1602 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15 



cost of the device would put it beyond the 

 reach of bee-keepers. 



He went back to the shop, and a few days 

 afterward he came back showing that it was 

 not necessary to punch or bore the holes in 

 the posts. He laid the series of straightened 

 wires in a grooved form, then poured melted 

 type metal into transverse grooves, making 

 a product like that shown in Fig. 1, which is 

 actual size. This was so neat and pretty. 



FIG. 4. — MARBACH QUEEN-EXCLUDING HON- 

 EY-BOARD. 



and so exact, that all our doubts and misgiv- 

 ings were removed — especially so when he 

 told us that the new excluder could be made 

 for but little more than the perforated metal. 

 He further demonstrated to our satisfaction 

 that a wire excluder is much more exact in the 

 width of slot than the perforated metal, and 

 that with a heavy power press cutting 120 

 holes at a stroke, the dies were subject to 

 wear, and consequently required frequent 

 sharpening. Then, again, the punches would 

 wear enough so that there would be a varia- 

 tion in the size of the holes of perhaps the 

 one-thousandth of an inch. While this is 

 not fatal to the use of perforated zinc, it has 

 a tendency to reduce the size of the holes, 

 and, to a certain extent, impede the passage 

 of the bees. 



FIG. 5.— marbach's drone-excluder. 



In the new excluder the position of the 

 wires or bars will always be exactly the same. 

 These wires are placed in longitud inal grooves 

 in a sort of metal book. At certain distances, 

 and transversely, are other and deeper 

 grooves. A set of wires is placed on one 

 side of the book, when the other leaf is fold- 

 ed over. Then hot type metal is poured in- 



to the transverse grooves, when the book is 

 opened up. This leaves a very neat post at 

 regular intervals, as shown in Fig. 1. If the 

 grooves holding the longitudinal wires are 

 correctly spaced (and they must necessarily 

 be made so), the hot metal poured around 

 the wires, when cool, will hold them at the 

 precise distance that they should lie in the 

 form. 



The chief advantage of this new excluder 

 will be found in the use of the Alley trap 

 and entrance-guards; and after a careful test 

 in our yards it was plain to be seen that the 

 workers could pass through this excluder 

 much easier than through the old style of 

 perforated metal. 



In Figs. 2 and 4 it will be seen that the 

 same principle is applied to the slatted hon- 

 ey-board; and while such boards will cost 

 more than the plain perforated metal, yet, 

 as they will last a lifetime, the relative differ- 

 ence in cost will probably make them cheap- 

 er to use in the long run. In the improved 

 Alley trap as now constructed, perforated 

 metal is used in the upstairs portion, while 

 the new excluder is used in the lower part, 

 through which the bees are constantly pass- 

 ing and repassing. 



The reader should see the new excluder in 

 order to appreciate its merits; and when he 

 gives it to the bees to test he will find they 

 are equally ready to show their appreciation 

 for it. 



Fig. 6 shows a new spring-steel nickel- 

 plated hive-tool which is both a scraper and 

 a pry. The end which is turned down at 

 right angles, or the hoe end, tits nicely up 



.■;^^ '''"''Sits 



FIG. 6. — A NEW HIVE-TOOL. 



into the palm of the hand when the tool is 

 used as a pry or even a scraper. The other 

 end may be used as a pry or scraper also, 

 but is handy for reaching down into the cor- 

 ners of bottom boards to clean out bee-glue 

 and dirt. 



This tool, made of spring steel, will stand 

 any strain that one can place on it in ordi- 

 nary bee-hive work; and the fact of its being 

 nickel-plated enables one to see it if it should 

 happen to get lost in the grass. 



We have tested a good many shapes and 

 patterns, but have found that this seems to 

 suit the large majority of those to whom it 

 has been submitted. 



PAPER FOR WINTER CASES. 



A CORRESPONDENT seuds US a sample of 

 paraffine building-paper. It is black in col- 

 or, very flexible, water-proof, and evidently 

 would make a good wrapping around the 

 hive. We are not advised as to the cost, but 

 doubtless it can be obtained of the roofers. 

 For a thin water-proof paper it is the best of 

 any thing we have yet seen for the purpose. 

 We do not know how durable it may be. 



