i^TG. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



6tJ 



cuds rcstini^ jjoeiirdy on the shoulder loft of 

 ilie bottom ot tho lirst trench. Instead of buy- 

 suii' boards, I cut up dry goods boxes, after we 

 had gathered up everything in the shape of 

 boards or refuse r;il)bish that could be found 

 :il)out the i)reiiiises ; anil the amount of old tin 

 ware, crockery, clc., that was thus put forever 

 out of sinltt was a decided relief to our home- 

 stead. To get the narrow channel clear and 

 vlean itefore it was covered, a narrow hoe was 

 made, Aud the drain was ntade and lilled up to 

 protect it from the damaging influences of the 

 iVost, nearly as fast as made. To see how the 

 <',raiiis worked, a barrel was sunk in 1 he ground 

 wiiere several of them united, and lo-day the 

 water may be seen merrily running along on 

 its way, as it has done for the last 10 year.-, 

 wiieuever the soil contained a suri)lus (if 

 w;iter. 



I n digging for our glass house, some of these 

 pine boards were taken up, and they seemed 

 almost as good as when first l.mried. The 

 drains were about ;?0 inches in dei)t!5, and per- 

 iiaps ;J0 feet apart ; our g.trden is now in con- 

 <rition to work almost as soon as it stops rain- 

 ing, and we raise everything that can be' laised 

 oil sandy soils. We don't have i)uddles of 

 water statuling 'rounil either. Vvliile doing 

 \ he work, one of the interesting features was 

 the little spritigs of vrater that would now and 

 (hen spout out of the soil, showing that the 

 water forms regular courses through clay soil, 

 <'ven at a ilepth of only 2 or ;) leet. Of course 

 you can use tile, but I doubt if even tile does 

 its work as perfectly as the boards. 



(C -nilimi-d /font yage 54.) 

 a ^Miiiplc liive. thi;n there will be nomistakoin ^etlijip: 

 them 111'. How ill) tSiey know \vhether Llicy will pease 

 till! fancy of evtryljody. A. True, and "we think it 

 naughty in them to bo so incousiderate. %\. ir all 

 .Hre of their minds they woiild order a hive, but jieo- 

 ()le want to know first, or have some idea ol what they 

 aic getting. (;an you not have divi:<ion boards in any 

 Siive -o as to raise brood in abundance if you wish? 

 A. We can. and do. ;Ji. What is meant by open top- 

 lmr.«. A. Top-iiaisnot wide cnougli to touch each 

 other: usuallv J. sometimes 1 inch. ."3. You sa}^ you 

 coasult American Bee Journal — Clarke and Mrs. Tup- 

 jjcr. I fee it published by Thos. G. Newman. Pre- 

 sume the two former names are editor and editress of 

 same. Am I right ? A. We are sure friend Newman 

 will answer Ihis last, especially after he sees how well 

 <('? have (bine. 3t. J may make you a visit. Which 

 way shall I come by rail to Medina— shortest route 

 from Toledo? Hoping to receive a rejily as soon as 

 convenient. I remain very truly, dear sir, vours, &c. 



ToUdo, Ohio. " A. i. 



A. To all who contemplate iiajing us a visit, we 

 tender a mo~t liearty welcome, and our apiarj', manu- 

 factory, lil-raiy of bee-literature, etc.. is all at your 

 service; but liie <buies we owe to our hundreds of 

 reader.-, demand thai you must excuse us personally. 

 If we turn you over to one of our employes, or hand 

 you the back vob;mes of Gleanings in answer to 

 your queftions, you really must not take it unkindly. 

 .Suppose you wcir to call your teacher out of his 

 school, and a.^ic him to give you a general idea of the 

 science- of A'gi I'ra— something you had never studied 

 — while all bis clahses were wailing, how do you sup- 

 liose he wotilil feel ? 



At all I'vcnts \vf thank you friend F. for the idea of 

 this de) arimi'nt. and hope you will i)aiilon our jokes, 

 and send us ItpI- more of <4Ui-sUons. hut please do ''boil 

 them down.'" ih;tt we may give (M the benefit by an- 

 swering in tbi> dcpartweut. Il is < f no use to enclose 

 stamp lor reply, ^^y a postal will contain all the letter 

 we can pan.i^fiii/ write. If you send us a stamped en- 

 velope, we sha.! \ery liUel'v write on a ))0stal. The 

 ahove lo' ks ralhfi unfriendly, we arc aware, but will 

 you notexcuK' it when we tt'll )ou that our light hand 

 lias been in( ai;able of writing a t.age for months? All 

 • orrespcndi-r.ce is ilone by dict.iiion, and it is all our 

 bit hand can accumylish to do the \<, ritirg for Glean- 



ings with the aid of the lyiic-writcr. The risht hand 

 was disabled mainly, Ijy continual writing: in l>and- 

 ling bee-hives, using buzz-saws, or any kind of out- 

 door work, it is as good as ever unless sonic visitor 

 comes along who prefers to leisrn hec-keeping l)y ask- 

 ing questions rather than by hard study; in such a 

 case self-preservation demands that we refer them to 

 Gleanings as containing all we know on the subject. 

 We beg to mention here that this same self-preserva- 

 tion demands, aside from the teachings of the IJiblc, 

 that the Sabbath be a day of rest, and that bees and 

 all week-day duties be then laid aside. 



HOW TO MAKE QUINBY FRAITiaiS. 



''^piROM a J^ board cut off pieces exactly 11 

 Si inches long ; don't be satisfied with saying 

 "that is near enough," but cut tliem as exactly 

 11 inches as they possibly can be, and do the 

 same with every thing about the hive. When 

 you have your board cut up, rabbet out on both 

 sides of both ends of the pieces, 'S-Wx%, so 

 that the strips when ripped off, will show like 

 the accompanying diagram. 



A ,• -1 



B 



J D 



A, B, and C, D, being the rabbets. These 

 pieces are to be ripped off exactly 1 15-83 wide, 

 for this is the distance from centre to centre of 

 the frames, if we consent to have them affixed 

 distances. When all are cut up, set your saw 

 gauge and saw them exactly through the mid- 

 dle, as shown by the dotted line; this gives 

 you the most ditncult part of the frame, the 

 "two end bars, and with a buzz saw they are 

 very rapidly made. For top and bottom bars, 

 simply cut your boards off exactly IS^g, *°^ 

 rip oft* strips ;?«^ thick. Before you nail them 

 up, sort out the soundest ami straightest-grain- 

 ed pieces for the top bars, using the others for 

 the bottoms. For a comb liuide, run your saw 

 along the centre of tiie under side of the top 

 bars, sawing in about -5-16. To make the comb- 

 guide, cut off some pieces exactly like those 

 used for the top btir<, but l^efore cutting the 

 guides off, saw off" on a mitre each corner of 

 each cud of the boards, in such a way that the 

 slips will be of the shape of diagram. 



c. 





They are to be sawed so thin, that they pnsli 

 into the grooves in the top bars nicely ; when 

 all sawed out, pile them up and run the saw 

 through the whole bundle on tht; dotted line. 

 Now put a strip into each top bar, the side 

 that was on the dotted line into the groove, 

 and nail your frame with very slender Ijg fin- 

 ishing nails, three nails at each corner, two 

 through the end bars, and one between them 

 through the top and bottom bars. This gives 

 you a fnme that is cross-nuiled at the corners, 

 and is as light as a nailed frame well can be. 

 The shoulders formed by the rabbets hold it 

 square and strong, and enable yon to get the 

 pieces quickly and exactly in place. Two or 

 three of the Universal hoops, will hold these 

 frames from falling over, and when working 

 with the hive you can lift off all, a part, or 

 none of the hoops as you tlnd convenient ; re- 

 moving the division board will ordinarily en- 

 able you to handle tliem easily, without taking 

 any part of the hive away. If it is too slow 

 work, we can furnish you metal cornered 

 frames in place of them for the same hive. 



