THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



665 



scribed as being a little brighter, and 

 perhaps a tritle smaller. They are 

 said to be excellent honey-gatherers, 

 and are even more sure to repel rob- 

 bers than Italians, but are more irri- 

 table, and, worst of all, when once 

 aroused, are totally indifferent to 

 smoke, and tight undismayed to the 

 last. Both of these races have ad- 

 mirers who prefer them to the more 

 gentle and amiable Italians, but so 

 far as my information extends, they 

 are as yet in a hopeless minority. 



Another new race introduced sev- 

 eral years ago, from Carniola, near 

 the Adriatic sea, is now attracting 

 considerable attention in this coun- 

 try. They are described as being 

 much like our common bees in ap- 

 pearance, more gentle than Italians, 

 and good workers, but as they in- 

 crease rapidly, it is said that they do 

 not lay up as much surplus as some 

 others. What the ultimate verdict 

 of the public will be in re4ard to their 

 value remains to be seen. 



Hawkiusville,© Ga. 



Western AKriculturist. 



How to Secnre StraigM Comlis. 



C. p. DADANT. 



This is the basis of successful bee- 

 culture, for it is impossible to handle 

 the bees, unless the combs are hang- 

 ing perfectly straight in the frames, 

 so as to be easily taken out separately. 



The plan formerly in use, and indi- 

 cated by Langstroth, was a bevel on 

 the lower side of the top-bar. This 

 bevel, made in the shape of a V, was 

 sometimes made very small, and 

 usually succeeded tolerably. Yet it 

 happened very often that the bees 

 would join the comb of one frame to 

 that of another, and when they were 

 full of honey, it was impossible to 

 separate them without cutting the 

 comb and causing a great deal of 

 honey to run out, drowning bees and 

 sometimes attracting robbers. 



The invention of comb foundation 

 has finally and forever put an end to 

 crooked combs, wherever it is used. 

 Comb foundation forces them to build 

 combs which hang in the frames " as 

 straight as a board." Indeed, it has 

 even one advantage over natural 

 comb, it is more regular. This was 

 said very truly by onjB of our leading 

 bee-keepers at an Eastern convention. 



There are, however, some attentions 

 necessary in order to deprive the full 

 benelit of the comb foundation in ob- 

 taining straight combs. For instance, 

 the hives should be perfectly level 

 from side to side, so that the founda- 

 tion will not hang out of the frame, 

 but will remain perpendicular in it 

 until the bees have it finished and 

 well fastened to the sides. It should 

 also be well fastened to the centre of 

 the top-bar. This is done by pressing 

 the edge of it down on the under side 

 of the bar with a knife, while the wax 

 is warm enough to be quite pliable. 



When foundation is given to a 

 strong natural swarm, it should be 

 given sparingly, not more than 2 or 3 

 inches deep in each frame, for if a 

 full sheet be given, the large numbers 



of bees that will cluster on it will 

 cause it to sag. Full sheets can be 

 given safely to colonies which have 

 been divided, or even to full colonies 

 in early spring before they have at- 

 tained full strength. 



But in order to secure straight 

 combs, it is not absolutely necessary 

 to give more than a small strip of 

 foundation on each frame running 

 along the full length of the frame. 

 With such strips on each frame, and 

 hives set perpendicular from side to 

 side, straight combs will be secured 

 every time. It is, however, advisable 

 to set the hive somewhat slanting 

 forward. This will cause the water 

 from rain or moisture to run out of 

 the hive, and will not prevent the 

 combs from keeping perpendicular, 

 since the slope will be in the length 

 of the frames, and not across them. 



Hamilton,©* Ills. 



For the American Bee Journal* 



My Experience witli Tin-T Cases. 



JAMES HEDDON. 



Much has been written of late con- 

 cerning this style of surplus case. As 

 I have used tin-T cases for four or 

 five years, to a greater or less extent, 

 and along side of my old, non-reversi- 

 ble case, as well as my new reversi- 

 ble, wide frame case, and others, I 

 would be pleased to give my opinions, 

 formed during this experience. This 

 year I had in use about equal parts of 

 the three styles of cases above men- 

 tioned ; or, perhaps, I may more cor- 

 rectly say, a majority of the tin-T 

 cases. 



When I do not wish to use any sep- 

 arators, my old-style case, now pretty 

 well known as the " Heddon case," 

 (which is so much used and prized by 

 many leading apiarists both in this 

 and other countries,) I find vastly 

 superior to any and all others. When 

 I come to the use of separators, then 

 I prefer my new reversible wide- 

 frame case to any and all others, for 

 every reason except cost. In point 

 of expense, the tin-T case is prefer- 

 able where separators are to be used. 



It was some five or six years ago 

 that Mr. Vandervort, of foundation- 

 mill-fame, first described to me his 

 excellent process of making the tin- 

 T's in a most perfect manner ; I do not 

 know who is the prior maker and 

 user of the tin-T cases, but at that 

 time Mr. Vandervort had used them 

 for some years. 



I prefer my present style of wide 

 cases with tin separators, to T cases, 

 not because I wish to invert it, but 

 because I can invert each longitudi- 

 nal row of sections in each wide 

 frame separately, or jump the outside 

 rows of sections to the centre, at will. 

 I have found very little, if any, ad- 

 vantage in having a surplus case 

 reversible. 



The past two years' experience has 

 taught me the impracticability of in- 

 verting the entire surplus case at 

 once. I cannot better give the rea- 

 sons than to quote a few 



gard to inverting the surplus sections, 

 I said : 



" If the combs are not sufSciently 

 developed, to be properly attached to 

 the sides of the sections, they will fall 

 over, making a bad mess. On the 

 other hand, if they are pretty nearly 

 all capped over, and then reversed, 

 they will either be flnislied without; 

 being attached at the top at all, or 

 else, what is oftener the case, be 

 ridged and made to look bungling as 

 they are attached to the bottom-piece, 

 now at the top of the case. They are 

 also not so white and beautiful as 

 those not so reversed. There is, how- 

 ever, a short period in the develop- 

 ment of these little s irplus combs in 

 which inverting results in all the ad- 

 vantages ever claimed for it ; but as 

 it is a fact that the combs of a whole 

 case are rarely all at this stage of 

 development at one time, I am unani- 

 mously in favor of inverting them by 

 wide frames. I find the development 

 in all four sections in any one wide 

 frame, usually to be almost univer- 

 sally the same, which makes this sys- 

 tem practical, and at the same time I 

 perform this operation I am also 

 "jumping " the outside frames to the 

 centre (as Mr. Manum terms it) 

 wherever I find variance in their com- 

 pletion. I find that variance in the 

 completion of sections, exists from 

 side to side, and not from end to end, 

 of the cases ; which is one fact that 

 warrants preference for wide frames." 

 To conclude, I will say that whoever 

 can afford it, will do well to adopt 

 the wide-frame case, made with in- 

 vertible wide frames, as I use them 

 with the new-hive system. Those 

 who are making a large number of 

 cases, and wish to economize, will do 

 well to use the T-case. 



With the wide-frame case I perfer 

 tin separators, and use none other, 

 while with the T-case I use and pre- 

 fer wood separators exclusively. (I 

 am now talking about the use of cases 

 with separators.) Without separa- 

 tors I would never use anything but 

 the cases bearing my name,with wood 

 partitions. Except that it is not well 

 adapted to the use of separators, I 

 consider it preferable to all other 

 cases in every respect, and I firmly 

 believe that it cannot be improved 

 upon in any particular whatever. It 

 has never been improved since I 

 placed it before the public ; and every 

 suggestion of improvement made by 

 myself or others, has turned out to be 

 only a damage. I firmly believe that 

 this will be the surplus case for years 

 to come, for all those who do not use 

 separators. 

 Dowagiac, 9 Mich. 



Exchange. 



Preserve Empty Hiyes and Comlis. 



WILL. M. KELLOGG. 



Pile up your surplus hives and 

 boxes in a dry place, with the en- 

 trances closed to keep out the mice 

 and " mud daubers," and then take 

 care of those empty combs. First, 

 sentences sort them over, and lay to one side 



from my former writings. With re- 1 all the poor ones, but save all the 



