort, should be crowd- 

 ed on top of the sections; and even when 

 the packing was put on as directed, some 

 bees would gnaw the paper. Mr. Danzen- 

 baker has abandoned the paper now. We 

 had not ourselves advised putting any thing 

 over the sections except the super- cover or 

 hive-cover, and this should be a bee-space 

 above the sections. — Ed.] 



