THE AMERICAJS BEJfl JOURNAL. 



583 



queens laying, and see that each hive 

 ■was s.upplied with at least 30 lbs. of 

 stores. He wintered his bees in sin- 

 gle-walled-hives in a clamp, well 

 packed with sawdust or chaff on all 

 sides and on the top ; he preferred 

 sawdust, as there was no danger of 

 mice disturbing the bees. In answer 

 to a question, lie said he could tell 

 whether a queen was a good one or 

 not, by the strength of the colony. 



Mr. Isaac Overholt kept his bees in 

 a clamp in winter and summer and 

 had been very successful, but this 

 summer one of his clamps was too 

 hot, as the combs had all melted 

 and the bees died. He supposed the 

 loss was caused by want of ventila- 

 tion. 



In answer to Mr. Coverdale, Mr. 

 Armstrong said that if he had a good 

 cellar he would winter some of his 

 bees in it, but his cellar was not fit. 

 The cellar required to be well venti- 

 lated. 



Eighteen members present reported 

 244 colonies spring count, and 445 col- 

 onies at the present time, with 9,745 

 lbs. of honey produced. 



An informal discussion then took 



E lace on various subjects, and a num- 

 er of questions were asked and 

 answered by the members. The 

 meeting was a very enjoyable one, and 

 nine new members were added to the 

 roll. 



It was moved by Mr. Armstrong 

 and seconded by Mr. Rae, that the 

 next meeting of the Association be 

 held at Cayuga on the 3d Friday in 

 January, at 1 p. m. 



Mr. and Mrs. Geo. Best kindly en- 

 tertained a number of the bee-keepers 

 from a distance, and made their visit 

 a pleasant one. 



E. C. Campbell, Sec. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Making tlie Tin T-SnpBorts. 



G. W. DESIAKEE. 



A long and labored article which 

 appeared in one of the bee-papers re- 

 cently, trying to explain with a num- 

 ber of illustrations, how to make the 

 tin T's, which are used to support 

 sections in section-cases, by means of 

 the tinner's "folding machine," re- 

 minded me of the old adage that 

 " necessity is the mother of inven- 

 tion," and that I might help some of 

 the fraternity by describing a simple 

 and accurate method of making the 

 tin T's, and by the use of a most sim- 



Ele arrangement which may be made 

 y any ordinary mechanic. 

 The device is simply a wooden vice 

 made of two blocks of hard wood. 

 The blocks of wood, as I make the de- 

 vice, are 2}^ inches square, and are a 

 little longer than the tin T's are 

 wanted. They are dressed square 

 and true so as to " bite " from end to 

 end. An iron bolt through the center 

 of the blocks with a " nut " and hand 

 lever, Is the cheapest way to tighten 

 the vice, though I have a wooden 

 screw in my device which is more 

 costly, and works belter. Two dowel- 

 pins made of iron (cut from a large 



wire nail), one at a point, say two 

 inches from each end of the vice and 

 a scant 3^-inch from the face of the 

 vice, are driven fast into one of the 

 "jaws" of the vice,and enter loosely in- 

 to holes made in the opposite " jaw." 

 These dowel-pins hold the vice in po- 

 sition, and guage the width of the 

 stems of the T's. 



Now for the modus operandi : I get 

 the tinner to cut the tins 1^ inches 

 wide, and as long as my cases are 

 wide, and fold them evenly. This 

 gives me strips of tin folded '^ of an 

 inch wide, and just as long as I want 

 my tin T's. The tinner's folding ma- 

 chine can put the strips of tin in this 

 shape cheaper than by any other 

 method, but here it stops, and is of no 

 further service in completing the 

 work. 



They are now ready for the vice. 

 The vice is laid on the work-bench 

 before the operator, and the screw is 

 turned so that the " jaws " open 

 slightly, when the folded edge of the 

 strip of tin is shoved down between 

 the jaws of the vice till they rest on 

 the dowel pins, which guages the 

 width of the stem of the T. The 

 open edges of the folded strip of tin 

 will now project J^-inch above the 

 face of the vice. With a blunt chisel 

 the edges are separated and bent over, 

 and then they are hammered down 

 flat on the face of the vice. The 

 screw is now slackened and the per- 

 fect tin T is lifted out. 



A year or so ago I consulted one of 

 our best tinners as to the best and 

 cheapest plan to make the T's, show- 

 ing him a sample which had been 

 made as described above. He was 

 exceedingly pleased with the work- 

 manship the sample displayed, and 

 with the simple plan employed to 

 make them. He thought it would 

 require costly machinery to do the 

 work as well, and with rapidity. The 

 simple plan that I have described, 

 though comparatively slow, answers 

 all purposes in a large apiary, as the 

 tin T's can be made in the winter at 

 the cost of a little time only, and 

 almost any body can make them. 



In my opinion, nothing equals the 

 tin T's for supporisfor sections. I 

 believe that it was the the Editor 

 who, in his answer to one of the 

 queries relating to the T supports, 

 suggested that they might bend under 

 the weight they have to sustain. As 

 I make the tin T's, their stems are a 

 scant J^-inch wide, and being double, 

 and clamped between the rows of 

 sections, their strength is more than 

 sulllcient to support the full sections. 

 The secret of their strength is, they 

 stand on their edges and are clamped 

 between the sections so that they can- 

 not careen to either side. While 

 removing some section-cases with 32 

 well-filled sections to the case, the 

 past season, the end of one of the 

 cases slipped out of my hand and fell 

 to the ground with great force, while 

 I held on to the other side. I expected 

 to see the sections, heavily filled with 

 honey, go through the case with a 

 smash, but the tin T's held them 

 firmly in place. 



At the beginning of last season I 

 made preparfitions to test practically 



the question of separators, and no 

 separators, in the same apiary, and 

 with the same style of seetion-case, 

 and with the same strain of bees. 

 But the season was so unpropitious 

 for surplus honey, that I must wait 

 for a better season before I pass 

 judgment. 

 Christiansburg, 5 Ky. 



For tbe Amertcan Bee JonmaJi 



Bees and Bee-Keening in Texas. 



JNO. A. EMISON. 



I wish to tender my condolence to 

 the drouth-stricken localities of the 

 United vStates. I passed through the 

 same affliction (only more so) last 

 season. I saw colony after colony 

 leave their hives for want of food, and 

 take to the woods to die. It grieved 

 me beyond measure, but what was I 

 to doV To purchase sugar to feed 120 

 colonies, was, in a financial point of 

 view, an unsafe investment. So I took 

 30 of my best colonies, fed them up, 

 and let 90 die. 



Then in the great autumnal storm 

 that devastated our locality, I lost 5 

 out of the 30. So 1 began the winter 

 with 25 colonies. Oh, the toil and 

 vexation of spirit that I had in trying 

 to keep the beautiful vacated comb. 

 I referred to my copies of the Amer- 

 ican Bee Journal, and read what 

 this one said, and what that one said, 

 but all to no avail ; the pesky, loath- 

 some wax-worm mastered me. Then 

 I extracted the wax, and what a time 

 I had. This brings me to the ac- 

 knowedgement of my thanks to Mr. 

 Demaiee, for the gift to the public, of 

 his solar wax extractor. I now almost 

 sigh for comb, to see the beautiful 

 wax come trickling down, while I sit 

 in the shade reading the Bee 

 Journal. 



I have read with some interest and 

 a little amusement, what has been 

 written about the new name for honey 

 out of the comb. I score one vote for 

 " extracted honey." 



I noticed in a recent number, that 

 someone asked if anyone had tried the 

 sweet clover here. I have it on my 

 place and it is a complete failure in 

 this locality, as a honey-bearing plant. 

 I keep it for its fresh, vigorous growth 

 and sweet bloom. I have tried all the 

 honey-plants recommended in the 

 Ambkican Bee Journal, and none 

 could stand our climate except the 

 sweet clover. I wish to try the Chap- 

 man honey-plant and the Melissa, if I 

 can get the seed. 



My bees have with, or under, all 

 discouraging circumstances this sea- 

 son, produced some honey but no 

 increase. I am now preparing to in- 

 crease my apiary. My bees are now 

 storing honey from the Brazil wood 

 and tea-vine. 



My bee-keeping has yielded more 

 " experience " than money. I follow 

 it more for the pleasure it gives than 

 for the profit. Hour after hour do I 

 spend in my apiary, listening to the 

 busy hum of my little pets. I hope 

 the season of 1888 may be brighter to 

 one and all. 



Mission Valley,? Tex., Sept. 1, 1887. 



