1450 



GLEANINGS IN BP:E CULTURE. 



Nov. 15 



it. My way is to fill the receptacle with syr- 

 up; press a sponge down in it, and all the 

 syrup will be appropriated— you would be 

 surprised to see in how short a time, as the 

 sponge presses against the wire, and the 

 weight of the bee-box of whatever kind holds 

 it down. It works finely. 

 Johnstown, Pa. Mary E. Akers. 



HIVE-LIFTERS. 



Of late there has been some discussion in 

 Gleanings about hive-lifters. I suggest a 

 tripod with a lever across the top, a grapple 

 something like ice-tongs attached to the end 

 of the lever to hook into hand-holes in the 

 end of the hive. The lever must rest on a 

 pivot so as to swing from side to side. The 

 tripod and lever can be made of light strong 

 material so as to be easily moved from hive 

 to hive as work requires. 



Cardenas, Cuba. S. Lee Stillman. 



[It would seem as though a lever used for 

 a hive-lifter would be harder to manipulate 

 than the self-locking rope-and-tackle arrange- 

 ment described by Mr. J. E. Hand on page 

 1036 of the Aug. 1st issue; for such a lever, 

 in order to have power enough, would have 

 to be quite long; and, when lifting hives, the 

 operator would be obliged to stand at the 

 end of the long lever away from the hive. 

 With Mr. Hand's lifter, one hand manages 

 the rope — raising, lowering, or holding the 

 hive in any position while the other is left to 

 manage the clamp or perform any necessary 

 operation about the hive. However, in some 

 places a self-locking tackle may be hard to 

 obtain, so that a lever will have to be used. 

 -Ed.] 



SPRINGS TO HOLD COVERS ON HIVES. 



We use sections of old sofa-springs cut in 

 suitable pieces as clamps to hold on covers 

 of hives. T. T. Gross. 



Janesville, Cal. 



YELLOW SWEET CLOVER. 



I got from you some yellow sweet clover 

 and some white in the spring of 1906, and 

 sowed it on the banks of a large dredge- 

 ditch. The white did nicely, but the yellow 

 came up and grew about six feet high and 

 blossomed matured seed, and stayed the 



first year. This year some stalks came up 

 and did the same thing. The stalks were 

 small and spindling, and the blossoms very 

 delicate. Is it an annual or a biennial? 



Henry Stewart. 

 Prophetstown, 111., Oct. 15 



[Fi-iend S., we have had one or more re- 

 ports similar to yours. I think the soil could 

 not have been suitable for yellow sweet clo- 

 ver; but at the same time it is more likely 

 to blossom the first year than the white. We 

 shall be glad to get the experience of others 

 with yellow sweet clover. — A. I. R.] 



a frame WITH A DOUBLE TOP-BAR. 



I should like to see some older and wiser 

 men in the bee business give their opinion on 

 my frames as illustrated. The top- bar is the 

 same as usual, only not so thick; and there 



is a .secbnd one, a bee-space below it, made 

 of thin stuff. This bee-space, just J inch 

 above the comb, enables the bees to pass 

 more easily from one comb to another, and 

 also takes the place of a bee-space on top of 

 the frame when packing for winter. This 

 J-inch strip is ripped in the middle, making 

 two pieces out of it. I nail one on, then 

 place my foundation in place, press the oth- 

 er piece against it, and nail. This holds the 

 foundation secure. H. E. Dupler. 



Thomville, Ohio. 



[Years ago the double top-bar was illustrat- 

 ed and described in these columns. At that 

 time considerable enthusiasm was shown, 

 and the Root Co. was seriously considering 

 the adoption of a double top- bar in prefer- 

 ence to one solid bar thicker and wider than 

 the standards that then prevailed. iX|. But 

 the particular claim that was made in favor 

 of this double top-bar was that the bees did 

 not build burr and brace combs to it. We 

 tested the principle, and found the claim to be 

 on the whole substantiated; but because there 

 were more pieces to handle, and because 

 there was a question as to whether the aver- 

 age bee-keeper would be able to nail it up 

 properly, we decided upon a frame that 

 would be " fool- proof "—that is to say, could 

 not be nailed up wrongly. While there was 

 less of material in the double-top-bar frame, 

 there was mtjre labor in making it. 



If the experience of the past is any criteri- 

 on you will find the frame a very satisfactory 

 one. although it is not necessary to have one 

 thick lop- bar and one thin one. Two bars f 

 thick, and separated J inch apart, will give 

 practically as good results, and at the same 

 time save some expense. — Ed.] 



