i"20 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



I enclose a small tin staple similar to some I have 

 been using for fastening surplus honej- frames togeth- 

 er. Do j-oii ever have any difficulty with combs break- 

 ing down In hot weather, because the bees have not 

 fastened the combs to the bottom of the frame ? I do, 

 and think that a triangular piece, or something simi- 

 lar to the comb guide used at the top, will cause the 

 bees to fasten the combs at the bottom, and am making 

 a 1o4 of irames with triangular bar for the bottom also. 

 Er>GAn Sa&ek, Hudson, 111., July olst, '7«. 



The staple enclosed is made of a bit cf tin 

 1 inch long, and ig wide, sharp at both ends. 

 The pol)]ts are bent square so as to be jast 3^ 

 inch lon^i, when done it is much like this i— j. 



We have had some trouble with new combs, 

 when we were so careless as to tip them on 

 one side before they were fastened at the 

 bottom. If they will not build them down, 

 push in a strip of worker comb. We f?o not 

 think a comb guide would help the matter for 

 they would stop just ]>efore they came to it, 

 as before. Our neighbor Blakeslee makes 

 them finish the comb to the bottom, by rais- 

 ing the frame a little higher than the rest. 

 Buriug a heavy yield of honey, oi'srs do it 

 without any care of this kind. The fdn., se- 

 cures this beautifully. The triangular guide 

 has we think boen mostly discarded, as too 

 clumsy and luefHcient. 



I have taken 6v[0 lbs. of nice clear tliick honey from 

 ;•>() colonies, made strong by putting V) stands into 3(5 

 in the spring. I think this is the plan for surplus; 

 there is no money in a we.ik stand of bees, but two 

 weak onesin one. will pay largely. Honey 20c. 

 M. M. HCFatriuoe, Carthage, Ind., July 29, '76. 



This result is equal to about 1G6 lbs. per 

 hive. Had the 70 hives remained single, we 

 should have to get about 85 lbs. per hive to 

 get the same result, and the 36 colonies of 

 bees, would be worth, without hives or comb, 

 at least §.5.00 per colony. Taking this view of 

 it, there was quite a loss in uniting, aside from 

 the time and trouble taken to do it, but if the 

 70 colonies were so weak that they would not 

 have pulled through, or at least so as to have 

 been of any profit, then assuredly the plan of 

 friend M. is best ; and as G.OOO lbs. of honey is 

 an unusually good crop for even 70 stands, we 

 may conclude his method is a pretty safe one. 

 If we crt/mci get our bees through the spring 

 strong, in any other way than doubling up, 

 very likely we had better do it. But if 

 one has only citoice queens, what then ? Chaff 

 is our last hope, and we shall give it a pretty 

 thorough test this winter. 



Universal hoo]) hive is too light for this windy 

 'country. Bees wont work in your small sectional 

 frames, have put on glass boxes and now they work 

 all right. Foundations bulged badly, hence perhaps 

 the trouble. 



Your honey boxen are tight, and you very 

 likely have not made the openings in the sec- 

 tions tight with the quilt or otherwise. We 

 cannot discover that honey boxes need any 

 ventilation at all, and they work best for us 

 when they are as tight as a bottle. Of course 

 the hive should be shaded. We have had the 

 very best success with the sections, and have 

 observed that the bees always go to work best 

 when every opening .above is closed. Pure 

 wax gives no trouble by bulging, even if the 

 sheets fill the sections. 



How can I tell scaled honey from sealed brood l-* 

 Some may smile ait this query friend A. Tho 

 brood is capped with a substance much re- 

 sembling brown paper, while hon«y is capped 

 with pure- wax. Besides, the latter is capped 

 over smoothly, while the former is- slightly- 

 raised or rounded. Pick open one of each) 

 witli the point of your knife, and you will see 

 how different they are. Brood occupies a pos- 

 ition in the frame nearly in the centre, while 

 the honey is- usually at "the extreme ends and 

 corners'. 



Do the bees in ciueenless colonies mever bnild work- 

 er comb ? I have a Itive in which I,catn find no (tueeuv 

 but Ijees are building worker coaib only, have every 

 cell capped over. 



It is a riile with, very few esceptions, that 

 bees- build only drone comb when destitute ol 

 a queen, but it is difl^cult to get them to 

 build any co^mb at all, at such times. We 

 should call it i^ood evidence that they have a 

 queen if they build worker comb. The (jueen 

 may be one that v;ill not lay ; such are occa- 

 sionally found. 



You furnish us with so many cheap an-d useful arti- 

 cles pertaining to the Srpiary, wliy not also cheap ex- 

 tractors ? X saw one some years ago in the old coun- 

 try, looks about like following diagram and works* 



well. G. S. A©ER,?BOKG. 



St. Helena, Neb., July 27th, '76. 

 The diagram mentioned is a square box, 

 with another made to spin on a pivot inside 

 of it, and the motion is given by pulling a 

 roi>e round on the shaft. Wood is too heavy 

 and clumsy for an extractor and the plan of 

 getting the motion is very objectionable for 

 rapid work ; the use of the gearing is as much 

 or more to stop the combs quickly, as to get 

 up the required speed ; and to avoid throwing 

 out the larvae, we wish the speed entirely un- 

 der the control of the operator. We want the 

 very best we can get for an implement that is 

 required to do the amount of work that the 

 extractor often is. If you are compelled to 

 hire help, a good machine might in a single 

 season save you §25.00, that would be wasted 

 with a poor one. 



Am busy as a lx?e, extracting and taking off boxes. 

 Hives full of honey of a nice qxiality; weatlier hot 

 and dry. Am anxious to try your extractor. My ex- 

 tractor bulges the combs and breaks them loose at 

 top bar, oi an inch or two below rather. Hope the 

 wire of yours will not give enough to damage the 

 combs. M. Pause, Pine Bluff, Ark., July 28th, '76. 



No wire cloth can be made to answer the 

 purpose of itself, in our opinion, for if made 

 large enough to stand without support, it 

 would retard the rapid discharge of the honey 

 from the cells. Since we have used the metal 

 bars with edges toward the wire cloth, we 

 have heard no word of complaint of combs 

 being broken, or damaged in the least. 



We have not had more than a month or five w*e!jf5 

 of honey weather, but in that time in some localitier' 

 here the bees have been doing wonderfully well- 

 Kind regards, J. Hunteh. 



Eaton Kite, Ealing, England, July 17th, '7f>. 



DEAR NOVICE :— I would be very glad to hear 

 from you, how shaking off the bees, and extractinjj 

 work in the house apiary. My bees again liave dwin- 

 dled very low. It is my opinion tliat the escape of 



