1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



765 



use the Miller staple-spaced frame? I be- 

 lieve the photo will make a few things 

 clear. You see the comb is built out over 

 the top-bar; and when 3'ou uncap you want 

 to cut the comb down to the top-bar; and 

 then the stoppers are verj' nice to sharpen 

 the knife on. In Cuba the frames are 

 spaced so that seven frames till a ten-frame 

 extracting-super. Here in Illinois I use six 

 frames in an eight- frame super. The pho- 

 to is of a frame so spaced. 



The other photo is of some old coal-mine 

 dumps. The}' are composed of the clay 

 that is both over and under the coal-mine. 

 Those dumps have stood gray, and bare of 

 vegetation, for 2S years. Three j'ears ago 

 thej' were as bare of veg^etable life as the 

 da}' the last whistle was blown and the last 

 cageful of men hoisted and the mine aban- 

 doned. Nothing would grow on them until 

 sweet clover got a start, and it is making a 

 rank growth. L. B. 



[It is very apparent from the illustration 

 that a metal or nail-spaced frame could not 

 be used satisfactorilj' for extracting, pro- 

 viding the frames were spaced wider than 

 l~s from center to center. I judge that 3'ou 

 find no objection to the use of the Hoffman 

 frame, for the projections are of wood, and 

 can no^, therefore, dull the edge of a keen 

 uncapping-knife. Metal-spaced frames are 

 verj' nice for comb-honej' production; but 

 the}' seem to be very, I'ery objectionable for 

 purposes of extracting. If we ever get the 

 uncapping-machine, this objection will be 

 overcome. 



It is remarkable that sweet clover can be 

 made to grow where nothing else will take 

 root. I have seen it on the alkali lands of 

 Colorado and California — lands where noth- 

 ing could exist, except, perhaps, a kind of 

 alkali weed that is absolutely useless to 

 either man or beast; and yet we hear how 

 sweet clover is regarded as a noxious weed 

 by State legislatures and township trus- 



WHY A MfLLER STAPLE OR NATL SPACED 

 FRAME won't ANSWER FOR SOME BEE- 

 KEEPERS. 



tees. Even in this State, mayors are or- 

 dered to cut down along municipal road 

 sides all weeds, including sweet clover, and 

 yet there is nothing so good as a soil-binder 

 for loose lands as sweet clover. I should 

 not be surprised if it were worth millions 

 of dollars to railroad companies to prevent 

 the washing-away of embank- 

 ments, for that is where it does 

 best, on hard yellow clay or oth- 

 er soil where nothing else can 

 grow and take root. 



There are big dumps near 

 Cleveland where refuse, cinders, 

 and slag of ever}' sort are 

 thrown; but I have noticed how 

 sweet clover seems to find its 

 way along the edges of these 

 dumps, and it seems to be creep- 

 ing all over, making the waste 

 land productive of at least some 

 good. — Ed.] 



SOME OLD COAL-MINE DUMPS THAT HAVE BEEN BARE 



WASTES FOR 25 YEARS, THAT ARE NOW RECLAIMED 



BY A RANK GROWTH OF SWEET CLOVER. 



BEE-KEEPING IN OKLAHOMA. 



I inclose photos of my apiaries 

 here in Oklahoma — a place where 

 it is said bees do no good; but, 

 however, we have had bees here 

 nine years, and expect to stay in 

 the business for some time to 

 come. This has been a hard sea- 

 son on us here. Bees built up 



