1878. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



231 



© 



From Different Fields. 



COMBINED FEEDER AND DIVISION BOARD. 



I BEING so many devices for bee feeders in 

 Gleanings, I wish to say a word on the sub- 

 ject. 1 think there should be a stationary 

 feeder in every hive, always in place and ready for 

 use. As your chaff division boards are coming' into 

 g-eneral use, I think if you could make the top bar 

 thick enough to be grooved like the Simplicity 

 feeder, you would have a feeder that could be filled 

 without being removed from the hive, and the bees 

 could take the feed without getting on top of the 

 quilt or out of the hive. Frank McNay. 



Eau Galle, Wis., June 30th, 1878. 



The ])laii yoti mention is a very plausible 

 one, indeed, and but for two objections. I 

 think might come into general use. Cutting 

 a feeder in the top bar would spoil, or 

 partially spoil, the efficiency of the di- 

 vision board for cutting off frost, and 

 just near the top bar, where we need it 

 most. Secondly, we should have to let the 

 bees into the feeder near the top of their 

 brood nest, which would allow the warm air 

 to escape. Last fall, in building up nuclei 

 and rearing queens late in the season, I 

 found that we succeeded far better, when 

 all openings above were tightly closed and 

 waxed fast, and the bees compelled to take 

 their feed in at the entrance, or at least 

 through an opening around the division 

 board, near the entrance. A feeder might 

 be made in the lower part of the division 

 board, but I fear it would interfere with the 

 division board for wintering, as mentioned 

 above. Of course the two can be combined, 

 but combination tools and implements are 

 not, as a general rule, well liked in the long 

 run, and are not, I believe, generally protit- 

 able. Many times you want a division 

 board and do not want a feeder, and vice 

 versa ; now, if you have a feeder in all your 

 division boards you have so much capital 

 lying idle. 



I never saw such nice work from bees as they are 

 doing this summer. We have made a lot of Sim- 

 plicity hives according to your directions in Glean- 

 ings, and like them the best of any we have ever 

 seen or heard of. We have now some 1 lb. section 

 boxes filled with honey, and every one says they 

 never saw the like; they are surprised that the bees 

 do work so true and perfect in such small boxes of 

 1 lb. each. John Dieffenbach. 



Crosskill Mills, Pa., June 17, 1878. 



The nicely filled and capped, i}4,xi}i sections look 

 quite enticing. The only trouble is in getting 

 enough of them. Fdn. is a success with us; no sag- 

 gmg, no trouble from surplus of drones when used 

 in brood chamber. G. M. Covert. 



Scllersburg, Ind., June 17th, 1878. 



The smoker you sent me is splendid to conquer 

 bees; I have transferred two swarms and overhaul- 

 ed a number of hives, and have no trouble in work- 

 ing among them. When I have loy little smoker 

 close at hand, well charged, f have no use for my 

 bee veil or rubber gloves, and am in a good shape to 

 do the work before me. It is not very pleasant to 

 handle bees with a hoodwinkeron, and shackles on 

 your hands. Daniel Dysinger. 



Memphis, Mich., .Tune 6th, 1878. 



Thei-e is a gentleman living in mv neighborhood, 

 who is agent for N. C. Mitchell's adjustable hive, 

 and clainris that Mitchell has a patent on his hive 

 running 17 years. What I want to know is, what 

 does Mitchell claim he has a patent on? It cannot 



be on the movable frame, nor on the di\asion 

 boards; for they have both been used in the Lang- 

 stroth hive for a number of years. When it comes 

 to the hive, one has a right to make that any shape 

 he pleases. Please answer. J. G. Taylor. 



MitchelFs claim is as follows : 



1. The hrrrhi-dt'KcriJtcd hrr-liivr. rdnsintiufi of the 

 comh-fnuiiiK <\ iMiiitianx D, iimridal iritli the mliher 

 (rr wii'iihni Ktripli, (UKt liKjs a, slidum iiUitfurms c, and 

 jarn K : ivhen the several parts are arrainjed to operate 

 xttbstantially an herein dxscribed, and for the purpose 

 set forth. 



3. In a hec-liivr riinstnt<t<<i as hnrin drsoilied, the 

 partition D, proviitfd ivitli thf wanh ii or ndihcr strip /j, 

 and lugs a, suhstantiaUy a,s a)id for the pin-jjoscs set 

 forth. 



You will see from the above, that the hive 

 Mitchell sells, does not contain the •'rig- 

 ging" he has patented at all ; and, if it did, 

 he could no more prevent any one from 

 using rubber or woolen strips on a division 

 board than he could patent the air we 

 breathe. Both are old devices. The whole 

 matter is such ''arrant nonsense," I really 

 feel it a duty to decline wasting any more 

 space with it. If you will hand your money 

 over to such bare faced thieves as Mitchell 

 and his class, in answer to their threats of 

 prosecution, I do not see how I can help 

 you. Ilis excuse that he cannot prosecute 

 me is so flimsy, I can but wonder that peo- 

 ple will listen to it enough to write me about 

 it. With all his threats, I cannot learn that 

 he has ever prosecuted anybody. The Sim- 

 plicity hive was invented and fully described 

 in the ^1. B. J., vears ago, and there is not a 

 word of truth about its infringing on any 

 patent at all. The bevels, the metal rabbet, 

 and the metal corners are my own inven- 

 tion ; the latter were patented, and after- 

 ward given to the people, as you will see by 

 every one of our price lists. These last re- 

 marks are to answer a great many other let- 

 ters of inquiry. 



comb foundation. 



Last season, I suggested to one who was 

 arguing against fdn., that he might as well 

 try to stem the current of Niagara; and the 

 testimony now seems ten fold greater than 

 last season. The flood of letters in its 

 praise is so great, that we usually pass them 

 by unheeded. The following is only one 

 among the many: 



To say that I am well pleased with the fdn. does 

 not express my appreciation of it. I think the 5 lbs. 

 I got before has been worth 8 or $10.00 to me. I 

 have used it in the brood frame. M. E. Parker. 



Somerset, Ky., June 14th, 1878. 



For several weeks, it has taken about 

 1000 lbs. of wax a week, to keep our wax 

 room running, and our customers, without a 

 single exception that I know of, are uproar- 

 ious, if that is the right word, in their ex- 

 pressions of satisfaction at the way in which 

 the bees take to it. 



INTRODUCING. 



I wish I had 30 more Italian queens safely intro- 

 duced. I took out a frame of comb covered with 

 bees, and put the "queenly" bee you sent me among 

 them, and they all began to pay her homage. I also 

 put in the 9 or 10 "bloods" you sent with her, first 

 gorging them with honey, and saw them flying from 

 the hive at work, in an hour. Looked an hour after 

 introducing, and found all right. C. A. Ellis. 



South Albany, Vt., June 13th, 1878. 



During the height of the honey season, we 

 can often introduce a queen at once in the 

 manner in which you did, but it is always 



