30G. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



JuSfii 



Fig, 2 is a side view of one of tlie frames, A, A, taken out. In- 

 side of this are four smaller frames, E,K,E, K, each one of 

 which is about 5 iuehes si|\iare. fig. 3 is one of the smaller 

 frajiies taken out. Vig. i shows several smaller frames, E, K, E, 

 K. ari-auyed in a box to be iila ed in the top of the hive, when 

 desired. 



The advantage of these small frames, placed in any kind of 

 hive, is, that the honey is deposiied by the bees in small pieces 

 of eomb, say five inches square, wliich is a very convenient size 

 for taking out to place n|)on the table, without disturbing the 

 remainder of the comb in the least. In manipulating with 

 ln>ps, also, the ditfpient frames. A, A, or E, E, can be removed, 

 replaced, oi- shifted, as nuxy be desired. 



From the above it will be seen that sections have 

 been used inside of large Irames, in the United 

 States, about 2.5 yenrs — long enough, at least, to be- 

 come public jiroijrrttj. M. M. Bai.ihiidge. 



St. Charles, 111. 



With tlie above came a picture, showing 

 the little frames inside of the big ones, as 

 plainly as any thing can be. This was 

 patented Nov. ;>, 18-58. J^Iow, if friend Flick 

 tells us the truth at all. and lie])robably does 

 in such a matter, the Patent (jtlice granted 

 him a patent for tlie same thing eleven years 

 afterward, when it had already been illus- 

 trated ill such a. monthly as the American 

 Aciricidturist! That was the state of the 

 Patent Office i)roceediiigs in 'Gi», and I think 

 there is no question but that the matter has 

 become steadily worse ever since, for the 

 reason that it becomes yearly more and more 

 comi)licated. Patents of section honey-box- 

 es have been thick and fast ever since the 

 date mentioned above, and Prof. Cook, in 

 his new Manual, mentions some of them, 

 and probably alludfs to this particular box. 

 It would seem as though the i^atent Otlice 

 had a fasliion of granting a patent on every 

 section and box brought forward, and then 

 the owners of these patents have been left to 

 tight it out as best they could. 



SWAR.tII>G IN MAY AS FAR NOKTH AS 



NE^V YORK. 



PENNSYLVANIA NOT VKRY FATl AHKAD, AbTEU ALL. 

 SEE PAGE 331). 



fHE swarming- season opened with four swarms 

 on the 18th Inst., and some every day since. 

 — ' What has got into the bees, with such a cold, 

 backward spring-, to start up and swarm the first 

 two or three pleasant days that we have? It is only 

 ten days since fruit-bloom opened, and it has been 

 so cold and windy that the bees have been able to 

 fly only a p:irt of each day till the past three or four 

 days. I begin to think that the bees are as full of 

 whims and notions as the bee-keepers. Or, perhaps, 

 it is the sometimes whimsical movements of the 

 bees which make bee-keepers differ so much in 

 opinion. Here I have been trying to build up my col- 

 onies on the Doolittle plan; and before I have got 

 half way through with it, the bees take matters into 

 their own hands, and go to sw-.^rming. 



I guess Djollttle can't have any fruit-trees in his 

 neighborhood, orhe would notadvisc putting frames 

 of honey in the center of the brood-nest, right along 

 once a week till white clover. My bees, instead of 

 emptying the last frame of honey which I gave 

 them, have filled it full of fruit-bloom honey. Cher- 

 ry-bloom has been very abundant; and from the 

 way the bees have worked upon it, it must have 

 yielded honey very freely. Pear and plum trees are 

 also very full of bloom, but the bees notice them but 

 little. A few crab-apple trees, which are just com- 

 ing into bloom, are roaring with bees. 



I packed 54 swarms in chaff last fall, and they 



all came through in good condition except two, 

 which had the dysentery during the winter, and 

 were pretty well reduced. Jas. McNeill. 



Hudson, N. Y., May 31, 1883. 



Why, friend M., yon have nothing to feel 

 bad about, even if the bees did swarm in 

 May. I don't a bit wonder at it, if you kept 

 giving them frames of uncapped honey 

 right along as you say. Just keep right on 

 doing the same thing until they can get 

 plenty of honey from the tields, and you will 

 come out all right. I would not think of 

 giving bees honey in that way while they are 

 getting plenty of stores from apple-bloom. 

 No wonder they wouldn't take it out. Friend 

 iJooHttle's directions, if I am correct, were 

 only intended to keep up this feed when no 

 honey was coming in from the lields. 



frie:m> muth's ipicture. 



THE MAN WHO HAS I!I3 APIARY ON THE TOP OF HIS 



HOUSE. 



tqflRIEND MUTEl is one of 

 fP ' in bee culture. Years a 



our veterans 



ago, when we 



— ' lirst began to talk about movable- 

 frame hives and Italian bees, he wns one 

 among us, and a man always posted. Of 

 late years he has been pretty well known by 

 his articles on the treatment of foul brood ; 

 and as he succeeds in curing it in his own 

 apiary, we think it fair to presume he would 

 in any apiary, if he had proper facilities. 

 Although for many years friend Muth's 

 apiary was on the roof « if his store, or, rather, 

 store and dwelling, it is now situated in a 

 sort of open veranda, the open side being 

 next to the river. Through this open side 

 the bees go out and in. Tlie hives are placed 

 a convenient distance from the floor, and ar- 

 ranged with alleys between them. Although 

 he lias some 80 or 40 colonies grouped to- 

 gether quite closely, they seem to go out and 

 in, and lind their respective hives just as 

 well, for aught I could see, as those located 

 in the open air. The bees we saw there last 

 fall were beautifully marked, and very do- 

 cile. On next page we give you the picture. 



Friend Muth has, of late years, been more 

 widely known as a great honey !>fa/e)-, than 

 as a producer of honey on a large scale. Per- ' 

 haps no man in the world has bought and 

 sold more honey than he has ; and one very 

 pleasant thing about it is, that in all these 

 large business transactions all his customers 

 seem to be warm personal friends. 



Wliile at the convention last fall, the sub- 

 ject of the palmetto honey of the South came 

 up. Friend JNI. was called upon to tell what 

 he knew about it. In order to impress upon 

 us that the honey was of excellent quality, 

 he made the remark that on one shipment 

 which he had engaged for 8 cents a pound, 

 he afterward paid the man 10, because it 

 went so much beyond his expectations. At 

 this point Prof. Cook arose and interrupted 

 him. " Friend JNluth," said he, " I wisli to 

 ask just one question right here." "Very 

 well, go on," said our jovial friend. " I want 

 to know," said friend Cook, " if Hie conven- 

 tion are to understand that this is the kind 

 of a man you are." " It is the kind of a man 

 I was i/iattime," was the prompt reply. And 



