1883 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



709 



good deal of persuasion), a day or two after, I tried 

 the first gum again, this time in the evening. I gave 

 them a most thorough drumming, using two drum- 

 boxes, covering the first exodus up till I drove the 

 residue out, and then emptied all in front of the 

 hive prepared with fdn. The bees were any thing 

 but pleased with their cold quarters, but I forced 

 them in; and as darkness closed down, they had no 

 alternative but to remain. 



The next day the bees went in and out of their 

 new abode, but there was no work going on, and I 

 noticed that the old hive, which had placed a band 

 of musicians at the entrance on a previous occasion, 

 seemed to be lively, and the bees numerous. In the 

 evening I opened my newly transferred hive, and, 

 lo! it was empty. I then opened the hive which had 

 presented such unusual activity through the day, 

 and it was crammed with bees from bottom-board to 

 cover. I gave them a second story and a case of 

 sections, and the double colony went to work at 

 once in the boxes. 



The bees evidently do not take kindly to Mr. Hed- 

 don's plan of transferring, and have a decided pref- 

 erence for their old combs and brood. It matters 

 but little whether the queen goes up in the drum- 

 box or stays on the combs when they are to be plac- 

 ed in the new hive. When the combs and brood are 

 placed in the frames in place of fdn., the bees enter 

 and go to work cheerfully, which they do not when 

 forced to leave their brood and go on to empty 

 combs or fdn. Mr. Heddon objects to having these 

 old combs in his apiary; but old combs are a pretty 

 good institution in many respects. Their thick 

 walls, crevices, and caverns, make excellent warm 

 winter quarters for the bees; and when empty they 

 can be pushed to the outside, or taken out of the 

 hive, and their places filled with frames of fdn. 



DOUBLING COIiONIKS FOB THE HARVEST. 



By the way, would it not be a good plan, at the 

 commencement of the honey harvest, to unite two 

 colonies, taking one of the queens and holding her 

 in a nucleus till the rush is over, and then divide, 

 giving the bees back their old queen with her little 

 family? E. E. Ewing. 



Highlands, N. C, Oct., 1883. 



WORK FOK \1 OMEN. 



SHAVE an aunt who became interested in bee 

 culture a few years ago. She is now a widow. 

 She and her two boys have been looking after a 

 large farm and a good-sized dairy. In addition to all 

 this she has not neglected her bees. In a letter re- 

 ceived to-day from her, she writes: 



" I think you have done splendidly with your bees. 

 People here think I am doing wonders with mine, 

 but I refer them to you. 1 got 700 lbs. of comb hon- 

 ey, about half of which is in section boxes; had 11 

 colonies in the spring, and 20 now. But 1 see that 1 

 might have done far better if I had not had so many 

 irons in the fire. We had four boarders ten weeks, 

 when 1 ought to have paid more attention to the 

 bees. But I intend to do better next year; if I live 

 and keep my health, and the girls stay at home, I 

 shall try to see what I can do. The more I have to 

 do with the dear little pets, the better I like them. 

 1 am very thankful that there is one thing a woman 

 can do herself, without the help of a man. And 

 when 1 see so many women dragging out a misera- 

 ble life of poor health, and whining for money, I feel 

 like saying to them, * Why don't you get up and dust, 

 and do something in this wide world, when there is 

 so much to do, for both profit and pleasure?' But 

 they are afraid the bees will sting, and they will 

 have to make some quick motions; so they stay in 



the house like little ladies, or take their exercise on 

 the street, gossiping, and trying to talk politics, and 

 electioneering for their husbands, so they will get 

 into olHce. Bah! 



"Well, enough of this. I must go to town with 

 the butter, and take my rags to the weaver's for my 

 new carpet." 



That answers the question, " What can she do?" 

 better than I can answer it; and as the pins stuck so 

 neatly in some of the "gentler sex" are driven 

 home by one of their own number, it relieves me 

 from the awful consequences that might follow, if I 

 had done it. The above quotation is respectfully 

 dedicated to those of your readers who need an addi- 

 tional Fpur to activity. Eugene Secor. 



Forest City, Iowa, Oct. 27, 1883. 



^•9>* 



hoitie-made: one-piece sections. 



FIG. 1. —SEC 

 T ION-BOX. 



some very plain INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE UNIN- 

 ITIATED. 



eUR enterprising friends of the Louis- 

 ville Farm and Fireside have given so 

 good an article on section boxes that 

 we reproduce it entire. They have also been 

 kind enough to loan us the engravings : 



Sections are small frames to contain single combs 

 of honey. As these appear upon the market with 

 their sweet contents unbroken, white and beautiful, 

 they have become very popular. The purchaser ob- 

 tains a pound of honey, neatly cuts it 

 out of the frame upon a plate, and it 

 is a dainty dish to set before a king. 



I have been making very good sec- 

 tions from Leslie berry-box material. 

 I purchase a crate of twenty-four 

 boxes, in the flat, for 16 cents, and 

 this is sufficient to make 48 sections, 

 with the crate material and bottoms 

 thrown in. A strip for one of these 

 quart-boxes is first slit from end to 

 end, through the middle; then each part is doubled 

 around and nailed with two small tacks. The frame 

 thus formed is f hownl in Fig. 1, and is just large 

 enough to contain one pound of comb honey, being 

 4?aX.5?sXi;'s in inches. [The usual size of these sec- 

 tions is 4>ix4i.ix2, outside measurement.— Eds. F. 

 and F] As this material is ooly about one-twelfth 

 of an inch in thickness, the'frame is quite frail un- 

 til strengthened by the comb itself. 



Now, what is the best method of using sections in 

 the hive? I have experimented a good deal, and ex- 

 amined most of the racks and contrivances used by 

 bee-keepers. The following described box, how- 

 ever, devised by myself for my cottage hive, but just 

 as convenient for any other, all things considered, 

 suits me much better than any thing else. These 

 boxes are small crates, holding, for my hive, six sec- 

 tions each. They are movable and firm, and easily 

 packed away or carried to market. A quilt may be 

 used over the brood frames, and turned back for one 

 after another of these little crates as they are need- 

 ed. • 



Sections are often suspended'alongside'' the brood 

 in broad frames, but I do not like this method as 

 well. I prefer to narrow the space below, down to 

 from sixteen to eighteen hundred cubic inches, ac- 

 cording to the size of the colony, by division-boards, 

 so that the bees may be ready to work in the supers 

 early in the season. 



FIG. 3.— slater's SECTION-CRATE. 



The bottom-board of the crate is provided with a 

 central opening for admitting the bees to the sec- 

 tions. The ends ar e nai led u pright.upon this bottom, 

 far enough apart for the desired number of sec- 

 tions to stand between. The ends and bottom I get 

 out of common siding, which I first carefully narrow 

 down to the exact width of my sections. Inch-and-a- 



