1092 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 15 



the hive on top, and clip with a sharp knife. 

 In this way you do not catch a queen by her 

 body, and no danger of hurting her or throw- 

 ing up her leg and clipping it off. 

 Chariton, la. L. Riebel. 



A HIVE-LIFTER AND MOVER. 



I submit my plan for the much-needed 

 hive-lifter, as shown in the enclosed draw- 

 ing. The right wheel and axle makes the 

 windlass, after inserting the bolt (not shown) 

 through the hub-band and axle. The frame 

 within the frame has adjustable grip to press 

 the sides of the hive. This frame is lowered 

 to the desired height by the rope on wind- 

 lass. Turn the grip and the hive or supers 



are ready to raise. If we want to move the 

 hive, tip the machine backward so the 

 whole can touch the ground, and remove the 

 bolt from the hub- band. The wheels are 

 about two feet high, and wide enough apart 

 to straddle the hive. 

 Hartford, Mich. Charles Klechlek. 



CLEANING UP MOLDY COMBS; GETTING nEES 

 INTO SUPERS, ETC, 



1. Will bees clean up moldy combs that 

 contain dead bees so that they are suitable 

 to use for extracting purposes? 



2. Is it advisable to put frames of honey 

 containing some brood in the top story, with 

 queen-excluder between to start the bees 

 working above? 



3. Is it necessary to have chaff hives 

 double, and packed on under side"^ 



4. Is it best to uncap sections that are 

 used for bait? Ernest C. Blodgett. 



Putney, Vt. 



[1. Bees will clean up old moldy combs in 

 a very satisfactory way; but not more than 

 one such comb should be given any colony 

 at a time, and that colony must be strong. 



The best extracted honey can not be pro- 

 duced in old coml)s; but if not much brood 

 had been reared in them, they probably 

 would be all right. Whenever it is possible, 

 new combs should be used, or at least combs 

 in which brood had never been reared. 



2. Yes. 



3. There probably is really no need of 

 having chaff hives packed on the under side 

 unless they are raised on stakes some way 

 so that the bottom-boards are exposed. Our 

 colonies in single-walled hives protected by 

 winter-cases, so that there is a packing-space 

 around the walls, but none under the floors, 

 seem to winter just as well as those in the 

 regular chaff hives in which there is pack- 

 ing under the floors. 



4. If bait sections are not uncapped, the 

 new capping will look altogether different 

 from the old, which will have become trav- 

 el-stained, and for this reason such bait-sec- 

 tions, when finished, can not be classed as 

 fancy. On the other hand, if the sections 

 are uncapped they will be uniform in ap- 

 pearance when finished. — Ed.] 



SHIPPING HONEY; PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS 

 FROM A DEALER. 



After reading a number of articles in 

 Gleanings about the troubles that bee- 

 keepers have in finding a market for their 

 honey 1 should like to give them a few facts 

 about selling honey to the grocers of this 

 city, as that is my business. 



In the first place I find that the majority 

 of the grocers want a case of 24 sections of 

 nice white honey. I say 24 sections, because 

 it is just as easy to sell that size of case as it 

 is to sell a 12-section case to weigh from 21 

 lbs. to not over 24 lbs., as about the first 

 question they ask is, "How much does it 

 cost me a section? " In most stores honey is 

 sold by the section and not by the pound; 

 but the dealer buys it at so much a pound, 

 and so many pounds net to the case. 



I have bought honey from a good many 

 commission men, and do not know of one 

 whose word I could take as to quality, con- 

 dition, or weight on a lot of honey he had 

 for sale. If a bee-keeper would I'aise honey, 

 and grade it "fancy," No. 1 and No. 2 

 white, and the same in light and dark am- 

 ber, and be honest in doing so, and pack and 

 ship it the way Mr. Wm. W. Chase explains 

 on page 502, April 15, li)07, he will have the 

 same success in finding a market for his hon- 

 ey that Mr. Chase has. And if honey-pro- 

 ducers would put a classified advertisement 

 in Gleanings, stating what they have for 

 sale, they would find that they could do bet- 

 ter in getting a cash buyer for their honey 

 than Ijy sending it to some one to sell on 

 ', )mmission. L. H. Morehouse. 



Chicago, 111 , July 12. 



