GLEANINGS m BEE CULTURE. 



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'>^^-^E have have been fortunate indeed this 

 yi^l month, in receiving a most pleasant vis- 

 it from our friends, Muth, of Cincinnati, and 

 J. S. Hill, of Jlouut Healthy, O. The very best 

 argument we can give in favor of liquid honey 

 and the extractor is that Mr. Muth will pay 15 

 cts. for a really nice article of clover honey ; 

 if any of our readers have any such on hand 

 that tliey are unable to dispose of to better ad- 

 vantage, they had better send friend Muth a 

 sample by mail. Our own is now going off so 

 briskly, at 18 cts. in its candied state, that we 

 shall probably have none to dispose of by the 

 barrel. We simply take the head out of the 

 barrel and scoop it out in chunks like butter; 

 if you take a flour scoop and work it back and 

 forth patiently while 3'ou bear on witii a steady 

 pressure, you can with little trouble put it up 

 for customers in quantities to suit, and wheth- 

 er they take it by the plate or pailful, we find 

 it less trouble all round than going to the ex- 

 pense and bother of jarring. When it is de- 

 sired in its liquid state in jars, of course we 

 furnish it at tlje old rate. 20 cents. Mr. Muth 

 informs us that he only puts the very linest in 

 jars, and that is doubtless the secret of his hav- 

 ing built up such a large trade on extracted 

 lioney. He strongly urges the importance of 

 keeping each kind of honey by itself; and to 

 do this the apiarist must keep careful watch, 

 and extract all the honey just before the bees 

 commence to forage on some new blossom ; 

 for instance, when the linden first commences 

 to yield, it may in 24 hours be so mixed with 

 the clover honey in the hives, as to render what 

 would have been a ton of pure clover honey, 

 (mly a mixed article that will have to be sold 

 from one to live cen^.s lower solely on that ac- 

 count .Have your clover a pure article, that it 

 may be sold to those preferring that, and the 

 same with linden, etc. As an illustration of 

 this i)oint, we will mention that we have also 

 had a most pleasant call from C. R. Carlin, 

 who hails alternately from (California, Louisi- 

 ana, Florida, and we hardly know where next. 

 Well, friend C. has, this ])ast season, secured in 

 Jja., between two and three; tons of beautiful 

 honey in section frames, but sad to relate, 

 when the main part of the crop was in fair 

 condition to remove from the hives, he was so 

 busily occupied in making more of lliose cun- 

 ning sections, with a foot-power buzz-saw, that 

 he really could not take time to remove the 

 filled ones just then. Alas for procrastination ! 

 all at once, the bees l)egan bringing in honey 

 from a species of dog fennel, and aside from 

 spoiling the looks of his white lioncy, the new 

 crop had an intensely bitter taste, so bad in- 

 deed that much of the honey was given away 

 to any one who would take it. 



Mr. Carlin also gave us some excellent hints 

 on the section l)oxes ; these with the hints we 

 gleaned while in Mich., together with some 

 ideas borrowed from friend Moore of Biug- 

 hampton, N. Y., have resulted in the following 

 section boxes that we have designed especially 

 for the Simplic-ity and Standard hives. 



Let A, and B, represent the front and back 

 of a Simplicity L. hive, or rather the upper 

 story of such a hive without the frames. C, is 



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fL _/[ It— d' 



G H 1» J 



the cover, and G, H, L, and J, are folded tins 

 that support the section boxes E, and F, that 

 they n>ay all l>e lifted oflfwitb the upper story^ 

 when an examination is to l>e made, to see that 

 the ({ueen has room to lay, or to attend to the 

 queens in case of swarming, etc. The tins^ 

 nailed to the ends of the hive are simply strip.s 

 1 inch by 14, folded lengthwise at a right an- 

 gle. H, and L, are similar pieces, except that, 

 they are made double and are 1 inch longer ;. 

 they are soldered together at the back, and ^i 

 inch of each end is bent at right angles, that 

 they may l>e nailed securely. These tins are 

 nailed so low that the sections come within }-4i 

 of an inch of top bars of the frames in the low- 

 er hives. The frames are to have their toj> 

 bars scraped off clean that thei-e may be no 

 "attachments" formed between them and the 

 sections. The sections are made of pieces 5}^^ x. 

 1^4x8-16 for the sides, 5^4x1^4 xj^ for the top 

 and bottom. The former are nailed into the 

 ends of the latter making a frame SJ^xGig out- 

 side dimensions. Before the tops and lx>ttoms- 

 are finished, they are dropped on the saw in^ 

 such a manner as to saw a slit in the middle 

 of each to within about one inch of either end ; 

 this is to allow us to furnish the Italians with 

 a broad ladder of comb foundation exactly ii* 

 the centre of each frame. If a saw that makes 

 a sufficiently broad cut be used, the comb foun- 

 dations can be i)ut in very rapidly, for after a. 

 strip is pushed through, we have only to run 

 a hot iron ovei' the tops of the sections to 

 make these guides a fixture. When the bees 

 are working in the lower tier only, we will use 

 the quilt to cover the upper openings, and when 

 these are raised tip, the quilt is placed over 

 all, there being just room enough left under 

 the cover for it. A single story will hold 48 

 of these sections, holding from one to 

 two lbs. each. 



If desired, we can furnish these sections for 

 one cent each, ready to nail, or if furnished 

 with the comb foundations, two cents. A com- 

 plete sample will be sent by mail for 10 cents. 

 A one story Simplicity hive arranged with the 

 48 sections and comb foundations, $2,00 ; a two 

 story hive comjjletc, frames below and section.'^ 

 above, ail ready for the bees, $3,50; Standard 

 hive, same price, i. e., the price will be the 

 same Avhether arranged for comb honey, or for 

 the extractoi'. We only offer these as samples, 

 for every bee-keejwr should be able to make his 

 own at a much less expense, aside from the sa- 

 ving in freight or express charges. From the 

 manner in which these guide combs are fasten- 

 ed, these hives can be sliipped as freight 

 without injury. 



Bee. 20(h — The finest samples of honey it has 

 ever I)een our lot to behold now graces our 

 honey table ; they were sent us as a Christmas 

 present tjy Mr. John Long, ofjS". Y. If our 

 readers would like a sample of pretty jars witli 

 glass covers, and an idea of the way tliey make 

 good.'-: attractive in t!ie large cities, they should 



