AT $1.00 PER ANNUM. 



PUBLISHED EVERY WEEK 



HE OV-*- 



^IN AMERICA 



35th Year. 



CHICAGO, ILL., JUNE 20, 1895. 



No. 25. 



Cot;)tnbuted /Kriiclcs^ 



On Important Apiarian Subjects. 



Tacks or Small Nails for Spacing Frames. 



By CHA8. A. F. DOERE. 



On page 317, I see an article about spacing-tacks. Let 

 me tell how I use spacing-tacks, and used them with satisfac- 

 tion more than 10 years ago in Germany. 



I use the Gallup frame (lUixllJi inches outside meas- 

 use), which I make myself of common laths, one inch wide. In 

 each frame 4 spacing-tacks (wire nails, thin, one inch long, 

 with very small heads) are driven about an inch from the ends 



a^tv^ 



^9aH\ 



Fig. 1. 



Fig. 2. 



of the top and bottom bars. The tacks stand out % of an 

 inch, so the frames are apart 1 % inches from center to center. 

 They are arranged as in Fig. l,the left being the top-bar, 

 and the right the bottom-bar. 



The top and bottom bars take each 2 spacing-tacks — the 

 top-bar one on the right on the front side, and one on the left 

 on the rear side. In the bottom-bar the tacks are arranged 

 the other way, viz.: one on the left on the front side, and one 

 on the right on the rear side. You see, this arrangement re- 

 mains the same, if you turn the frame front to back, or back 

 to front. 



In order to space the first and last frames accurately, the 

 front and back walls of the hive have each two little cleats {% 

 of an inch thick, and about 1}.^ inches long) nailed to them. 

 On the front wall they are arranged thus : Above on the left, 

 and below on the right hand side. On the back wall reversely 

 — above on the right, and below on the left side. The upper 

 ends of these cleats above are even with the upper surfaces of 

 the top-bars of the frames, and the lower ends of the cleats 

 below are on a level with the under surfaces of the bottom- 

 bars. If you remove the cover of the hive and every other 

 frame out of it, the top view will look like Fig. 2. 



As I said above, I use for spacing-tacks thin wire nails, 

 one inch long, with very small heads. The reason is that 

 they might not interfere very much with the wire basket of 

 the extractor. 



I have no trouble with brase-combs. 



One thing that is against this method of self-spacing of 

 the frames is, one must be careful in taking out one of the 

 inner frames, or the nail will cut through the adjacent combs. 

 But if you leave a little play behind the last frame, and move 

 all the frames a little backwards until you come to the one 

 you intend to take out, it can be done without injuring the 

 frames next to it. Maywood, III. 



How Shall We Increase "Our Bee-Pasturage? 



Head at the Bee-Keepers' Educational ISoclety of Hhode Island 

 BY DB. MACKEY. 



I think the greatest need of the bee-keeper in this locality, 

 or at least about Attleboro, is an improvement in bee-pastur- 

 age ; and an important question for us to discuss at this time 

 is. How shall we increase it ? That all may have an oppor- 

 tunity to ventilate their ideas and tell of their localities' needs, 

 I am prompted to select this subject. 



I think we as individuals, as well as bee-keepers, can do 

 much to encourage the farmer to cultivate those plants that 

 furnish a large supply of nectar. Our voices should be raised 

 to encourage the farmer to raise buckwheat — a plant that will 

 bear all kinds of abuse, and will flourish on the poorest land, 

 but will respond profitably to thorough cultivation and manur- 

 ing. Some years ago I sowed it quite liberally to clear land 

 of objectionable plants or weeds, to be plowed in as a green 

 manure, and this followed by winter rye, and this again 

 plowed in, in the late spring, placed the soil in a condition to 

 raise a heavy crop of corn, with the aid of ground bones and 

 wood ashes in the hill, leaving the field in a state of tillage 

 prepared to successfully grow any crop. 



Since the introduction of the Japanese variety of buck- 

 wheat, many waste, or nearly barren, fields might be culti- 

 vated profitably, not only for its grain, but the straw is useful 

 as a litter, or bedding for cattle, or as a mulch. If all poul- 

 try-raisers were aware of its great value, and how improved 

 the appearance of the plumage and general condition of all 



JA?yvK^3E,; 



varieties of fowl that fed upon it sparingly and continuously 

 through the winter months, a much larger supply would be 

 required, and a large increase in the acreage cultivated. 



Another direction in which we could increase our honey- 

 bearing plants is to encourage the use of wood ashes and 

 ground bone applied as a fertilizer to wornout or exhausted 

 pastures, and one who has never tried it will be surprised to 



