GLEAi^INGS IN BEE CULttJRE. 



KoV. 



BEE CVIiTURE; IN IIIAINE. 



STARTED in the 8priD»rwith3 colonies; increas- 

 ed by natural and artificial swarming to 15, 

 with about 30 lbs. of box honey. 



METAL-CORNERED FRAMES. 



I see some complaint has been made lately in re- 

 gard to metal-cornered frames. I have used them 

 almost wholly the past season, and am so well pleased 

 with them that I shall use them in the future. I 

 want a frame that I can pick up without having to 

 pry loose, and jarring the whole hive; and on this 

 account I can handle the metal-cornered frames 

 with fewer stings. I have almost dreaded to open 

 hives with all-wood frames, as there is so much pry- 

 ing loose to do, and that takes time, which is always 

 valuable. Some complain of the ends of corners 

 tipping up; but this, 1 think, will not happen if they 

 are well clinched down. 



The frames I use have an additional wire, at each 

 end of the frame; this wire comes within about % of 

 an inch from end-bar, making 8 perpendicular wires 

 for L. frames. This additional wire holds the foun- 

 dation more firmly in place, and prevents the foun- 

 dation from warping around, as it often does with- 

 out this wire. These frames were obtained of W. F. 

 Talconer, but I do not know whether the invention 

 Is his or not; and, by the way, let me say here, as 

 Mr. F. is one of your advertisers, that he has filled 

 all my orders promptly, and with flrst-clals goods. 



OUR STATE FAIR EXHIBIT. 



At our State Fair, held in Lewiston, Sept. 18 to 21, 

 there was a good exhibit of bees, hives, and apiarian 

 Implements, which eclipsed all former exhibits. 

 Among the first premiums awarded were, one colony 

 pure Italian bees, J. B. Masor, Mechanic Falls; bes* 

 collection of queen bees, do.; largest collection of 

 apiarian Implements, Lucian French, Dexter; larg- 

 est display of comb honey, G. W. P. Jerrard, Cari- 

 bou. Mr. French is a veteran bee-keeper, of over 70 

 years, and manifested as much zeal as any one pres- 

 ent. He had on exhibition one of A. I. Root's foun- 

 dation-mills, one of the first out, and received first 

 premium on foundation. G. W. P. Jerrard is one of 

 the honey -kings of Aroostook Co. He has 300 

 swarms of bees, and gets 3 tons of honey per year. 

 When asked how he managed to get his honey sealed 

 so nicely, he said, " I keep black bees mostly, and 

 prefer them for honey, and Italians for increase." 

 That Mr. J. can raise something besides bees and 

 honey, is shown in his large display of vegetables 

 and farm products, grown by himself. Aroostook 

 honey is the whitest and best in the world, so Ar- 

 oostook people claim; and those who have seen and 

 tested it are disposed to agree with them. Their 

 greatest honey-producing plant is flreweed, or 

 Epilobium angusti folium, which grows in great abun. 

 dance. Raspberry bloom is also very plentiful, and 

 bushels of the berries are canned there yearly. Ar- 

 oostook County embraces the whole of northern 

 and part of eastern Maine, and contains 6800 square 

 miles. The land is rich and fertile, and is termed by 

 many the " New West." Enormous quantities of po- 

 tatoes are grown there, the larger part of which are 

 manufactured into potato starch, of which 7840 tons 

 are yearly produced. 



A VETERAN BOX-HIVER. 



There lives near me a box-hiver of 85 years of age. 

 He had at one time 80 swarms of bees in box-hives. 

 These were not kept in one locality, but were let out 

 on shares to different parties ; but one or two poor 



seasons, followed by hard winters, killed them off, 

 so he has only two hives remaining. His heavy loss 

 at one time he attributed to his neglecting to inform 

 his bees of the death of a member of his family, 

 W. Auburn, Me., Oct. 24, 1883. E. E. Crafts. 



hoiue-made: unPLiEmEivTS. 



SOME VALUABLE IMPROVEMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS 

 FROM FRIEND EASTERDAY. 



fRIEND ROOT : — I send you with this a lot of 

 sundries. 



A LITTLE SHOVEL FOR CLE \NING OUT HIVES. 



No. 1 is a 5-cent garden-trowel with the point cut 

 off, which I use for scrnping the inside of hives, top 

 of frames, etc. I find it a cheap but useful tool. 



THE SELF-LUBRICATING PARKER MACHINE. 



No. 3 is an improvement on the Parker machine. 

 The trough is to hold the lubricating fluid. I will al- 

 low you to judge of its utility. 



hill'.s dhvice. 



No. 4 is a cheap way of makiag the Hill device. 

 To make the curved splints, I took a piece of tough 

 elm board, which had b'^en soaked in water, and 

 sawed kerfs in one edge 5 in. apart, and then with a 

 single-bit jrtck-pHne, set deep, I cut them off ready 

 curved, "faster th;Hn you could count." I suppose 

 any kind of tough, straight-grained wood would do. 



No. 3 is a wired f ramp, showing the way I do it. I 

 could say much in fHVur of the stee of frame and 

 section I use, but I suppose it would be useless, as 

 you would still persist in making your odd sizes. 



DRONE FDN. for SECTION BOXES. 



No. 6 is a section with a drone foundation starter 

 partly drawn out. This leads me to say something 

 about drone foundation. I have often noticed, es- 

 pecially when honey was coming in fast, that, if 

 the starter did not fill the section, the be^s would 

 fill It, out with drone comb. I concluded last spring 

 that, if they preferred drone-cells for surplus, I 

 would furnish them with that kind of foundation. I 

 used about 40 lbs. this season, and have watched the 

 result. For some reason, probably because less heat 

 is required, bees rear their drones at the outer edge 

 of the brool-nest. This habit causes the queen 

 sometimes to lay in sections filled with drone comb, 

 when she would not lay in them if filled with worker 

 comb. Drone comb does not contain so much wax 

 to the pound of honey, but the cappings do not look 

 80 white as worker comb. 



During a good hnney-flow I put on several rows of 

 sections, filled alternately with drone and worker 

 fdn. I found the worker was drawn out first, had 

 the first honey, and the sections were best filled. I 

 noticed all through the season, that sections with 

 drone comb were not built down so well as the 

 others. Although the bees never tried to change 

 worker to dro'ie, yet when the honey-flow became 

 slack they tried very hard to change drone to work- 

 er, as you will see by the inclosed sample. I think 

 hereafter I shall use only worker foundation. 



MY REPORT. 



Lost 20 % in wintering. Increased 60 % by natural 

 swarms. Took 148 lbs. comb honey per colony, 

 spring count. Honey all sold. E. S. Easterday. 



Nokomls, 111., Oct. 25, 1883. 



I will explain to our readers, that the point 

 of the 5-cent garden-trowel is cut off square- 

 ly about two inches from the point ; and as 

 this trowel is made of iron, and not of steel, 



