1883 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



137 



with one of my (celebrated) squares commence at 

 one corner and press the square through the honey- 

 comb, then another square right by the side of it, 

 and so on till the last inch is filled and inclosed with 

 these tin frames. Now set the whole thing back in 

 the hive an hour or two, and let the bees slick up 

 the edges, then take the thing out, unpack, and set 

 away in the store-room. Or, instead of filling the 

 brood-frames with these squares, lemove each one 

 from the frame as soon as it is pressed into and 

 through the honey, and set it in the crate, allowing 

 room enough between the squares to allow the bees 

 to clean them all up nicely. Now T won't say eureka 

 until ynu and all the big- guns of the fraternity have 

 had a chance to annihilate this whole letter. If any 

 thing good comes of it, I will be on hand for a share ; 

 but if not, just bear in mind it is only an A B G 

 scholar heard from, and let the wood-section men 

 keep right on cutting up carloads of lumber for the 

 summer trade. F. A. Palmer. 



McBrides, Mich., Feb. 3, 1883. 



Friend P., I did just that thing, years 

 ago ; but it was a dauby, sticky mess to 

 handle, and the bees, instead of cleaning 

 them all up nicely, just dug the comb out all 

 around where the tin went, and it didn't 

 succeed at all. I don't believe we can de- 

 pend on the bees to turn in and help on any 

 such device. 



FIGWORT FOR HONEY, AND FOR SEED. 



I have made a failure in'the seeds of spider plant 

 and Bokhara clover, but I repfard the flgwort as a 

 treasure. It grew to be 7 or 8 feet high, with garden 

 culture, with many and wide-extended branches, 

 full of tiny blooms (honey-cups), from about the 

 middle of Aug. to the middle of Nov. They were 

 visited by swarms of bees, butterflies, wasps, yellow- 

 jackets, and all honey-loving insects, from dawn till 

 twilight. Neither the poplar nor the linn was more 

 visited. If a bee-keeper had five to ten acres, well 

 set in flgwort, I think he might calculate pretty 

 surely upon having enough honey to carry his bees 

 through the winter and^spring, if every thing else 

 failed. 



This brings me to what I set out to say, or, rather, 

 to ask. 



WILL IT PAY TO GROAV FIGWORT SEED FOR SALE? 



It may kill two birds« with one stone. Have the 

 bloom for my bees, and the seed for sale. What will 

 you offer me for such seed as I may have for market 

 next fall? or what will any one else offer me, and 

 who will it be? If I can get a remunerative market, 

 I think I shall plant pretty largely next spring. 



Columbia, Tenn., Dec. 23, 1882. W. S. Kainey. 



I can not tell you what I could pay for seed 

 next fall, friend R. ; but we have been pay- 

 ing $1.00 per lb. of late for it. I know a 

 very good thing could be done raising seed, 

 at any thing like present prices, but demand 

 and supply regulate all these things. It is 

 some labor to get the seed nicely separated, 

 but we found by sifting it in the wind, when 

 there was only a very light breeze, we could 

 get it comparatively clean, and then by sift- 

 ing it through perforated tin, having the 

 right-sized perforators, we get it very nice 

 and clean, with comparatively little trouble. 

 It may be that many have been deterred from 

 saving the seed, by the difficulty of getting 

 it clean, by ordinary means. 



WIRING FRAMES FOR FOUNDATION. 



I like wired combs, but find that when the wires 

 are put through the top and bottom bars they will 

 not prevent the frames from sagging when 6 or 8 

 lbs. of honey are put into a new comb. I have a lot 

 of wired combs now that will crush bees in the bot- 

 tom of the hive. The weight of honey causes the 

 wire to cut into the wood. Another thing: It is al- 

 most impossible to get wax or propolis off the 

 frames without cutting the wires when they run 

 along the outside of the frames. Could you not cut 

 hooks from tin, instead of the wire staples sug- 

 gested by C. H. Deane, on page 015? I think the sec- 

 ond form would be best. They should be long 

 enough to clinch, which might be done by the bars 

 being laid on a bar of iron, when driving them in. 

 Please let me know as soon as possible your opinion 

 of the above, as, if you could make them work, I 

 would cut out my frames accordingly. 



A. G. Willows. 



Carltngford, Ont., Can., Dec. 8, 1882. 



Your tin staples will answer, without 

 doubt, friend W., but it will be a rather ex- 

 pensive job to drive and clinch them, I fear, 

 and, if not clinched, I fear they would pull 

 out, with very heavy combs, and then we 

 should be as badly off, or worse, than with 

 the wires that cut into the wood. The last- 

 named feature has been of service to us, in 

 making the wire cut into the wood a little, 

 when it would be too tight otherwise. We 

 have never known combs so heavy as to 

 make the bottom-bars sag, but we use en- 

 tirely No. 30 wire ; in trying to use No. 36, 

 we had some trouble such as you mention. 

 We never scrape the toi>bars so close as to cut 

 the wires. Friend Doolittle says he does not 

 want his top-bars scraped at all, for the wax 

 on top is the very best thing to induce the 

 bees to go up into the sections above. Some 

 kind of staples, or tin points, that could be 

 put in rapidly enough, and would not pull 

 out, would be quite desirable ; but I am a 

 little afraid we shall not be able to do it. 



THE FLOOD OF HONEY IN INDIANA. 



Last spring, when the fruit-bloom opened, April 

 7th, bees fairly tumbled in with their heavy loads of 

 honey. On the 10th we had quite a snowstorm, and 

 freezing, which destroyed all the bloom until June 

 4th; then the raspberry and blackberry bloom open- 

 ed. Bees went for them with a rush, as at that time 

 they were short of stores, and some colonies actual- 

 ly starving; most of them had their drones all killed 

 and dragged out of their hives. First natural swarm 

 issued June 6th; on the 10th I commenced extract- 

 ing. On the 29th, basswood bloom opened up nicely; 

 bees gathered honey rapidly from this source till 

 July 13th. Next was white-clover bloom, which last- 

 ed up to Aug. 15th. Then the late sumac bloom 

 opened, fairly dripping with honey, which gave the 

 bees all they could do till September 1st; then the 

 fall bloom opened, which lasted till the 1st of Octo- 

 ber. Swarming was kept up through all this con- 

 tinuous honey-flow. Of course, we obtained a nice 

 crop of honey, and have our bees in splendid condi- 

 tion for winter. Wm. Parmerlee. 



Bean Blossom. Ind., Dec. 2, 1883. 



This is quite interesting, friend P.; but 

 most of us would like to know just how 

 much honey you did get, and how many 

 bees you have. You see, we bee-folks are 

 "naterally inquisitive like." 



