THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



553 



age them in a different way from 

 which 1 and some others do. It will 

 not pay to throw aside hives and 

 fixtures after ouce adopted, and get 

 others which are no better ; it is not 

 the /lives that make the honey. 



There is Mr. Doolittle, one of our 

 most practical apiarists, who cannot 

 get along very well without separa- 

 tors. The readers will ask, why is 

 that? Well, so far as known by 

 reading, Mr. D. practices side-storing 

 and therefore he cannot get along 

 without them, else he would have a 

 "nice mess" in his sections, and I 

 have my doubts but what it will be a 

 little mixed sometimes anyway, that 

 is, pollen and honey. 



I am mainly speaking to those who 

 obtain their honey above the brood- 

 nest; side-storing, or between the 

 brood-nest will be most surely to have 

 pollen in it ; this is one part of bee- 

 nature which we cannot prevent, 

 therefore the proper place tor nice 

 surplus comb-honey is above the 

 brood-nest, and to get it there in the 

 best possible shape, and all of it that 

 the bees can spare, without the use of 

 a lot of machinery, has been my 

 restless study. I have accomplished 

 the securing of straight combs, and I 

 have no trouble in getting my bees to 

 work in the sections if they have any- 

 thing to put there; on an averase 

 they do not store more honey in the 

 brood-nest for winter and spring use, 

 but I have to equalize it for them in 

 the fall, which is not a very big job. 

 as every frame fits every hive that I 

 have, and as a rule the majority 

 generally need no fitting. 



FASTENING FOUNDATION IN SECTIONS 



For the benefit of the readers, I will 

 give my method of securing straight 

 combs in the sections. In the first 

 place I am very particular to do things 

 right and at the right time, and if the 

 readers take patience to read the 

 following carefully, it will probably 

 benefit them : 



After having the cases ready and 

 the sections folded, I put them near 

 on an old cook-stove, which is under a 

 shed— the sides are all open but one ; 

 near this stove I place an old kitchen- 

 table, on which there are marks made 

 by the "■ square" and pencil, whereby 

 I cut the foundation, 6 to 8 sheets at a 

 time, into the desired pieces for the 

 sections. I prefer the Dadant " extra 

 thin" foundation, Z%\H)4 inch sheets, 

 for 4J4X4I4' sections, and 6 pieces out 

 of each sheet. When I have the 

 foundation ready I place another little 

 table on a box or top of a hive, about 

 15 inches high and 18 inches long ; on 

 this I nail two thin strips to hold the 

 sections in position while putting in 

 the foundation. They are a little 

 thinner than the sections and far 

 enough apart to slip the section in 

 between, and four at a time. This 

 top table is to make it convenient to 

 operate. The empty cases are placed 

 on one side and the folded sections on 

 the other side of the table, and the 

 foundation in front. The stove is 

 heated to the right point, and a pro- 

 tection-board placed between the stove 

 and myself. 



I stand between the table and 

 board, and use a half- worn -out smooth 

 table-knife, lay it on the hot stove, 

 while at the same time 1 pick up a 

 piece of foundation with the other 

 hand, and hold it inside of the upside- 

 down section on the httle table, right 

 above the hot knife, which is rubbing 

 the wood below it, to get it hot, while 

 at the same time is melting the end of 

 the foundation so as to seal it to the 

 wood, which is done by pressing it 

 slightly in the center of the section ; 

 if rightly done, it will leave a mark of 

 wax for every cell on the wood on 

 each side of foundation alike, and this 

 is just the point, as it will guide the 

 bees to build the comb on each side 

 alike, in all sections, and therefore 

 build straight combs. 



Do not overlook the main points, 

 namely : the wood has to be fairly hot 

 to receive the melting wax, else it will 

 not stick securely ; a thin knife is 

 better than a thick or new one, as it 

 becomes hot enough in one second, if 

 the heat is right ; it also works better 

 on the foundation. There should be 

 a space left between the foundation 

 and sides of the sections of at least % 

 of an inch, so that the foundation will 

 hang free when in position. If it is 

 too close, the bees will stick it to the 

 sides and cause it to warp. To touch 

 it with the hot knife will melt it to the 

 desired distance, if it be too close. 



I have tried a number of different 

 foundation fasteners, but none suit me 

 as well as the knife; it is utterly im- 

 possible to do as perfect work with 

 them as I can with the knife; they all 

 leave a strip of foundation on one side 

 only, on which the bees get ahead the 

 fastest nearly every time, and the 

 result is bulged combs, and separators 

 are surely needful. 



I fill the cases as I go, and when a 

 colony is ready (not before) I put one 

 above the brood-nest with nothing 

 between the frames and sections 

 except a bee-space, but the hive 

 should stand level from side to side. 

 I can put in foundation best and 

 quickest when the temperature is 70° 

 to 80° above zero in the shed ; at 60° 

 the material is too cool, and at 90° to 

 95° the foundation gets too limber and 

 crooks up, which means bad combs, 

 and some of them will loosen because 

 the foundation cannot be pressed close 

 enough to the wood. 



Heretofore, I was almost influenced 

 by reading, to get some perforated 

 honey-boards, but as long as my 

 queens stay out of the sections as well 

 as they have in the past, I will be 

 better off without them, as they rarely 

 deposit any eggs there, and every- 

 thing that hinders the bees from free 

 passage they do not fancy ; the closer 

 they are to the brood-nest, the better 

 they like to store honey in the sec- 

 tions ; but sections " between" or on 

 the •' side" of it, are very apt to get 

 pollen in them. 



Much has been said about bees 

 traveling over finished sections, and 

 thus damaging them; this is surely a 

 great mistake; and one writer will 

 say what another has written before 

 him, without any investigation or 

 knowledge of his own. My experi- 



ence is that honey becomes better in 

 every respect for quite a while after 

 it is sealed over, even if it does get a 

 little yellow by the bees nibbling on it 

 with their mandibles; but not with 

 their feet traveling on it. 

 Theilmanton,cxMina. 



For Lne Amertcan Bee JoamaL 



Canses of Drofltt— Tile-Drainim. 



J. C. AKMSTBONG. 



The article by Thos. E. Hill, on 

 page 487, calls up a question on which 

 there is a diversity of opinion. The 

 article in a great measure, answers 

 itself, when it says : " The fogs and 

 moisture through these winds are 

 driven upon the continent where 

 drouth seldom prevails, etc." The 

 ocean is the great reservoir which 

 supplies the continents with moisture. 

 This moisture as it is wafted upon 

 the continents is carried to our 

 mountain summits, where it is con- 

 densed, and falls in rain or snow. 

 From there our vast rivers are formed 

 which in turn form our great lakes. 

 All these waters find their way to the 

 ocean again and again, as they are 

 thus wafted. 



There are not many places on the 

 earth's surface, which have not moist- 

 ure enough in the atmosphere for 

 vegetation, if it can only be condensed 

 into rain. There are a few "rainless 

 regions," which are rendered so by 

 local causes, but these are few. At 

 present all our sloughs and ponds are 

 dried up. The beds of our smaller 

 streams are dry, and our larger ones 

 are greatly diminished. If these are 

 the source of our water supply, we 

 are done. The whole Mississippi 

 valley will soon be a barren waste, 

 and the whole continent as well. In 

 a few months we shall see the ground 

 saturated with water ; our streams 

 overflowing, and our rivers sweeping 

 on in vast floods to the ocean. Where 

 do all these waters come from V From 

 the ocean. As a general rule there is 

 a greater raiufall near the ocean than 

 in the interior of the continent. For 

 the same reason there is more along 

 our great rivers and lakes. Yet near- 

 ly all these regions are visited by 

 drouths. 



At the present time, Michigan is 

 suffering as severely as Iowa, though 

 surrounded by the great lakes. Min- 

 nesota is all dotted over with lakes, 

 yet the drouth is there. I have seen 

 as great drouth nearly 40 years ago in 

 the vicinity of Lake Erie, when per- 

 haps there was not a tile in America. 

 Undoubtedly all our little streams, 

 lakelets and sloughs have some influ- 

 ence in producing rain, but they are 

 as a drop in the bucket, compared 

 with the great ocean. Perhaps they 

 are a hundred-fold more potent in 

 breeding malaria, than in producing 

 rain. „ , 



It is a well-known fact to all who 

 have studied the effects and had the 

 experience with under-drainage, that 

 such land is better prepared to stand 

 a protracted drouth than land not so 

 drained. While it carries off all sur- 



