188S 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



61 



tions, have plentj- of time to waste, very, very care- 

 ful hands, and a market you can reach readily with 

 a spring wag-on; but if you can't ompass these con- 

 ditions, and have to ship your ho;.fy to some distant 

 market by rail, as I did to Chicago, two years ago, 

 and to Buffalo, in part, the past season, j'ou will find 

 that the less you handle your honey, and the strong- 

 er the section you use, the happier will be the result 

 of your venture, other things being equal; and you 

 will be more fortunate than I have been if your hon- 

 ey in dovetailed sections, and especially that re- 

 packed in any way, does not bring you several cents 

 less per pound, rather than more than the other. 

 True, the glasses of these cases are sometimes soiled 

 with propolis, and the sections more or less firmly 

 fastened to each other and to the case by the same 

 substance; but it is only a trifling matter to ex- 

 change such glasses for others in the one case, while 

 it is just what is need to help withstand shocks from 

 any cause during transportation, in the other. 



To give an idea of what honey will stand when put 

 up as I have described, I will relate an incident. 

 This fall, while loading a lot of honey into a car, I 

 had about a dozen 20-lb. cases of 1-lb. sections on a 

 cart, piled about three feet high, when an assistant 

 carelessly lifted a couple of them otf from the wrong- 

 end of the load, causing the rest to be dashed to the 

 floor with great force. Upon examining the wreck 

 I found only two cases that were materially injured, 

 a third having one section hi-oken. Comment is un- 

 necessary. There are other advantages to be gained 

 by the use of this case that I have only time to hint 

 at in this already too long article, such as facility in 

 tearing up, and in excluding the queen from the 

 sections, by properly spacing the bottom slats of the 

 cases, also in starting the bees at work in the sec- 

 tions by fastening the starters to the ends of the 

 sections instead of ihe tops, and standing the cases 

 on end between the outside combs of the brood-nest ; 

 after which they can be readily raised to the top for 

 completion. This latter plan works best where 

 frames having closed ends are used, and the length 

 Of brcadUi of your case is equal to the depth of your 

 frame. 



With regard to different si^es of sections, while 

 various sizes will be necessary to suit all classes of 

 customers, the 1-lb. package is too popular at pres- 

 ent to be easily superseded by any other size. 



I would suggest, however, that where pound and 

 half-pound sections are to be used in connection 

 with these cases, without separators, it would be 

 best to have them made after the style shown in the 

 following diagram with projections J a inch:— 



The idea is from Chas. Bellows, Vermillion, D. T. 

 You will notice, this does away with the projections 

 objected to by Mr. Heddon, and allows the bees to 

 pass freely from one section to another the whole 

 length of the case, and it may help to secure straight 

 combs where the sections are not filled with fdn. 

 Besides, would we not avoid using the only feature 

 of Fornerook's section on which he stands any 

 chance of sustaining a patent? I can see no objec- 

 tion to this plan, and shall give it a trial, at any rate. 

 It may be better to use. two projections instead of 

 one on both edges of each end. 



Capac, Mich., Jan. 33, 1883. Byron Wai^ker. 



Friend W., I did get your one-piece sec- 

 tion, and noted your imjirovement, although 



I did not quite take in the idea that your 

 section could be doubled up just as qitickly 

 as those with the V-shaped groove. We did 

 not adopt your section, because we had quite 

 a number of complaints from them ; and 

 among them was the very friend, Green, 

 who now gives the above testimonial. An- 

 other thing : If we should stop our works, 

 and alter our machinery to meet the views 

 of every brother who writes us and sends 

 samples, we should never fill orders at all, 

 nor do much else. Thank you for calling 

 attention to the matter, even though you do 

 it a little vehemently. Had you been at the 

 convention at Kalamazoo, I think you would 

 have heard me call attention to the fact that 

 an immense trade was springing up in this 

 combined crate and case, used without sep- 

 arators. Now, friend W., please send me 

 one of those cases, arranged for the narrow 

 sections you mention, and we will have it 

 engraved for our next issue ; also please 

 answer the following questions in regard to 

 its use :— 



1. Do you tier these cases up, one above 

 another V If so, how do you manage it so 

 the bees do not soil any part of the section 

 with propolis V 



2. Do you put sections at the sides of the 

 brood-combs in any other way than the one 

 you have mentioned V 



3. Do you let the bees work in each case 

 until it is filled and capped in every section V 

 and do you raise up one partly tinished and 

 put an empty one under it V 



4. Can you space the wooden bars on the 

 bottom of the crate so accurately that it will 

 answer as a perforated zinc queen-excluder V 

 If so, give a little of the details. 



If I am correct, you do not quote quite 

 fairly from our price list. The objection to 

 a section made as in your diagram is the 

 amount of room afforded the bees for propo- 

 lizing the edges. I am informed by compe- 

 tent authority, that our friend Forncrook 

 has no chance for a valid patent on any 

 point, and never had. 



DEVICE FOR MAKING "HOME -MADE" 

 FRAMES. 



BY REQUEST OF ONE OF OUR JUVENILES. 



M T the request of my little girl I make a picture 

 ^^ below of the apparatus I use for nailing 



' frames together. Of course, this would be of 



no use to those who use dovetailed frames, such as 

 you sell, but I think a large majority of bee-keepers 

 still use frames nailed together, and nearly all of 

 my bee-keeping neighbors, who are not mechanics, 

 make very awkward work nailing frames together 

 without such a help. The apparatus is merely a 

 c D piece of board with two 



cleats, marked A, A, 

 screwed fast to it, just 

 as far apart as the out- 

 side width of frame. 

 Of course, the width of 

 board and the length of 

 cleats should correspond with the depth of the 

 frame; the top ends of the cleats should be notched 

 as shown, so that the distance from C to D would be 

 equal to the length of the top-bar; the object of 



