38 



GLExiXINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



woiikl it not be grand V There are, nuclei 

 and all. just fl8 of them. 



P. 8.— While writing the above a letter 

 was handed in, that solves the problem com- 

 uletely. except that the loicer frames cannot 

 be used in the upper story. The re^fular 

 chaff hive can be fixed in a few minutes, to 

 take these short frames crosswise in the 

 lower story, and if you do not like the ar- 

 rangement, there is no harm done to the 

 liive. Here is the letter: 



The section of country in which I live has never 

 been fully tested as a honey producing- section. Bees 

 are g:enerally kept in log- or box hives, from 2 to i) ft. 

 hig-h, stuck up on a bench 18 in., or 2 ft. from the 

 ground. How is that for '"high?" No use for saw- 

 dust or danger of toads, eh? 



Last year, I secu-ed 40 lbs. of box honey and a fine 

 swarm from one of the above described hives, so I 

 conclude that ours is a honey section. I have been 

 trying to make some improvement in bee culture, 

 but was groping in the dark until I got hold of 

 Gleanings. Then 1 beg-an to see lig-ht. I began 

 immediately to make frame hives and last summer 

 I got 2 Italian queens from Taylor, and 3 from NelUs. 

 I introduced all successfully and they all proved 

 purely furtilized. I began to feel r^eally proud of my 

 success. I now have 31 stands; 15 in" frame hives, 

 frames III4 by ]2'4. I intend to go slowly and want 

 to go "sure." Many thanks toGLEANiNGS for in- 

 structions. 



In Vol. .5, page 8, of Gleaning.s, you say in your 

 description of chaff hives, that to have theframes in 

 the upper and lower story both run the same way is 

 impossible, unless we bring in loose pieces that can 

 never be tolerated in a bee hive. Why not use a 

 frame below, that will hold but 6 section boxes such 

 as you spoke of in last month's Gleanings for Sim- 

 plicity hive? I know you object to two kinds of 

 frame in an apiary, but they would be so nice to 

 handle and so easy to prepare for winter. I think 

 I'll make a few in order to test them; my idea is to 

 make the hives so that the space at the ends of the 

 lower set of frames can be filled with chaff all the 

 time, and by using a division board or chaff cushion 

 at the ends and a cushion on top, the bees have all 

 the protection they need. The top story will need 

 no chaff, so your frames can reach the outer wall of 

 the hive. A hive on the above plan will be neat, con- 

 venient to handle, v/ell adapted to out door winter- 

 ing and easy to construct. A. P. Conaway. 



Slannlngton, West Va., Jan. 12th, 1878. 



JWACHIIVE FOK PUTTING F»N. 

 IN THE FRAMES. 



.<jP^nX page 88 of last year's Gi 

 l-Jy suggested a machine for 1 



GLEAXIXGS, I 



putting fdn. 

 ""^^ into frames. Our friend Simpson, of 

 honey plant notoriety, it seems has worked 

 the idea out. He writes : 



I have made and used a simple machine at a tri- 

 fling cost, that will fasten securely the fdn. as fast as 

 you can handle it. I will try to describe it to you as 

 well as I can and if you can'mnke any use of it, you 

 are welcome to do so. * * * * * * 



Dip a piece of sponge in honey, cut your fdn. in 

 pieces as you wish them, and lav them in the sun or 

 by a stove until soft enough. Ha%e a gauge for your 

 top bir so you can just push it half way under the 

 h^ad piece. Now, with your sponge, rub the under 

 side of the head piece, put under your frame, then, 

 just the edge of your fdn. under the iron, come down 

 with the foot f)n the lever, and it is done. By having 

 your sash and fdn. where you can reach them, you 

 Cim work it as fast as a printer can print cards on a 

 foot press, and if your top bar is dry, and your fdn. 

 is right, it makes a complete job of it. If you can 

 got the idea from this description, make" one for 

 yourself, and my word for it, if you get it made right, 

 it will pay you, and perhaps you can improve on it 

 .Tas. a. Simpson, Alexis, 111., Jan. 10th, 1878. 



After looking over his description, we 

 made the machine illustrated. 



Instead of tlie si>nnge used to lubricate 

 the buniisher D, we have a little tin trough 

 F, holding a little honey. After a sheet has 



been fastened to the frame, the handle E, is 

 pressed down gently, wetting D, ^^ith the 

 honey, the full length. The other parts will 

 I think be comprehended at a glance. The 

 frame is laid ovc'' the board A, with the 

 comb guide under tlie buniisher D. The 

 fdn. is tlien laid with the edge on the comb 

 guide, the wax being warm, as friend 8. sug- 

 gests. Moisten the burnisher with honey 

 as directed, press the foot on the treadle, 

 and the job is finished. 



Although the machine works all right 

 without any trouble at all, I confess unless 

 I had a great many frames to do, I would 

 not want so much machinery around ; the 

 plan given in our price list, does very well 

 for several dozen or a hundred. If you have 

 a thousand or so, to put in, I think very like- 

 ly a machine would pay for itself. 



As a powerful pressure is required to 

 make sure work of it, the levers must be 

 very strong. Ours are made of inch square 

 bar iron. The expense, table and all, made 

 in good neat shape, will be about $1.5.00. The 

 spring that raises the burnisher, is coiled 

 wire, around the rod C, above the table. 



A VERY neat volume of 3.50 pag^s, from Geo. 

 Neighbor & Sons, London, is just at hand, entitled 

 The Apiary, or Bees, Bee Hives and Bee Culture. 

 The paper, printing, engravings, &c., are excellent, 

 but our English cousins adhere with strang-e tenacity 

 to old forms of hives and implements. The compli- 

 cated and expensive structures they recommend for 

 hives, lead one to wonder whether they ever keep 

 bees to make money out of them. It may be we err 

 in the opposite extreme, but so long as we g-et tons 

 of beautiful honey, with our cheap and simple fix- 

 tures, make our bees pay their way and get out of 

 debt, can we be very far in the wrong? 



M^ »»»-<«» 



Our 7.5c smoker, it seems is answering- every pur- 

 pose, and we are already selling rpore of them, than 

 we ever sold of any other kind, early as it is in the 

 season. If you are in doubt in regard to them, you 

 can return any one at our expense, that does not 

 prove perfectly satisfactory. One of our friends 

 very innocently asks if they will "go" when turned 

 over. In carrjing them about in the apiary, I gen- 

 erally carry them upside down, or nearly so; they 

 are then in position to shoot the smoke i-ight down 

 into any hive. Prof. Cook objects to the obtuse noz- 

 zle; this I especially like, because it is so easy to 

 clean out the soot that always accumulates, more 

 or less. 



