IS76. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



fjG 



Mil. EDITOR :— I have 1.". liives, and a neighbor has 

 ;ibout as many. These are all Ihe bees 1 know of in 

 this locality. During the winter of '73—74 nine-tenths 

 ol bee-keeijing neighbors lost all they had from dys- 

 entery. One man lost il hives out of 50, another all 

 but 6 out of nearly a hundred. 1 winter in cellar. Re- 

 Auove the old hone3' boai'l and give a clean one, with 

 little ui)wajfl ventilation. IJces so quiet 1 sometimes 

 J lit the honey boaid to i-ee wlielher they are dead or 

 ;»live. 1 have never niatle bee-keeping I'a}-, and never 

 t'xi)ect to in this cold an<l frosty region, 1 cat'.not, 

 iherelore, afford to jiurcliase exjjensive ai)j)aralU8, so 

 I ir.ake what I need. An old thin-bladed case-knife 

 witli the shank drawn out, and bent the point slightly 

 '.•urved and liandle attaclic<i, makes a tolerable honey 

 knife, cost .^cts. I have made a small bellows s-moker 

 svliich works finely. Cotton rags or paper saturated in 

 a solution of saltpetre and dried, burn slowly, without 

 blaze, and emit a great amount of smoke. My extrac- 

 tor is to cost, lor tin receptacle, (for one frame) 7.^cts., 

 Jind half a day's labor in shop. 1 do not lirojjoso to 

 use it much except to strain half-filled boxes and 

 light hives in the fall. 1 have constructed three non- 

 swarmin, hives for experiment, each capable of liold- 

 ing 2-t boxes (5x7 inches. It is a hive within a hive: 

 the outer hive being 'i'i^ inches long, cOinclies wide and 

 iS inches deep. The inner hive is '22.j inches long, llj- 

 wide, (inside measure) Hi deep, and contains 8 frames 

 iii.jXU inches. The siile boards and honey board of 

 the inner hive are to be removed when Ihe boxes 

 aire added. When the boxes are removed in the lall, I 

 propose to replace the side and lioney boaids and till 

 the space jireviously occupied by the boxes with line 

 liay and \\ jp.ter out of doors. 



1 would like to ask many (jucslions, but as you say 

 vou can not go over the sa'me ground again, I will not 

 trouble you with them. Would it not be well to print 

 a Table of ConU-nts oi the j^receiiing volumes to send 

 to subscribers when desiretli' It would help you to 

 <lispose of your back numbers. 



J. H. P., Franklin, X. Y. 



We liave always on Laud, iodexes to almost 

 every point that has been touched in our for- 

 mer volumes, and will cheerfully mail them ou 

 application. Where questions have a bearing 

 on subjects that have been heretofore treated 

 at length, we are always prepared to point out 

 to you where it may be found, either in our 

 own, or any of the other journals. 



We have used the rags preparet.! in the man- 

 jier described, with much satisfaction, but 

 they are rather expensive, compared with rot- 

 ten wood. 



Hce hive came to hand all O, K. Twelve day.s on 

 she road. Freight $1.75. Wife says how the bees will 

 laugh when they get up into those nice little frames. 

 Would not inch strips of the comb guide answer every 

 piiri)ose in the little Iramcs ^ I think a hive should 

 open at the side to facilitate the handling of bees. 



Geo. Pkuiiv, I'eru, Ills., Jan. 21st, '7(J. 



We suppose inch strips will answer nearly 

 as well, so far as straight combs are concerned, 

 but it certainly would be a greater saving of 

 time in comb building, if we could till the 

 IVame entire. Our improvement in the section 

 boxes is especially for the purpose of using a 

 sheet full size, or nearly so. To do this, we 

 must of course have them very thin and light. 

 After you have used a number of side opening 

 liives for a few years, we think j'ou will 

 decide with us, that they do not facilitate the 

 luindling of bees. 



Is 1^ inch wide enoui,di for top bars of frames? I use 

 the Americaii hive. 



W. H. Frederick, Maximo, O. 



If you use closed top bars 1|.,' inches will do 

 very well, but if you have very nice straight 

 i'ombs, we think a trifle less preferable, say 1 

 and 1.5-32. We think you will find the closed 

 top bars a great nuisance when you have many 

 hives to handle; they are almost entirely out 

 ■if use now, in apiaries of any size. 



On page 148, De<\ Gleanings, I observe iny article with- 

 out the aesired signature. This was because of haste, it 

 was not intentionally omitted. 



You ask, "Would you advise one who uses a Galluji 

 frame to constantly whirl the extra metal and machinery 

 required to contain a Stimdaiil, if ho .should never use the 

 latter r'' With my limited e.\pci ieucc with dilTereut sized 

 frames, yes, because 1 sliould iliink tlio Uiflerence in the 

 l)Ower required in emptyizig ditterent sized frames, would 

 lie ill the dilTereiit weights of combs rather than metaJ. 

 Or, i Standard frames of G lbs. each will require about llie 

 same power as 2 Gallup frames of the same weight in tlie 

 same machine. 



Again, you a.sk, "Why do doctors use a small gig instea<l 

 of a l)uggy lor two ?" Waterbury has a population of Ki,- 

 000, and 1 believe some Vl doctor.^--, and 1 think they all run 

 buggies, and some of them very large. Dr. Platf s and 

 Dr. North's reuiaikably so. ISone of your little narrow- 

 contracted, tucked-iiji, close couiuuiuion concerns ; but 

 ^•euerous, hosjiitable allairs, a credit to the hearts of their 

 owners, wliom ;\ou may often see with a friend Ijeside 

 them. 



1 have long thought of tryingmy extractor with weights 

 instead of gearing and crank, (my gearing is brass, cut in 

 the liest iiiaiiiier and linished briglit,) by jnitting a pair of 

 small groove<l jiulleys ou top of the shaft, and using twvi 

 weights, one uiiich beamier tlian the other. The heavier 

 weigiit is designed to iiirn the machinery and at Ihe same 

 time draw uj) the miail weight. When the .small weight, 

 is u]), take weight from the heavy side and imt on the 

 light side which will turn the machine in the opposite di- 

 rection ; and so on continuously. 



You talk of "that unfortunate weakness." Did you ev- 

 er know a Yankee who had not liis full share of that same 

 weakness V Something new eveiy day, God liless him. It 

 is this weakness which drives him allover the world start- 

 ing sawmills, gristmills, cotton and woolen mills, horse- 

 railroads, ic, <Jtc., and scattering bles-sings broadca.st 

 wherever he goes. Johuathan is an institution and long- 

 may he wave. Wm. H. Kiek. 



Waterbury, Conn., Dec. 18, 187.J. 



We fear you will have to work a season or 

 two with something like a hundred hives before 

 you get at the real state of afl'airs. It is not 

 only the extra metal, but it is having this 

 weight so niuch farther Irom the centre, and 

 using a machine larger and more unwieldy 

 than is needed, that makes the diflerence in la- 

 bor required. Your suggestion of weights is 

 an evidence that you do not see just what is 

 needed ; the power re((uired to throw the honey 

 out is very insignificant, compared with that 

 needed to start the machine quickly, and stop 

 it suddenly. When we are working rapidly 

 the W'Lole is to be brought up to the reiiuiretl 

 speed in little more than a second of time, and 

 when the honey is out, we stop it with a sud- 

 denness, that would demolish with a crash, 

 any machine having heavy inside works, were 

 it stopped with equal abruptness; hence, to 

 "get along" fast, we must dispense with every 

 ounce of useless material. For one to use a 

 Quinby extractor, having onl,y Gallup frames 

 in his apiary, would be like sending two men 

 with a bushel basket, to carry a pint of straw- 

 berries. 



The winter thus lar has been very warm. I have had 

 to cool off my bees in the bee room by the use of ice; 1 

 put ice in a box oulsiile, and let tite cold air pass in 

 through the lower ventilator and out .at the upper one. 

 They got too c'xcited and 1 found that way very effectual. 

 Feank M. CuAi'MAN. Morrison, 111., Feb. 5. 187(). 



Using ice as you suggest would without 

 doubt answer the purpose, but is there not an 

 easier way V Good cellars will answer the pur- 

 pose without the necessity of any such "fuss- 

 ing" in the winter — we can not well term it 

 otherwise — and the house apiary may be less 

 trouble than either, though we think it may be 

 dilTicnlt to construct them so as to give a tem- 

 perature as perfectly even as that of a large 

 cellar. Perhaps we may work on the idea of 

 an outside cellar given on page 57. 



