476 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1 



That trick of having pieces of section 

 under cover for ventilation when hauling, 

 p. 430, is quite a scheme. Still better is it 

 io have bottom-boards two inches deep, giv- 

 ing- all the ventilation necessary at the en- 

 trance. I use only two staples for fasten- 

 ing cover, one at each side. [But very few 

 use bottom- boards having a space under the 

 brood-frames two inches deep. I suspect 

 the majority of bee-keepers would not use 

 so much space. It is, therefore, necessarj' 

 to provide a little ventilation at the top 

 where the entrance is only one inch. — Ed.] 



Try this: Take a little board and fasten 

 on top, at each corner, a piece of section Ys 

 thick. Take honey or molasses mixed with 

 Paris green, and, if necessary, add enough 

 Hour so it can not possibly run, and put it 

 on the board; then cover over with another 

 board. Place this in, on, or about a hive, 

 and ants and cockroaches can enjoy it with- 

 out the possibility of a bee getting to it. 

 I Your plan is a good one, but I did not 

 suppose that cockroaches could go through 

 a space only }'& in. wide. Mr. E. F. Phil- 

 lips, referred to elsewhere, thinks they can. 

 —Ed.] 



Clipping, p. 429, is just as I do it, only, 

 instead of holding the queen as in Fig. 3, I 

 have thumb and finger each side of the 

 thorax — perhaps a little less in the way of 

 the scissors, especially as nowadays I use 

 a pair of common pocket scissors with 

 blades }{ inch wide — handy to have always 

 in the hip pocket; and after trying them 

 thoroughly I really believe I like them bet- 

 ter than lace scissors. [But, doctor, aren't 

 the wings of the queen located more on the 

 sides of the thorax than on the top? If you 

 put the- thumb under and the finger over, 

 can you not make a closer cut with the scis- 

 sors? Just try it and see if I am not right. 

 —Ed.] 



That bad smell in August, mentioned on 

 p. 447, reminds me that some years about 

 that time there has been a very offensive 

 smell all through the apiary upon opening 

 a hive, and others have reported the same. 

 I don't know the cause, but it soon disap- 

 pears — probably caused by some plant on 

 which the bees were working. For the 

 past two or three years we have been great- 

 ly annoyed in the home apiary by the pres- 

 ence of carrion plants, looking a good deal 

 like toadstools, and making one end of the 

 apiary smell just as if a dead animal were 

 there. We have done a lot of digging, but 

 they're hard to find, and as hard to get rid 

 of as foul brood. [Carrion plants do not 

 grow around here, for which I am thank- 

 ful.— Ed.] 



"Stand in front of the hive," when us- 

 ing a smoker, p. 432. I sit at the side — 

 live longer that way. Whether the smoker 

 is held in the right or left hand at the start 

 depends upon which side of the hive, the 

 hives being in pairs. When taking ofi" the 

 cover the smoker is oftener in the left hand. 

 Where the smoker is set down depends on 

 the wind, for a very little breeze will send 



the smoke over the hive if the smoker is in 

 the right place for it, and I don't want the 

 bees smoked by the wind. [You did not 

 quote the whole of my sentence. I said, 

 " Stand in front of the hive with the entrance 

 at the left." My general practice is the 

 same as yours, with the exception that I 

 may stand or sit. If the smoker rests on 

 the ground, the wind will but rarely make 

 any trouble. — Ed.] 



Some seem to think that, with the im- 

 provement of the tin binding, smokers should 

 still have as stiff springs as ever, saying 

 that, with the weaker spring, the hold is 

 unreliable, the smoker almost slipping out 

 of one's fingers, and that the smoker being 

 made mostly for strong men should have a 

 strong spring. Isn't that "slipping out of 

 one's fingers" only seeming? There was 

 no complaint that springs were not stiff 

 enough before the adoption of the tin bind- 

 ing, and there is no question that the tin 

 binding gives a much stronger hold. If the 

 stiffness of the spring is reduced in propor- 

 tion to the increased grip given by the bind- 

 ing, it can not slip out of the fingers any 

 more than it did before, although the light- 

 er grip necessary might at first make it 

 seem so. The stiffness of the spring is to 

 be proportioned to the weight of the smoker, 

 not to the strength of the user. Might as 

 well say that a stronger man should have 

 heavier hives, covers, etc. 



Ye editor seems to be getting a mania 

 for going into little things, giving minute 

 details as to how they are done, things that 

 it would seem every one ought to know with- 

 out being told. Good! It's a splendid 

 mania. It's wonderful how we can go on 

 year after year doing little things the wrong 

 way if no one tells us better. I think I'm 

 something of a genius in that direction. 

 Years ago I used wide frames with eight 

 sections, holding them out at arm's length 

 to brush off the bees. It took me two years 

 to learn to rest one end of the frame on the 

 front of the hive, making the work only a 

 fourth as hard. [I am interested in little 

 things, because I am doingthose little things 

 myself. I am constantly watching for short 

 cuts; and when I find some one has a better 

 way than mine, I like to show it. I think no 

 harm comes from illustrating the familiar 

 kinks — familiar to us at least; for by so do- 

 ing we may show new tricks to our brother- 

 man. — Ed.] 



I once saw a man putting on his right 

 shoe, pulling the front strap with his left 

 hand and the hind strap with his right 

 hand. I laughed, and told him he had the 

 wrong hands. But he was so pigeon-toed 

 that his way was best for him. I thought 

 of that when I looked at that picture of 

 holding the smoker, p. 432. I may be pig- 

 eon-toed in my hands, but I hold the smoker 

 just the other way — fingers on the side of 

 the bellows next the stove. When walking, 

 my hands hang naturally with palms back- 

 ward, and to hold a smoker as in the picture 

 would give my wrist a decided twist. [I do 



