i9o: 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



43: 



half-depth supers and frames the} make an 

 ideal extracting'-hive. I believe the editor 

 himself has, or did have, a leaning- toward 

 a deeper frame than the standard L. 



I build my own hives; but these hives are 

 made and kept in stock here in town; and 

 more than 90 per cent of the bees in this 

 section are kept in them. I believe the 

 bees winter better, and build up earlier in 

 spring, than in shallower hives, which with 

 me is a vital matter, as it gets me in shape 

 for the first (and sometimes the main) hon- 

 63'- flow here — that from apple-blossoms. 



Doolittle once said that, if we could have 

 the same conditions in the hive during ap- 

 ple-bloom that we have during basswood, 

 he thought we could get nearly as much 

 honey as from basswood. Now, there is a 

 great deal of basswood here; but the crop 

 is very uncertain — three good yields in ten 

 years, and only twice in that time did we 

 know it would fail before we found it out 

 by experience. Those causes were late 

 frosts. 



This county (Wayne) stands fourth in 

 the United States as an apple county, and 

 we can "know it last fall" whether the 

 orchards will blossom or not this year; and 

 also that, if the weather is favorable, and 

 our bees in shape, we shall get honey. 



In 1901 I extracted from three hives (su- 

 pers and brood-nest) three times in ten 

 daj's, taking from each, at each extracting, 

 a twelve-quart bucketful of honey. Ripe? 

 Yes, it weighed 12 lbs. 3 oz. per gallon. It 

 candied solid the next January, and was 

 pure white — nearly 100 lbs. per colony. My 

 whole yard averaged over 50 lbs. per colo- 

 ny. Now, don't think I mean to say that 

 such a crop can be secured every year; but 

 I have had four yields of apple-blossom 

 honey to three of basswood, so I think it 

 well worth working for, seeing that you 

 need prepare for it only when the trees are 

 going to blossom full. 



Now about the quality. I retail all or 

 nearly all of my honey; and when a cus- 

 tomer has once had apple-blossom honey he 

 will always call for it again, although I 

 have several other kinds — raspberry, clo- 

 ver, basswood, and generally buckwheat; 

 and last j'ear, for the first time, I had some 

 catnip. It being a very wet season, the 

 stuff grew quite rank, and farmers were 

 too busy, when it did not rain, to cut it; 

 consequently the bees made a drive on it, 

 wet or dry, rain or shine. Wherever there 

 was a bunch of catnip it would be covered 

 with bees from morning till night. Well, 

 just before buckwheat came I extracted the 

 crop, and — whew! I have it yet. I don't 

 want any more. I can't sell it, can't eat 

 it, wouldn't give it away — going to make 

 bees of it. If all catnip is like this, every 

 pound of it sold on the market will spoil the 

 sale of five pounds of good honey. I am 

 strongly of the opinion that, if all low- 

 grade honey were kept at home, the mone.v 

 realized from what is sold would be more 

 than is now received from the whole. 



Speaking of new ideas, in Gleanings 



for April 1, an old bee-keeper of more than 

 fifty years' experience recently told me 

 that comb honey treated with bisulphide of 

 carbon could be eaten with impunity by 

 persons who could not otherwise eat honey 

 at all. He cited some cases that came un- 

 der his observation the past year. If this 

 is the case it would seem that the use of the 

 drug does not injure honey in any way, as 

 has been argued in the papers more or less. 

 Marion, N. Y. 



[For extracted honey I do like a large 

 deep frame, because I know from personal 

 experience that powerful colonies can be 

 reared in such-sized frames ; but for my 

 own purpose I should prefer the ten-frame 

 Jumbo to an eig/i f-fra.me. An eight-frame 

 standard Langstroth or a ten-frame Dan- 

 zenbaker has about the right capacity for 

 the production of comb honey; and to my 

 notion a ten-frame Jumbo, for some locali- 

 ties at least, offers certain advantages in 

 the way of a non-swarming extracting hive 

 not possessed by a hive of smaller dimen- 

 sions. The eight-frame Jumbo is no larger 

 in actual cubical capacity than the ten- 

 frame Langstroth. If we are going to have 

 a big hive, why not go the whole figure? 

 The Dadants found the ten-frame capacity 

 none too large. We have ten-frame Jumbo 

 hives in our yards; and such great cards of 

 brood, and such powerful colonies! It does 

 one good to look at them and see them roll 

 in the honey. 



I tasted the honey at Dr. Gandy's that 

 had a slight flavor of catnip. It was not 

 unpleasant. But a pure-catnip honey might 

 be very strong, ani totally unfit for the 

 market. I think we have had other reports 

 to that effect. In the same way, hoarhound 

 honey — the pure article — is vile stuff. But 

 a very little of it mixed with some ofher 

 good grade of honey gives it a nice flavor 

 that is not unlike the hoarhound candy of 

 our childhood days. — Ed.] 



THE BRODBECK SMOKER. 

 A New Principle in the Construction of Smol<ers. 



BY GEORGE W. BRODBECK. 



The smoker which is herewith represent- 

 ed has been in use for several years, letters 

 patent having been issued to me Oct. 11, 

 1892. Owing to difficulties in manufactur- 

 ing them here on this coast, their introduc- 

 tion has been somewhat limited. The con- 

 stant importunities of those who have tried 

 it and know of its good qualities induce me 

 to present it to the public. 



The illustration with the straight nozzle 

 is defined as follows: A detachable nozzle, 

 a fire-barrel inclosed by a cylindrical cas- 

 ing, and a detachable blast-chamber. The 

 fire-barrel and cylindrical casing might be 

 called an inner and outer barrel — the inner 

 one the fire-barrel, the outer one the casing, 

 a space of ^( inch or more separating the 

 two, held by bent flanges on the fire-barrel, 

 and so cut as to permit ingress and egress 



