43 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



too warm, it will stick ; but when just right 

 it will come oft" easily and quickly. Another 

 thing, you must not have your wax too hot ; 

 if it Is," it will give but very thin sheets, and 

 these will curl and crack ; it should, after 

 being all melted, be allowed to cool until al- 

 most ready to solidify on the top. It has been 

 often suggested that we have a coal oil stove 

 or lamp, that we may easily regulate the tem- 

 perature, but we advise a wood fire, on ac- 

 count of cheapness. It must be borne in mind 

 that dipping cold plates of metal into the wax 

 constantly, cools it ofl" rapidly, and as it at the 

 same time heats the water in the tub, we shall 

 very soon need a lump of ice in the water ; 

 and" as fast as it melts, a new one must be fur- 

 nished. Besides these cold plates, we are 

 constantly putting into the apartments, pieces 

 of cold wax, and when we are pushing all 

 these operations along rapidly, considerable 

 fuel is needed in our stove. 



The operation of rolling the sheets, is very 

 simple after you learn how, yet at first trial 

 one might decide the wax would never come 

 free from the rolls. When the machine is new, 

 the wax must be carefully picked out of the 

 grooves with a quill tooth pick (as anything 

 harder might injure the rolls) as fast as any 

 gets a lodgement, and if at any time there is 

 trouble when the wax is at the proper tem- 

 perature, it is probably from this cause. Be- 

 fore starting in the wax sheets, the rolls should 

 be covered with a soapy lather by means of a 

 brush and soap and water, and the dish that 

 the lower roll runs in should contain thin soap 

 suds. As soon as the edge gets through, it is 

 to be picked up with the fingers, held between 

 two pieces of wood, and drawn out as fast as 

 the rolls are turned. Two hands are required 

 to work to advantage. For cutting the sheets 

 to the size desii-ed, a pair of tinner's squaring 

 shears, are the handiest thing we know of. 

 They are operated by the foot, and the price is 

 about $35. A common pair of shears will cut 

 them neatly, if the blades are kept wet with 

 the soap and water. 



GlEANracs m BEE CUUTUnE. 



Published Montbly, 



EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. 



MEDINA, OHIO. 



Terms: Sl.OO Per Anniam. 



[Including PostageJ] 

 For Club Rates see Last Page. 



IwIEIDIlSr-A., FEB. 1, IST'T'. 



But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall" dwell safely, 

 and shall be quiet from fear of evil.— Prov. 1 ; 33. 



EvEE so many friends are sure to write us for queens 

 before any can be raised, almost every spring. Our 

 fi'ieiid Halo has an advertisement, that we think will just 

 meet the wants of such. 



-"^^ ■<■ ^ 



T/iAXKa to the 3frt£rffs?'ne folks for a" copy of Vol. I, 

 neitly bound. In looking over the back volumes !of al- 

 most all tho .Journals, we are astonished to, find lliom 

 e jntnininir so much that is vahuble. See price 



The i?(?c TFojVrf has heretoforj commenced its Vol- 

 ume in Dec, therefore the Nov. No., wai No. 12. It 

 was decided to commence the Vol. the first of Jan.. as 

 with the other Journals, consequently no No. 

 was issued for Dec. 187ij. Will subscribers please take 

 notice ? 



We use a ajreat many postage stamps in our business of 

 sending goods by mail, and can use any quantity, and of 

 any denomination. Perhaps the cheapest and safest way 

 to send money by mail, is t ) get large stamps. Several 

 dollars may be sent in 30c. stamps, and they occupy so 

 little i-oom that their presence would never be noticed iti 

 a letter even if anybody wanted them. 



—^^^~*^»-^^'^ 



If yon would care to know more about the way in 

 which Moody induces inebriates, and those apparently 

 lost to all impulses lor Rood, to turn at once into 

 earnest tracheis in the cause of good morals and re- 

 ligion, yon will likely be interested in a book called 

 Best Thoughts and Discourses of D. L. Moody. We 

 can mail it bound in purjilc and gold, for only 75 cts. 

 Regular jsric? SI, 00. It includes an account of his latti 

 woik in Chicago. 



By using shafts of steel, wo have succeeded in makinir 

 fdn. machines so much lighter than onr first ones, that 

 we now oifer the machine for 12 inch sheets, for an even 

 SIOO., and that with a p.air of inch rolls, just right for 

 L. frames, for an even SoO. Tlie 5 inch machines for Sod, 

 are models of nice workmanship, for so small an amount 

 of money. Although we are not at present prepared to 

 say whether ^ cells to the inch is better than ii'i or not, 

 we are sure the bees will work nicely on either, and as 

 the small cell machines are easier to make than the oth- 

 ers, we shall make all that way unless otherwise ordered. 

 Rolls for making drone cells, will be ftlOO extra for small 

 machines, §10. extra for 12 inch machines. 



AVhatevek may have been Prof. Riley's mistakes- 

 abont bees, he has certain-ly done a good work in study- 

 ing up the habits of the potatoe V)eetlc, as will be seen in 

 his book, Potatoe Pests, given in our list this month. 

 Our most enthusiastic bee-keepers, it would seem, have 

 studied the habits of bees no aiore faithfully, than has he 

 this enemy of the potatoe ; and the way in which he fol- 

 lows it through the stages of egg, larvie, and so on, until 

 we have a perfect insect ready to lay eggs, really reminds 

 us of Doolittlc and his figures on prolific queens. He 

 is so thoroughly posted on the most successful plans of 

 warfare, that one cxn readily imagine that article about 

 poisoning honey bees I>ecause they ate the fruit, was writ- 

 ten while he was in the "lighting mood" toward the Col- 

 orado beetle. This reminds us that since we have all be- 

 come tranjuil, it may be safe to say that 



BEE9 DO EAT GRAPES, AT TIMES. 



Our neighbor White of Chatham, this Co., h;id liis 

 vines entirely stripped one season by his Italians, and 

 our own last season for the first time, started on the 

 grapes riirht over their hives, and for about 3 days, 

 threatened to take them atl ; but a sudden secretion of 

 honey in the flowers, induced them to leave the grapes 

 before much damage was done. The idea that bees can- 

 not bite through the skins of fruit, is ridiculous when we- 

 see them biting into the heavy strong cloth of our quilts, 

 and strong stent parjier, y€rt we think it is very seldom, 

 that they take the trouble to inincture whole fruit. We 

 m ail the bookfor 50c. 



FlSAinES OF sections; I.ARGE VERSUS 

 »1VIAI.,L,. 



I 



AM now making my hives for next season's fa- 

 crease and frames for surplus honey, and as I 

 have an arrangement of my own I would like to 

 know what you think Of it. The hive projier, orbrood 

 chamber holds 12 frames about 11x11 inches, the hive 

 cover has a space of six inches over the frames, to be 

 used for iiacking in winter ; this space is to be occu- 

 pied in the honey season by 3 boxes, without tops or 

 bottoms, placed crosswise the hive, and each box to 

 be filled with close fitting frames for the surplus lion- 

 ey. My ideas are, first, to get the bees working in one 

 or more of those boxes by giving them fdn. or cmjity 

 comb or even i)artly filled comb from the body of tlii> 

 hive then start them to filling otl;cr sections or boxc-* 

 by taking Irom partly filled one?. By this planuful! 

 box need never be taken ofl' and an empty one put on, 

 but one or more filled frames can be taken out at a 

 time and replaced with cmiity frames. Will it work ? 

 A. A, FitADENisUKG, Cleveland, Ohio. 



