1878. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



229 



be a little careful, how I answer this oft repeated 

 question, as to what book you shall buy. If I could 

 have my own way, I would have you read all the bee 

 hooks we advertise for sale; but a great many of you 

 say you have not the money for all, and still more 

 say they have not the time to read them, and (juite 

 a good many, after reading several authors, get the 

 whole so mixed up, especially wliere eoiUiieting di- 

 rections are given, that they "seem to be worse off 

 than if they had read only one brief treatise, and 

 followed it. 



In answering the questions asked by thousands of 

 beginners, I have found this latter trouble, perhaps, 

 the worst of them all. 



This is especially the case with my way of treat- 

 ing the subject of bee culture. I have not followed 

 the old stereotyped ways of doing things, and the 

 simple style of hives, extractors, section boxes, etc., 

 that I have inti-oduced, were made with a view of 

 having the different operations in bee culture fol- 

 low along in one regular system. If they are used 

 as I advise iu the ABC, you will find it straight, 

 plain sailing; but if you attempt to mix them up 

 with all the various plans, hives, and machinery 

 afloat, you will come to much confusion, if not to 

 "Blasted Hopes." While I hold myself responsible 

 for all the teachings of the A B C, I cannot be re- 

 sponsible f(^r those of friend Cook's Manual. Per- 

 haps, my way of doing things is a narrow and eon- 

 traetedone, but I cannot see how I can well help it, 

 with the sea of work that looms up before me. If 

 you choose the manual for your guide, you will 

 have to go to friend Cook with your (luestions. If 

 you wish me to advise you at every step, I prefer 

 you should follow A B C; and by this, I do not say 

 that the latter will be a better work, by any means; 

 for friend Cook, wjth his superior education and 

 training, is probably a better writer than I can ever 

 hope to be, although I may excel him in mechani- 

 cal work, and inventive genius. 



I cannot but feel that my friend has erred sadly, 

 in so vehemently defending a few patent hives, 

 smokers, etc. In this age of progress, these things 

 are so rapidly passing away, it seems a pity, to have 

 such a book "marred by their unsightliness. In de- 

 fence of patents, friend Cook states Mr. Weiss to 

 have been the original inventor of rolls for making 

 fdn., and that the invention was taken from him 

 without so much as a word of thanks. On page 29, 

 of Gleanings for 1876, 1 made, as I fully believed, 

 the first suggestion that fdn. should be made with 

 rollers; and stated that a mechanic was then at 

 work on a pair of rollers for me. This statement 

 went to N. Y., and all over our land, yet not a word 

 was said of my not being the first one to suggest 

 that fdn. should be made on rollers, in sheets, as I 

 then expressed it, a "mile long". Before deciding 

 on rollers, I wrote Mr. Long that his sheets, 5 by 16 

 inches, were too shoi-t to fill an L. frame, and asked 

 if he could not make them .iust one inch longer. 

 This he said he covild not do, for Mr. Weiss' plat£« 

 Avere only 16 inches long. When it was afterward 

 claimed that Weiss had rollers before mine, I wrote 

 to Mr. Sisson who had charge of the Magazine, ~a.n6. 

 I have his letter now, assuring me that Weiss used 

 plates, for he had them in his possession. In giving 

 the world rolls to make their fdn., neither Mr. 

 Washburn nor myself ever had the remotest idea 

 that John Long's fdn. was made on rolls. If $100 is 

 a great price, why has not Weiss or some one else 

 during all these years furnished them cheaper. 

 You arc all welcome to all the secrets in mechanics, 

 or anything else, I have in the world; and where I 

 have borrowed the idea of others, I believe I am 

 ready to pay up. The Manual figures, and thereby 

 recommends, a S40 machine. As quite a number 

 have been deluded, by false promises and state- 

 ments, into sending for these, I feel it a duty to 

 publish one of the letters I have received in regard 

 to them. 



A. I. ROOT.-Dear Sir:— 



The machine came safely to hand. You ought to 

 have a medal for getting up an article to work so 

 nicely. It is a satisfaction to do work with it, and 

 tnorc particularly f^o, after having Ixithcrcd with one 

 of those Bourgemeyer thinas. 



J. Oatman & Sons. 



Dundee, 111., June mth, 1878. 



I feel that friend Cook has made a bad mistake 

 also, in regard to d<illar queens; it is pmljably from 

 some misconception. All honorable (juceu breed- 

 ers, and I hope and believe all who adAertise in our 



list are such, rear their queens from imported stock 

 and rear them the very best they know how. The 

 idea that these queens are in any way inferior to the 

 tested ones, or to the best that can be bought, only 

 that they are untcitted, is, I can not but feel, an un- 

 kind insinuation on the large list of those who rear 

 queens. With the ample e.xperience I have had in 

 the matter, I should say that dollar queens might 

 well be ranked with fdn., as one of the great bless- 

 ings to the ABC class of bee-keepers of the present 

 day. Everybody now tests their own queens, and a 

 great amount of fault finding and dissatisfaction is 

 avoided. People do not long cdutinue to buy that 

 which does not pay, vet the dollar queen business 

 has rapidly increased year after year, and now the 

 traffic amounts to thousands of dollars in a single 

 week. 



QUEENS BY MAIL. 



f'T seems that the P. M. of Boston. Mass., 

 has decided with others, that tliey are 

 ' at liberty to mail queen bees, as will be 

 seen by the following : 



The eight queens should have reached you last 

 week. Four of them we mailed at Boston to gain 

 time. On receiving your postal stating you had re- 

 ceived only four, we made inquiry at the Boston 

 olfice and found they had been thrown aside as not 

 mailable. We carried the matter to Post Master 

 Tobey, and he agreed to direct the clerks to fm-ward 

 such matter in future. We mail .you the queens 

 agnin to-day, supplied with fresh honey and bees, 

 and trust you will receive them in good condition. 

 C. W. & A. H. K. Blood. 



Quincy, Mass., June 34, '78. 



ANOTHER WAY TO MAKE FRAMES. 



M FTER carefully reading your instructions for 

 J^j\. making wooden frames, I concluded that 

 <^^r^ your plan is not so good as the way in which 

 I make them; and, as others may think so too, I re- 

 quest you will give this a place in "Our" paper (if 

 you think it worth the space). 



My top bars and ends are % thick. Boards of that 

 thickness are cut off, of the right length for top 

 bars, and a groove cut across the pieces at each end 

 ^sx^g. and 11-16 from the ends. The pieces are then 

 ripped up Ji wide, and the comb guides put in, in 

 the ordinary way. The end pieces fit closely into 

 the grooves, so that a frame, when put together, can 

 be handled without falling to pieces, before it is 

 nailed. Lay a top bar (after putting in a comb 

 guide) on the bench, and, with a light hammer, 

 drive the ends (which are perfectly plain, except 

 that they have a slit in one end to receive the comb 

 guide) into the gains in the top bar, and while in 

 that position, nail on the bottom piece (mine are 

 Vx'a). Then turn the frame ov'er and nail the top, 

 driving two nails into each end. Sight the frame, 

 to see if it is true, or, as the carpenters say, "out of 

 wind," and if not, drive the proper nails a little 

 deeper, so as to draw one side a little tighter to the 

 end piece. In this way, a frame can be made true, 

 although the pieces of which it is made may be a 

 little warped or twisted. To bring it square, have a 

 piece of board, \i in. thick, and a little narrower 

 and shorter than the inside of the frame, fastened 

 to the bench. It should be square. LTpon this the 

 frame can be tested very quickly and bi-ought just 

 right. If the end pieces are sawed on a Barnes saw 

 there will be little difficulty in this respect. I put 

 the comb g-uides so that the fdn. will be in the cen- 

 tre of the frame. A word as to fastening the fdn. 

 Take a board ;4 inch smaller each way than the in- 

 side dimensions of the frame, and of such a thick- 

 ness that, when a frame is placed ovr it, the upper 

 edge of the comb guide will be fliish with its upper 

 surface. Rabbet one edge just the depth and width 

 of the comb guide. Nail the board to a table or to 

 another smooth board, and at the opp>site side from 

 the rabbet, nail a little block so that, when the 

 frame is in place, the bottom piece can be sprung 

 over this block, and hold the frame snugly in place, 

 with the comb guide in the rabbet. Lay your fdn. 

 on the comb guide, and on it lay a thin strip as wide 

 and long as the fdn. This pressed fii-mly down will 

 prevent the fdn. from kinking while being rubbed 

 tight with the warm iron rod. I have a quart tin 

 can placed over a lamp, filled with hot water, and 

 keep the irons in it. With this arrangement, the 



