1878. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



125 



queenless simply because you cannot find 

 the queen : give them some brood, and see 

 if they will start queen cells, then you are 

 sure. 



STARTING AN APIARY, BEE CANDY, COTTON SEED 

 FOR PACKING ,ETC. 



If I have made any advance in bee culture it is 

 owing to youi- advice. Not able to afford the pur- 

 chase of colonies, 1 could only get a start by taking 

 a few swarms off Ihe hands of those who were going- 

 to kill or neglect them, in this way, T obtained 14 

 old gum hives. All except 3 however, were on con- 

 dition ; the owners were to get the honey, 1 the bees, 

 empty comb and brood comb. They were recieved 

 and transferred during summer and fall from 15th, 

 of Aug. to 15th, of Nov. One' hive transferred and 

 robbed at the latter date, have done remarkably well. 

 This fact I thought worth notice, for it was a mere 

 experiment. I could barely fill 4 frames with 

 combs and pieces. There was no brood at that 

 date, not 4 lbs., of honey in all and it was a very large 

 swarm. Of course I fed ; at first on A. J. Cook's 

 plan, within the hive, with syrup in a sack supported 

 by a brood frame. This did very well until the 

 weather became very cold. Then the bees neglecting 

 it, it dripped a little and did mischief. Resort was 

 then had to candy poured out H inch or so thick on 

 paper 6x16 ; this was laid on top of the frames under 

 the duck. The success seems perfect so far. 



I packed my hives on their summer stands in cot- 

 ton seed. For your southern disciples who often 

 cannot get chaff, you ought to know the virtues of 

 cotton seed ns a non-conductor. I have long used it 

 for packing around temporary ice boxes and bins 

 for sweet potatoes, and find it the very thing for top 

 cushions and winter packing. 



You published, last fall, my contribution on honey 

 producing vines with initials S. G., instead of L. J. 

 It is of no consequence only that some of your 

 soiithem readers might find it convenient to know 

 they have a lover of Botany near them who will take 

 pleasure in answering any inquiries concerning our 

 natural plants. Lawrence Johnson. 



Holly Springs, Miss. Feb. 28th, 1878. 



A REPORT IN FAVOR OF ARTIFICIAL HEAT. 



The imported queen I received from you, I have in 

 my parlor hiA e, placed in the window to the South 

 with a chance to fly at any time they see fit. A heater 

 stove is kept burning with a coal fire, about 10 feet 

 from the hive. They have not lost two dozen bees, 

 nor have they consumed 5 lbs. of honey, thus far. I 

 have kept a swarm of bees in the same place for the 

 last 5 years, and it has always come out with flying 

 colors. The first to swarm, pnd giving not less than 

 i'O to 75 lbs. of box honey each year, while it contains 

 but 5 frames. Should I ever build a bee house I 

 would build it so that the bees could fly at any time, 

 and would have the front made movable, so that in 

 summer it could be taken away, letting hives remain; 

 and in the winter I would have, in the middle of the 

 house, a self feeding heater with pipe running along 

 the rear of the house toward each end of the bee 

 shed. Then the bees would not get the dysentery 

 nor dwindling, nor get uneasy; and if they" should, 

 a bee would go to the outlet and when it found the 

 weather cold out side, it would say "whew!" and all- 

 would cool down again. And my belief is that bees 

 would winter on one third the honey they would 

 otherwise use. H. H. Brown. 



Light Street, Pa., Feb. 12th, 1878. 



The above sounds very favorable, it is 

 true, but even sliould we always succeed as 

 well as our friend, I hardly think it would 

 pay expenses, generally. ' 



My commencement in bee culture, consisttd of 

 one swarm, which 1 found on a limb of a beech tree 

 about sun rise on July 3d, 1876. Last year I bought 

 4 swarms ; the first went to the woods,! transferred 

 the old one to a frame hive. I got one stock from 

 the woods, and now have 5 pretty good stands. They 

 have been cari-ying natural pollen for the last three 

 daro. J. H. Thornbury. 



Winchester, Ind., March 11th, 1878. 



The secion boxes came safely yesterday, and are 

 beautifully made. The freight charges on the 

 1.000 amounted to f3..55. J. B. Bedell. 



Franklin, St. Mary's Parish, La., Feb. 27th, '78. 



MITCHELL'S PATENT, &C. 



Mitchell claims a patent on division boards, and 

 especially the little strip of rag tacked on the ends 

 to make it fit tightly. I got the idea from some of 

 Mr. Langstroth's old hives, (made some 10 or 15 years 

 ago) divided in that way for making nuclei. 1 think 

 the public cannot be too well warned against im- 

 positions by way of patents, for as soon as Mitchell 

 conceives an idea or hears of one, he breaks for 

 Washington in such a hurrv as to almost leave his 

 coat tail. Thfen somebody has got to be humbugged. 



P. S.— I send you a circular which Mitchell's agent 

 left with me, but perhaps you have seen them ere 

 this. D. A. McCoRD. 



Oxford, O., March. Ist, 1878. 



It is true that Mitchell has claimed very 

 boldly, having a patent on all division 

 boards with a strip of cloth round the edge, 

 but an examination of the patent othce re- 

 ports shows he has no patent on the hive at 

 all, and none on the division board as he 

 uses it. His patent is on a combination of 

 "fixins" attached to the division board, that 

 I believe has never been used by anybody. 

 Mitchell is not much worse than the general 

 run of patent hive men in this respect, but 

 he has obtained so much mony by his false 

 pretences, that I almost feel it a duty to 

 keep a standing warning in print. The pat- 

 ent office Gazette is sent gratis, into almost 

 every town, and people could easily look up 

 these things for themselves if they would 

 only take the time. Such an examination 

 shows that even the Bingham smoker, is one 

 of the '•'combination" patents, and among 

 the things claimed as a new invention, is 

 the tapering nozzle that Mr. Quinby always 

 used, and the steel springs that has been 

 for years shown in the advertising pages of 

 the British Bee Journal. I can dicover noth- 

 ing in his claim in regard to the direct draft, 

 and nothing that would make my smoker an 

 infringement— I think I will stop, or friend 

 Martin might think I am quarreling again. 

 Once more ; do not give Mitchell nor any- 

 body else, any of your money, but just at- 

 tend quietly to your own affairs, and this 

 patent business on bee-hives will all pass 

 away of itself. I presume I have seen all 

 the price lists that Mitchell has ever sent 

 out, and I have seen all of his ''clips'"' at me. 

 I can freely forgive them, because it is noth- 

 ing more than what 1 expected, when I first 

 undertook the Humbug and Swindle depart- 

 ment. 



HARDENING WAX BY BOILING. 



I once gave a small cake of wax to a dentist, who 

 soon wanted to buy seme, saying it was very soft, 

 and very good for his use. He said wa.x ought not 

 to be boiled much, as boiling hardens it. Seeing the 

 complaints in regard to the sagging of comb fdn., 1 

 thought boiling the wax might be an advantage. 



Calvin Otis, New Holstein, Wis., March, 9th, '78. 



It hardens wax to boil it, especially if you 

 overheat it, but as this also destroys its elas- 

 ticity, and makes it brittle, it would not an- 

 swer for fdn.; to prevent tliis, wax should al- 

 ways be melted inside of a boiler of water, 

 or rather, the tn^iler should have double 

 walls, with a water space between the wax 

 and the fire. Bees-v/ax seems to contain 

 some kind of a volatile oil tliat makes it soft, 

 and some specimens contain much more 

 than others. If the wax is exposed to the 

 air in thin sheets, this passes off, and the 

 wax becomes much harder. It is for this 

 reas(Ui, we always allow the sheets of wax to 

 stand at least one day after dipping, before 



