1877 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



41 



full of honey in the hive. Mv. Quinhy men- 

 lions havinj^ hives that allow theni.'^elves to be 

 robbed in the spring, but we do not know that 

 we ever before saw one do it in the fall. They 

 were fed along until some frosty nights came, 

 and then they starved. Not much loss, for 

 they had always been a poor shiftless set, yet 

 it spoiled our experiment. 



A few days afterward it was warm and sun- 

 ny, and as we were going to supper, some one 

 said a swarm of bees had just passed over. 

 As they were going our way, we kept a look- 

 out for them, and soon overtook a small swarm 

 that had apparently starved out ; these were 

 pure black bees. They went so slowly, seem- 

 ing half inclined to cluster on every tree or 

 shrub, that we had ample time to examine 

 them. They Jinally commenced clustering on 

 •A carriage standing in front of our apiary, and 

 tearing they would annoy the horse, we des-ir- 

 eil the occupant to drive along ; as he did so, 

 they commenced to cluster on ray head, and 

 directing my daughter to bring a frame of 

 comb, I stood quite still while they buzzed in 

 my ears, covering nose, eyes, hair and whisk- 

 ers, until I could hardly "hear myself think' 

 on account of the droning noise they kept up. 

 Instead of being unpleasant, it reallj' made me 

 feel sleepy to be fanned and to feel the sensa- 

 tion of so mauj^ little feet about my face and 

 ( ars. As soon as the comb came, 1 placed it 

 on my shoulder and soon found the queen ; 

 then all were deposited safely in front of the 

 hexagonal "experiment." Now I regarded 

 this as quite a feat, and as the juveniles gath- 

 ered round me and called the attention of the 

 jiassers by, 1 felt quite like a "lion" until some 

 one said a little girl could tame bees as well 

 as I. Sure enough, there she stood with bees 

 all about her head and in her hair, yet she was 

 as undisturbed as if they had been so many 

 pet kittens. Some of our friends who insist 

 that one must be enveloped in a whole "cov- 

 ered wagon" when they wish to open a hive, 

 would do well to take a lesson from this little 

 miss. In getting the bees out of her hair, she 

 was stung once but it was only because the 

 bee was carelessly pinched. They all went 

 "into the hive, were given some candy, and 

 seemed ready for business. It would be real- 

 ly nice, to say they behaved and make a good 

 colony, but they deserteel their candy and 

 swarmed out again next day. Four of those 

 heavy combs of honey might have made them 

 good, but thay woultl not go into that hive, 

 and so the bees were lost again. The hive 

 will probably go into our "monument," up 

 against the fence. And we rather think fu- 

 ture experiments will be made with the regu- 

 lar L. frame. 



We have now 90 colonies, if none have died, 

 and if they have, it is probably not of starva- 

 lion. Besides these, we have 1.^ at neighbor 

 Blakeslee's, in that excellent cellar of his; 

 these were some we traded for, and we shall 

 thus have an opportunity of comparing cellar 

 wintering with out-door. We commence the 

 new jear with 10.0, but as the first of ]\Iay has 

 been decided to be the beginning of the bee 

 year, wc will try to report as many then. 



Jan. 24?/t— From the number of dead bees 

 found clogging the ei!trance to many of our 

 hives, we fear chaff cushions over head only, 



Is hardly going 1o answer. So well pleased 

 are we with cluiff all around, and the bees, on 

 only a fevf well tilled combs, that we feel like 

 fixing them all with chaff as soon as the 

 weather will permit. 



HOW TO MAKE COITIB lOl'IVDATlOIVS. 



8 we are constantly improving in the 



, work, we can only give our methods at 



the present stage. The first thing is to sheet 

 your wax, and to do this you want some kind 

 of a tall stove, with a top that will lift off. 

 Such a one as you can select out of a pile of 

 old iron, or a second hand one bought at tlic 

 stove stores, will probably do as well as any, 

 for it will very soon in all probat)ility be cov- 

 ered with wax. Get a tinsmith to make a 

 boiler that will set down into this stove as far 

 as may be and still allow of building a fire un- 

 der it ; it will rise some distance above the 

 stove, for we want it about 30 inches high. 

 Inside this boiler, is to be another of such size 

 as to allow of from J^, to 1 inch space between 

 the two, precisely as we make a queen nur- 

 sery ; and as this inner boiler is to hold the 

 wax, it must be at least I'S inches wide, if we 

 wish to make sheets 12 inches in width. 



The diagram will make all plain, when we 

 mention that the dotted lines are partitions of 

 perforated tin, reaching nearly to the bottom 

 of the wax boiler ; these are for keeping lumps 

 of wax, from getting in the way of the dipping 

 plates which are immersed in the central 

 apartment A, while the lumps are fed into the 

 I side apartments B. The boiler A, B, is made 

 ! so that It can be at any time lifteel out of the 

 I outer one holding the water, and we can have 

 1 an extra inside for white wax if we choose. 

 ! The dipping plates are made of galvanized 

 : iron, about the thickness of a silver dime; 

 they should be 12J.2 inches wide, by 21 long; 

 for making sheets for the L. frame only, plates 

 d inches wide will answer, for we need sheets 

 of finished fdn., 85^xl6?4. These plates need 

 a handle, and this is made of a round stick 

 ,^4 in diameter by 8 inches long, with a groove 

 sawed in one side to allow it to be slipped 

 over the top of the plate, where it may be se- 

 cured, by a strap of tin around each eml 

 soldered to the plate. 



Fill the space between the boilers with wat- 

 er, put your wax in the central one, and build 

 a slow "fire in your stove. Set a tub of water 

 on a box, as near your boiler as you can well 

 get it. Immerse the plates in the water, and 

 when you commence, you will probably have 

 to rub them with a little soap to make the 

 water adhere. If the water is cold, your p'ate 

 is ready to be dipped in the melted wax and 

 instantly raised again, as soon as it sets, which 

 you will see by its appearance ; dij) it again, 

 and so on until the wax surface is as thick 

 as a piece of paste l)oard. Now you will nev- 

 er get this off in a nice sheet unless you go to 

 work just right. Dip it in the tub of water, 

 until it is just co)d enough to be tough, like 

 leather; if too cold, it will be brittle, and if 



