1883 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



305 



by, and blow a few puffs of smoke under the hive, 

 when you can carry them where you wish, without 

 performing as you did before; for the bees will not 

 attempt to fly out and sting for a minute or two aft- 

 er smoking. Of all the bees to sting, one that leaves 

 its hive on carrying out of the cellar is the worst. 

 As they have no place to go to except to hang around 

 whei-e they left the hive, they will dart at you for an 

 hour after, and every time you pass that way. This 

 applies only to those who use loose bottom-boards; 

 for with a tight bottom-board the bees can be shut 

 in their hives while carrying from the cellar. 



SWARMS GOING OFF WITHOUT CLUSTERING. 



On page 2i3 you ask those who have seen first 

 swarms go off, to "stand up and testify." years 

 ago, when I was about 12 years old, father kept bees, 

 and I was the one to watch for new swarms, calling 

 father from the tield to hive them. Just before din- 

 ner one day a large first swarm came off, and be- 

 fore they were all fairly out of the hive they began 

 to move off to the north of the house, where there 

 were no trees. Father had just come home for din- 

 ner, and seeing them going in that direction he toJd 

 me to ring the bell louder (our custom then to stop 

 swarms), and he took to beating a pan. Thus we fol- 

 lowed them for half a mile, when, tired and out of 

 breath, we gave up the chase, and let them go. I 

 have also had one such attempt since I kept bees; 

 but as the queen's wings were clipped, they came 

 back of course. 



DEATH STOPS ALL PLANS. 



On page 250 you say, " Set the man whom you 

 could not get the bees to sting, at work among the 

 bees day after day." I would have gladly done so, 

 but death, that destroyer of ail living, removed him 

 from our neighborhood shortly after this. As he 

 was nearly 80 years old, and testified to never being 

 6tung in his life by a honey-bee, and as I could not 

 get him stung (also knowing that he kept bees for 

 nearly 30 years), I have believed that there was at 

 least one person whom the bees would not sting. I 

 confess to being a little wicked in trying to get him 

 stung, but I was anxious to see if what he said was 

 really so. G. M. Doolittle. 



Borodino, N. Y., May 12, 1883. 



But, friend D.. you don't say whether you 

 used pure paraffine, or parafflne and wax. 

 My experience has been just about what you 

 give, with pure paraffine, and I gave the re- 

 sult years ago, when I first made the experi- 

 ments. We have some of the same kind of 

 trouble where the paraffine is part wax, 

 even three parts wax and one of paraffine. 

 ]3ut it has been suggested that about the lat- 

 ter proportion would stand the heat, provid- 

 ing it were stayed with wires. The reasons 

 you have given are sufficient, I should think, 

 to deter any one from wanting to make ex- 

 periments with paraffine for comb honey. 

 Comb honey breaks down fast enough as it 

 is. Within a few days, Ernest has been 

 making some experiments with samples of 

 paraffine sent us to test ; but so far, we can 

 tind nothing that has the rare property pos- 

 sessed by beeswax, of standing a very high 

 temperature, without melting. Paraffine 

 has two objections: when cold it is more 

 brittle than wax ; it also melts at a tempera- 

 ture where wax would have considerable 

 tenacity. A^ery likely we shall be obliged to 

 hold on to the wax made by the bees, for all 

 time to come. 



By the way, it seems to me your experiment 

 in raising the hives up in the cellar demon- 

 strates the advantage of more ventilation; 

 and why will not abundant ventilation keep 

 bees quiet, and stop the dysentery? Very 

 many times in years that have passed, one 

 after another has recommended wintering 

 bees without any bottom to the hive, so that 

 the dead bees could drop clear down out of 

 the way, and then abundance of air might 

 always have access from below, ^\hy 

 has this plan been dropped? Is any 

 one practicing it yet V Of one thing I feel 

 pretty sure, that very many cases of losses 

 out of doors and in cellars would have been 

 saved by a freer circulation of air — hives 

 " cracked from top to bottom," for instance. 



PATENT IMPOSITIONS. 



sectional honey - boxes ikside A wide fra.me. 



WHILE the present system of issuing patents 

 is maintained, it is well for the public to be on 



^ -^ guard. Patent solicitors make their fees re- 

 gardless of real merit in a supposed invention; and 

 if the examiners are led to believe that the law is 

 complied with, patents are issued, even on old and 

 obsolete ideas. This has often been done. Appli- 

 cants are now allowed patents on the most trivial 

 claims; and repeatedly instances have been given 

 wnere the claims are not only not original, but are 

 known to have been before made, and being unap- 

 preciated have dropped out of use. 



Now, regarding the claims for the use of the wide 

 frames as patented. It is absurd. I have myself 

 made them longer than the life of a patent. For 

 one, I am willing to contribute to a fund to be used 

 to defend against any such fraudulent claims. 



J. W. Porter. 



Charlottesville, Va., May 17, 1883. 



I believe you are right, friend P., and the 

 case you have alluded to well illustrates the 

 point. In regard to sections in large frames, 

 friend Baldridge sends us the following:— 

 sections in large frames. 



I have read in Gleanings for March and May what 

 you and H. H. Flick, and others, have to say about 

 the use of sections inside of frames. I have an old 

 scrap-book of items and articles relating to bees, 

 made by me prior to 1860, in which I find many in- 

 teresting facts when peculiar circumstances arise. 

 I will inclose you to-day some illustrations, with ac- 

 companying description, taken from the Americaji 

 Agriculturist for 1858 or 18j9, concerning the use of 

 sections in large frames, and patented Nov, 9, 1858, 

 to Ebenezer W. Phelps, of Elizabeth, New Jersey. 

 When I came to Illinois, in 1861, 1 found here quite a 

 number of Phelps' hives, supplied with sectional 

 frames, in common use. These facts should, there- 

 fore, allay any excitement in regard to Mr. Flick's 

 blackmailing threats. The matter preceding the il- 

 lustrations was taken from an advertisement, as be- 

 fore stated, and the rest from the reading columns 

 of the Am. AgrictiUiirist, as follows: — 



EXCEL 

 To CIK 



able Comb Hive, 



siOR! excelsior:: honey made 



;r)EK. Phelps' Sectional. Frame and Moy- 



itf nted Nov 



By means ot this 

 1 improvciiient the honey is taken from the hive in small 

 frames, in separate pieces Hve inches square (without injury 

 or exposure to the beesj, in the most beautiful and convenient 

 form for table or market use. 



We do not give the cuts, but copy the de- 

 scription of them, which is as follows:—- 



