1883 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



379 



seems to me to be a great deal less work than to 

 bother with a strainer. 



Our hive is large, and I don't see how bees could 

 suffer for want of upward ventilation, as we take 

 out the surplus and set the bees in center of hive, 

 and covered with 2 thicknesses of coarse cotton 

 cloth and thin boards on sides of brood-frames, then 

 filled all up with dry chaff, oats, or buckwheat. The 

 capacity of hive is 60 to TO lbs. of honey, besides the 

 brood- nest. There is opportunity to put a hole 

 through the end of roof (which is slanting), and cov- 

 er with wire cloth; but we thought they wintered 

 better without. 



ANOTHER FOUNDATION PRESS. 



The plates for pressing foundation were made by 

 a man living in Desmoines, Eowa, but I can't recall 

 his name. They are about 11x13 inches. They were 

 made to lay the upper one down on each sheet that 

 was pressed, and to be used in a cider-mill press, or 

 something similar; but we soon cracked little pieces 

 off the ends, so Mr. Axtell fitted them solid in thick 

 boards, and hinged them together, and they now do 

 fine work, though I suppose it is slower than with 

 the presses. He spent some time at first, trying to 

 make it work well, by cutting the cells in the plates 

 deeper, etc., so he determined, after putting so much 

 work on it, to make it work well. We sheet the wax 

 first. My sheeters are of wood, size of pressing- 

 plates, which I like to have soaked ia water a week 

 before using, as they are then so full of water that 

 the wax does not stick. We put on our wash-boiler, 

 and.pour in two pails of water, then about 10 or 15 

 lbs. of wax, and let it melt slowly. We put more 

 wax in a kettle, with a pint or more of water, and 

 melt. Then we lay two sticks of wood down by my 

 lounge, and the girls set the boiler on them. Fur- 

 ther to my right hand I have the dish-pan full of 

 warm water (rather warmer than milk), in which my 

 wood sheets are soaking, the face of which is smooth, 

 with a handle attached to It like a mason's hawk, or 

 the tool he holds his mortar on. When all is ready I 

 dip one sheeter in the wax, one side of face first, 

 then the middle, then the other side; if I dip it In 

 flat down, there would be air bubbles all over the 

 sheet. When the face is all covered with wax, I hold 

 it up till done dripping, always taking care to let the 

 wax run off the side that was in last; then change it 

 to left hand, and with right lift out the other sheet- 

 er from the pan of water. While the water is drip- 

 ping I drop the sheeter with wax on in the water, 

 then dip the sheeter just taken out, and change to 

 left hand, to hold while the right picks up the 

 empty sheeter in the water, and so on. Kettle 

 presses the sheeter down in the water, and the wax 

 lets loose of sheeter — when she lifts it up; then she 

 picks out the sheet, and pulls off the little edges 

 around the sides, and lays the sheets in piles. When 

 the wax gets coid we pour in two qts. of water, and 

 more wax as needed, until we get the large boiler 

 full of water and wax all sheeted off. I could not 

 handle the panes of glass for sheeters; and then 

 when they were put in wax endwise the dregs in the 

 bottom would sometimes adhere; whereby, if only 

 laid fiat on top, all the wax was used up, and that 

 boiler of water exchanged for clean. I think the 

 water makes the wax whiter, as dark wax will be 

 light by that process. I have no dai'k foundation. 

 As it is rather hard on me to do, I sheet only the one 

 boiler full of water in a day, of 3 or 3 hours. The 

 water, when poured out, looks quite yellow. 



HOW SOON ARE THE BEES CLEAR OVER THE SPRING 

 TROUBLES? 



May 7.— Bees are doing their best, asthe fruit-trees 

 are in bloom now. It has taken very careful nurs- 

 ing this spring, to bring them through. I think 

 I have seen it in print, that bees recover from the 

 dysentery when they get natural pollen; but ours 

 did not entirely. It was only day before yesterday I 

 noticed a fresh spot on the hive, and the sidewalks 

 were spotted not many days ago, two weeks or 

 more after getting pollen. Those wintered in cellar 

 were the worst in this respect; but we lost more of 

 those wintered out of doors. This was why they 

 clogged the entrances to hives so badly — not the 

 ice and snow, as we first supposed. Often we found 

 a patent pail full of dead bees in the hi%'es, or nearly 

 so; of those wintered out of doors, sometimes just 

 a few alive, and perhaps going out and in from top 

 of hive, if there was any possible way to get out. 



We had hired a young man to keep the snow from 

 entrances, so we did not go over to care for them so 

 soon as we would have done otherwise; but when 

 we did go over, there were about 35 or 40 clogged up 

 thus. We think it was the honey, though it w:is 

 sealed up as well as usual last fall. The hives, 

 many of them, seemed to have large circles of 

 brood before they died. As it had not all hatched 

 out, many that were short of honey seemed to have 

 eaten more than the live bees, as all had plenty of 

 honey last fall. 



I don't think we ever had so much brood In the 

 hives for the amount of bees, and we have fed no 

 flour either. We now prefer to keep the bfees as 

 quiet as they can be kept early in the spring, and we 

 half believe flour feeding an injury, instead of a 

 benefit. But give them plenty of honey in combs 

 from this on, until white clover, by setting the 

 frames outside of division-board, and letting them 

 carry the honey in, and giving the bees only so many 

 combs as thpy can cover, and All with brood. 



PREVENTION OF SWARMING BY ABUNDANT ROOM 

 AND VENTILATION. 



Last summer, when the bees began to be strong, 

 and commence filling up with honey, I thought I 

 would give plenty of ventilation, and see if I could 

 not in that way prevent swarming; so I took off one 

 side of the hive, and just leaned it up against the 

 hive, to shed the water when it rained. Sometimes 

 it would be the back or front; they would go though 

 a heavy rain, and I could see no difference; but 

 when they got ready to swarm, they swarmed all 

 the same, only made it harder to And the queen, as 

 they could get out so fast. I noticed they would 

 store most of their honey on the opposite side of the 

 open end of the hive. In one or more hives the 

 brood was left exposed on the open side, which they 

 generally kept covered two or three bees deep. 



Sarah J. W. Axtell. 



Roseville, 111., April 26, 1883. 



Thanks again, Mrs. A., for the important 

 points you bring out. Your plan of making 

 wax sheets will no doubt make nice ones ; 

 but it would be much slower than the way 

 we do— four large sheets at one dipping, while 

 you make only one.— In regard to spring 

 troubles : I believe they have lasted this 

 year much longer in almost all localities. 

 We have had several reports of bees djfing, 

 or swarming out, clear up to the first of 

 June.— I am much interested in your experi- 

 ment on ventilation. You know it has been 



