1877. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



325 



thing harder might injure the rolls — and the 

 rolls are kept well covered with the starch, 

 -as well as the sheet of v.ax. it will soon come 

 out nicely. As soon as the edge gets 

 through, it is to be picked up with the fin- 

 gers, then held between two ])ieces of wood, 

 •and drawn out as fast as the rolls are turned. 

 Two men will, after a little practice, with a 

 12 inch machine, roll it about as fast as it 

 can be dipped. The sheets roll with less 

 trouble fi'om sticking, if allowed to stand a 

 coui)le of days after being dii^ped, as the 

 wax hardens slightly by being exi^osed to 

 the air. This ex^^lains why white bleached 

 wax is harder than the common yelloAv. The 

 il)ees work the bleached wax so much slower 

 ■on this account, I would not advise its use, 

 «ven for box honey. 



TRnoriNG, SQUARING, AND CUTTING THE 

 SHEETS. 



The best thing we know of for this pur- 

 "l)ose, is a pair of tinnei's squaring sheai-s. 

 They are provided with gauges of different 

 kinds and offer every facility for cutting a 

 great number of pieces exactly of a size. 

 They are operated by foot, thus leaving the 

 hands at liberty. They cost about $35.00 ; the 

 blades must be kept wet with the starch 

 solution, to prevent sticking. A common 

 pair of shears may be used in the same way, 

 if the blades are dipped in the starch at in- 

 tervals. 



CO^EE lEGWST^. I would have comb 

 honey stored in section frames, instead of 

 boxes, because they are clean and nice to 

 handle, can be retailed without the trouble- 

 some daubing, and above all, because the 

 public will pay a much higher price for hon- 

 ey in that shape. I would for the same rea- 

 son have the sections small. I would also 

 have them made to fit inside of your regular 

 hive frame, or rather in a broad frame, made 

 of exactly the same dimensions. This sim- 

 plifies the work greatly, because we can 

 then hang a frame of sections in any hive, 

 and in either the upper or lower story, as we 

 may have occasion. This is a great conve- 

 nience for it enables us to get nice comb 

 honey of any colony, however weak, by sim- 

 ply hanging a frame of these sections, on 

 one or both sides of the brood combs. If 

 the bees have been kept in a small space, so 

 that every comb is occupied "with brood and 

 pollen at the approach of the honey season, 

 they will start in the sections almost at once, 

 if they are given them just as soon as they 

 begin to be crowded for n)om. Give them a 

 single frame at first, and when they are well 

 at work in this, give them another. Do not 



put on an upper story, until they ai'e rerdy 

 to go into it in large numbers. Do not let 

 the bees by any means, get to 



CLUSTEKING ON THE OITMDE OF THE 

 HIVES. 



If you havebeen " up and dressed, and en 

 hand," they will seldom commence this 

 when honey is to be had in the fielcs; but if 

 a strong colony gets to h.anging out i)repara- 

 tory to swanning, you must get Hum into 

 the boxes at all hazards. The fii-st thing is 

 to be sure they have room near the breed ; 

 the next, that the hive is properly shaded ; 

 and we have fourd it a good thing, many 

 times, to drive them in with smoke. After 

 they once get started at wcrk, ycu will sel- 

 dom have trouble with them, but a little 

 neglect, may be the means of losing a fine 

 crop of honey. Sections partly filled out by 

 other colonies, will almost invariably set 

 them at work. It yon can do no better, di- 

 vide them ; bnt I should try everything else, 

 before doing this, if my object were comb 

 honey. 



IT^Irl^iaTEES. At present, the 

 Italians are by far the most profitable bees 

 we have, and even the hybrids have sl.owai 

 themselves so far ahead of the common bee, 

 that I think we may safely consider all dis- 

 cussions in the matter at an end. Many 

 times, we find colonies of hybrids that go 

 ahead of the pure stock,but as a general thing, 

 taking one season with another, the pure 

 Italians, where they have not been enfeebled 

 by choosing the light colored bees to breed 

 from, are aher.d of any ncmixture. There 

 has been a great tendency, with bees as well 

 as other stock, to pay more attention to 

 looks, than to real intrinsic worth, such as 

 honey gathering, ])rolificness of the queens, 

 hardiness, etc ; and I think this may have had 

 much to do with the severe losses we have 

 sustained in winters past. Since the recent 

 large importations of queens direct from 

 Italy, and a disposition to be satisfied with 

 bees that are not all golden yellow, we have 

 certainly met with much better success in 

 wintering, as well as honey gathering. 



Even if it were true that hybrids produce 

 as much honey as pure Italians, each bee- 

 keeper would want at least one queen of ab- 

 solute and known purity ; for, although a 

 first cross might do very well, unless we had 

 this one pure queen to furnish us queen cells, 

 we would soon have bees of all possible 

 grades, from the faintest trace of Italian 

 blood, all the way up. The objection to this 

 course is that these blacks, with about one 

 band to show trace of Italian blood, are the 



