THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



105 



Glue for Labeling Tin. 

 Oliver Foster sends (llrcmings a recipe for 

 inakiug a glue that will hold a label on tin. 

 He obtained the recipe of D. E. Brubaker. 

 Here it is : — 



" Stir two ounces of pulverized borax into 

 one (luart of boiling water. When dissolved, 

 add four ounces of yum shellac. Stir while 

 it boils, until all is dissolved. Apply with a 

 brush in the usual way. 



I prefer using a little less water, especially 

 if the labels are small and stiff ; then if it 

 becomes too thick to apply readily, warm it 

 a little or add a little hot water. After ap- 

 plying the label I press a damp cloth over it 

 to press out and wipe off any surplus glue 

 that may come to the edge." 



How Water May Get Into the Dovetailed 

 Corner. 

 In Gleanings for March 1"), I tind the fol- 

 lowing editorial : 



"Said our painter, who had just finished 

 up a lot of Dovetailed hives, ' Those joints 

 will never gap to the weather, like halving 

 and mitering, and hence they will outlast 

 any other joint ever brought out. Keep the 

 weather out of a joint, and it will never rot.' 

 There is a good deal of pith and point in 

 this.'" 



This reminds me of a conversatioi' I had 

 a few days ago with a bee-keeper of this 

 city, Mr. M. S. West. In his opinion, the 

 dovetailed joint was a very poor one to 

 "keep out the weather.'' Lumber does not 

 always shrink and swell alike. This brings 

 in openings, and the worst of it is that these 

 openings are horizontal, and the water, as it 

 runs down the side of the hive, soaks into 

 the openings and stays there. It does not 

 run down and out as in the case of a 

 straight, uj:) and doivn joint. I have often 

 noticed, in sidewalks, bridges, and the like, 

 that are alternately wet and dry, that decay 

 creeps in the soonest at those points where 

 two pieces of timber cross each other in con- 

 tact. If two pieces of wood are in contact 

 in such a manner that the grain of each is 

 parallel with the other, decay is much 

 slower in coming. I suppose the dampness 

 is retained longer where the grain crosses. 

 For the reasons given, it seems to me that 

 the dovetailed joint would be a difficult one 

 from which to keep the weather or damp- 

 ness, and one in which the dampness would 

 be long retained. Mr. West suggests that 

 the dovetailed corners be painted before 

 they are driven together, and I think the 

 suggestion a good one. 



Having Apiaries Readily Movable. 

 How we do advance I Years ago a great 

 step was taken by the invention of movable 

 combs. During the last few years some of 

 us have been trying to manage our apiaries 

 by manipulating hives instead of combs — 

 using "readily movable " hives, as Mr. Hed- 

 don calls them. At last we are beginning to 

 talk about movable apiaries ! In a recent 

 issue of Gleanings there was an editorial 

 from which I clip the following : 



" Experience has shown, in many in- 

 stances, that a yard that has in years gone 

 bj^ furnished tons of honey is now practi- 

 cally worthless, or so nearly so that the 

 moving of the bees to some location more 

 favorable is a necessity. For instance, four 

 or five years ago an apiary furnished an 

 abundance of basswood honey : but the 

 basswoods have all been cut off : there is no 

 clover, and the field is worthless. Again, a 

 locality has once furnished immense quanti- 

 ties of white clover ; but extensive agricul- 

 ture has set in, and clover pasturage has 

 given way to immense wheat-fields. The 

 inroads of civilization sometimes damage 

 the honey-bearing resources of a locality ; 

 and, conversely, sometimes makes them 

 more valuable. There are a few locations 

 in York State that formerly gave but very 

 little honey ; but the farmers, in recent 

 years, have introduced buckwheat to such 

 an extent that these are now splendid buck- 

 wheat countries ; and the yield of this dark 

 rich honey plays a considerable part in the 

 net profits of the season. In a word, we 

 want our apiaries so we can load them up at 

 a moment's notice, and move them at prac- 

 tically little expense to any new field that 

 may be more inviting. We can- not always 

 tell at first whether it will be a favorable 

 location or not. If it does not come up to 

 our expectations, we can ' pull up stakes ' 

 and try elsewhere again. If j^ou can locate 

 near swamp land you are fortunate." 



Prevention of Swarming. 

 Geo. F. Robbins, 'in Gleanings, calls at- 

 tention to a discussion of this subject that 

 took place in Gleanings for 1889. The gist 

 of that discussion is well given by Mr. Rob- 

 bins in the following paragraph : — 



"The swarming impulse is the general 

 restlessness of prosperity and enterprise, 

 and the consciousness of powers within, 

 which are not being fully occupied. The 

 thing that most induces swarming is a turgid 

 condition of the vessels in the bee-anatomy 

 in wliich are stored the supplies for future 

 brood-rearintr. This turgid condition is due 

 to the fact that there is an undue proportion 

 of house-bees to brood requiring feed, caus- 

 ed by the bees storing honey in the brood- 

 nest. Meanwhile, this state of things causes 

 a check of egg-production, which in turn 

 causes the blood of the queen to assume a 



