1876. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



were once looked over. In fact, so accustomed 

 have Mrs. R. and Blue Eyes become to sceinaj 

 us brin;? home some new I'augled honey box 

 when we come to dinner, that they h^'i^ln to 

 look for and admire them as a matter of course ; 

 and to rejoice with papa, as each important 

 feature was made nicer, and the process of ma- 

 king cheapened. Sometimes it seemed abso- 

 lutely impossible to make wood, metal and 

 glass, come into the proper shape cheaply, and 

 still liold together strongly ; but just as we 

 wore ready to give up, some short cut would 

 show itself, or the capability of some of our 

 machinery heretofore unthought of, would un- 

 veil itself with a flash, as if coy dame Nature 

 were testing our patience and ability to com- 

 bat ditflculties, while she had a purpose of re- 

 warding us all the time. Perhaps the success 

 of the comb foundations, and the Universal 

 hive, gave us courage; at any rate we couldn't 

 give it up even if it did almost m^ke us sick. 

 And now to business. 



Frames for hives are already in use, and 

 there seems to be little hope of there ever being 

 a universal frame; but as regards section 

 frames, they certainly can be made of some 

 regular and uniform si7,e as well as not. In 

 conversation with C. O. Perrine, he remarked 

 thit if bee-keepers could only be induced to 

 have their honej' stored in some uniform pack- 

 age, something that could be packed in such a 

 way as to lit like bricks, the labor of the honey 

 dealers would not only be greatly lessened, but 

 prices received by the producer would be much 

 ausmented. 



Now, not only would there be a gain in do- 

 ing this, but one size of glass, etc., etc., would 

 cost much less than if no two have anything in 

 common. We would go still farther, and have 

 the sections exactly square, that we might 

 have the tops and sides precisely alike instead 

 of being obliged to "figure" for so many of one 

 and so many of the other. Again, instead of 

 confusing everybody with complex fractions 

 in regard to the size of glasses, we would simp- 

 ly tell the glass man to make 'em all exactly 

 5 inches, and then you can go to bed at night 

 without worrying for fear there will be a mis- 

 take in your order, that will make the glass 

 all useless. Briefly, the Universal section box 

 is just 5 inches square, and if we ever change 

 dimensions again, just call us "fickle-minded." 

 As the Universal hive is just 15'^ by 19^4 in- 

 slkle, 30 of these sections go in nicely, and one 

 case of them just tills 4 hoops Thes*^ sections 

 we described on the cover to last montli's jour- 

 nal, only we did not i^et it right side up. You 

 need two sticks each for the sides, «ind one each 

 for top and bottom. If placed together prop- 

 erly, you have a space between the sides just 

 right to hold a strip of the artificial comb. 



Now those of 3 ou that have had samples of 

 these, may have noticed that they are pretty 

 easily knocked to pieces, especially after they 

 have been put together several times; and thai 

 although they might be amjilj' strong after 

 lining, they are rather frail for shipment with- 

 out some protection- Again, in our varied 

 correspondence with comb honey men, we find 

 that to get as many pounds as possible in each 

 section and to get it true and nice, we need 

 the sheets of tin between the sections, as sep- 

 arators. Wc also need a good strong support 



for the sections, and something that will hold 

 them just about I4' in. above our shallow L. 

 frames; and we want all this without occupy- 

 ing the space with clumsy pieces of lumber. 

 Once more; it is quite a task to put guide 

 combs in each one of the thirty, if they are tt) 

 be put in each separately. To kill these four 

 — or five — birds with one stone, was the prob- 

 lem. See how well v,'e have done it. For thi' 

 tin separators our friend Wheeler uses I. C. 

 roofing tin —we have been told he has the idea 

 patented, if it is we will "forgive him," — and 

 this tin we purchase for .|8,00 per box ot 

 113 sheets 14 by 20. We will cuta sheet length 

 wise into six pieces exactly alike, that then- 

 may be no wasre; now cut five inches off from 

 each. Fold each piece lengthwise so that it 

 will make a box ir. inches long with sides, but 

 no ends. The folds are made so that one side 

 is 3-4 high and the other 3-16 ; the shorter be- 

 ing bent inward as at A. fig 1. 



^ 



For euUs lo lui.^ ox we p.ci-. up the five inch 

 pieces that tell off, and cut each one so that 

 it makes two pieces like Fig. 2. A squai-e 

 fold is to be made on these pieces on the dot- 

 ted lines and they are then ready to be solder- 

 ed to the ends of our long box. This box is to 

 hold three of our section frames; the short 

 fold A, pressing into the grooves in the end- 

 pieces, and holding the bottom bar close by a 

 sort of spring clamp, so that the case of boxes 

 may be held any side up to put in guide combs, 

 etc., without any of the sections falling out. 

 To make the box of the exact length for three, 

 we solder the ends on while a piece of board 

 the right length is held inside. For the sepa 

 rators cut a sheet of tin into six pieces, but 

 cut them crosswise ; now if your pieces in fig. 

 2 were folded so that R, is 3-4 wide, the 14 inch 

 pieces will catch on them nicely ; but before 

 solderins they arc to be raised up so as to 

 leave 3-8 space for the l)ees to pass under. \Vc 

 thus have all the case and separator needed, 

 and havn't a scrap of tin to be wasted ; quiti; 

 an item as we happen to know. Again, a stri[i 

 of foundation 1") inches lon^i' can be put int() 

 all three of the sections with greater ease than 

 you could put five inches into a single one. If 

 this is too expensive, use strips of plain wax 

 sheets; these can l)e made very rapidly by dip- 

 ping a pane of glass in melted wax, first rub- 

 bing the glass with a soaped cloth. That they 

 will answer, has been proven, and our friends 

 in England pronounce them just as good as 

 the foundations. These three box cases art- 

 supported at just the right height above the 

 frames by resting on a pair of such foldt d tins 

 as we explained in our Jan. No. page 4; only 

 we use but one on each side of the hive. * 

 They are soldered securely to the metal cor- 

 ners of one of the hoops, at the ends, and a 

 ^ trip of metal crosses the hoop in the middle 

 to prevent it from spreading when filled with 

 honey ; the metal cases being ample to hold 

 the 3 secti«ns if they have a good support at 

 each end. 



Now when the sections are filled and ready 

 for market, the}' can be carried just as they 



