1877 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



SECTION BOXES, AM> THEIR rOSITION IN THE HIVE. 



The ii'iovc; cut and iho cuts on the cover, will make 

 ever.v thiii^ plain, almost without explrtuutiou. As we 

 send ii com pie I e section box willi nice strip of fdn., and 

 printed directions lor fastening it in the friiraes, by mail 

 for .5c., we will not attempt any description here. The 

 cui on the lefi. sliows one of the" broad framts containing 

 8 sections, and A, A, are tiie ends of the hive. B. B, are 

 the end strips that arc nailed under the cover of the iiive, 

 and (;, 0, is the cover itself, before being nailed on to K,B. 

 E, shows the .shoidder that holds the cover on the upper 

 stories, while the bevels hold it securely in place, and ex- 

 clude rain and wind. 



THE METAI^ CORIVERS. 



^j^\ERHAPS the readiest way of understanding all 

 Wr^ about these, will be to order a sample frame, which 

 fe^j we send by mail with a bit of rabbet and sample 

 transferring clasp, f»r 1.5c. Por the convenience of those 

 who do not get the idea at once, we submit the following 

 diagram : 



jEnd of hive. 



of % board. ■.! of an in 



It will be observed that the frame is supported entirely 

 on knife edses crossing each other at right angles, making 

 it impossible for the bees to was the frame fast, and al- 

 most impossible for you to pinch a bee in nutting the 

 frame down, even if you take no pains at all, to get them 

 out of the way. We prefer to have the tin rabbet reach up 

 above the end of the corner as at A, because the Ijees are 

 so much less disposed to try to propolize the bright tin ; 

 also when replacing the frames, the corner firms glide 

 smoothly into place as soon as they strike the rabbet. 

 The rabbet may be used without the cornets, or the cor- 

 ners may he used without the rabbet, but neither of 

 them alone sive us a frame so perfectly movable ; and as 

 wood is always ariving more or less, they can not hang per- 

 fectly true. Neither can a fr.amc be slid on the rabbets 

 up to its place as quietly as when all the bearings are of 

 metal. 



HOW TO MAKE THE FRAMES. 



Our frames were first made of strips of straight grained 

 pine, only i of an inch in thickness, and it is surprising to 

 ^ee how Well such combs have stood. On one occasion a 

 nvmiber of these heavily filled with honey fell from the 

 top of a barrel, yet not a corner was injured, and not a 

 comb broken ; these were Gallup frames, however, only 

 llJxUJ-. For the Langstroth frames we now make the 

 too bar about 10-32, and all the rest of the frame 7-32. 

 ,Vdnir, Amewcan, and Gallup frames are all made of 7-32 

 stuff throughout. The Quinby size may have a J top bar, 

 hu* the lx)ttom bars might all be nut more than J. were it 

 no' that the frames ma.v be sometimes used fir transfer- 

 uiig, and that the weight of the combs would saa; the 

 bottom bar, which is a very bad feature, if we wish to 

 work closely and avoid klling bees. The top bars would 

 not require s-o much wood were ic not that honey boxes 

 are sometimes placed on them, and it is advisable to be 

 on the safe side. When we depend entirely on the use of 

 the extractor, we would prefer a space of half an inch be- 

 tween the ends of the frames ; but for box honey, small 

 bits of comb will be built in this space, more than will be 

 the case if J only is allowed. It requires a very careful 

 operator to woik fast, and avoid pinching bees, when only 

 i or I inch is allowed. 



The two following cuts may assist some in putting on 

 the metal corners : 



Pig.l. 1 Fig.2- 



C 



A 





Figm-e 1, rei)resents the points ready to Vie closed down 

 and clinched into the wood, which is represented by the 

 (lotted lines A. A. Fit;. 2, shows a point badly clinched at 

 K. and one perfectly (lri\cii down at C. The line 1), shows 

 the direction in which the linishing blow of the hammer 

 is to be given ; in fact this blow should ^ink the metal 

 slightly into the corner of the wood, drawing it up tight 

 at the side C, and on no account letting it bulge out at B, 

 nor allowing the point to curl up. A liirht, properly made 

 hammer and a little practice will enable anyone to make 

 every point like C. Should you get one done badly, you 

 can with a pair of plyers straighten it out and make it go 

 right. The objection has frequently been made that this 

 takes more time than to ntil them; even if this w<!re so, 

 we are enabled to employ girls or other cheap help (we 

 beg pardon ladies, but we never yet saw a community that 

 did not furnish more or less females, who would be glad 

 to get some such liali' wurkt, who could not possibly nail 

 good frames; then after they are done, their superior 

 strength and liirhtness comijared with nailed frames, fully 

 make up the ditlerence in price. We will send you a 

 sample frame by mail, just as we would have it, for 15 cts., 

 (American and Gallup size 12 cts.) including sample of 

 rabbet and transferring clasp and you can test it by the 

 side of your own frame in your hives. If the nailed ones 

 do not seem awkward after using it, you, of course, need, 

 not invest any further. See our price list tor further 

 particulars. 



The metal corners were patented June 18th, 1872, but 

 we have "repented," and hereby give the invention freely 

 to our readers. If anyone can make them cheai^er than 

 we do, we will try to rejoice, because it will benefit the 

 people. 



FOOT POWEE CIRCULAR SAW, AND SCROLL SAW COMBINED. 



The above machine is a very handy implement in the 

 apiary indeed, and as we warr.ant it to cut common inch 

 pine boards at the rate of 8 feet per minute, line measure, 

 and other thicknesses in proportion, it will answer to 

 make f rimes hives, section boxes, and almost every thing 

 wanted about the apiary. The table can be raised and 

 lowered for cultins different depths, for rabbetting, 

 groovinir, joining and other work. Price with two 6 inch 

 saws, all needed guages. etc., .S35.00 ; with the scroll saw 

 attachment as given in cut, S40,00. The buzz saws, will 

 reach through S.'s inches. 



