326 



GLEA2^IXGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



eOME-^IACE APPLIANCES FOR THE 

 APIAKY. 



/P®\ UT of my summer's experience in bee culture, 

 cll Im) I have gleaned many practical ideas, and offer 

 ^**S^ the following suggestions for what they are 

 worth. I shall be amplv compensated, if I can feel 

 that I have added one mite to the fund of useful 

 knowledge, so generously spread before your read- 

 ers in -'Gleanings." To begin with, if you will al- 

 low me to "rise and explain," I would state that the 

 stern logic of necessity has compelled me to invent 

 such apiarian implements as a paucity of funds 

 would not permit mc to buy, or want of time allow 

 me to wait for; hence the economy manifested in 

 the construction of my apiarian supplies. . 



SMOKERS. 



In transferring 34 stands of bees, I improved my 

 home-made smoker (got up a la Koot), by inserting 

 a piece of wire cloth, cut the full size of fuel recep- 

 tacle, and pushed down to the bottom of said cup. 

 It is but a moment's work to haul it out and run an 

 old toothbrush across each side, to remove the soot, 

 and replace, while to unscrew and replace the piece 

 of perforated Tin which you recommend is quite a 

 job. 



Your wire cloth would not prevent small 

 coals of fire from getting through into the 

 bellows, as does the tin with the holes 

 pricked in so as to raise a deep burr towards 

 tlie fire ; besides, this portion of the smoker, 

 being constantly exposed to a blast of cold 

 air, seldom needs brushing out. Your idea 

 of using a tootltbrush to keep the soot out of 

 a smoker is a very good one. 



SECTIONS, FRAMES, SEPARATORS, AND CHAFF CUSH- 

 IONS. 



My section frames were made of the widest plas- 

 tering lath I coiild select, and held 4 section boxes. 

 The latter were made of ^s inch stutf, and fastened 

 together by 4 cigar box nails. They contained about 

 1 lb. of hoiaey each. The size of frames is 12x12. 

 The advantages are, exceeding cheapness, ease in 

 handling, and rapidity with which they are filled and 

 sealed over, thus preserving their whiteness. I 

 shall plane all the stutf next season, and dovetail 

 the sections. Enameled cloth answered very well 

 for separators. Friends, if you havn't a chaff hive, 

 turn your hives into such immediately, as follows: 

 take frames made of lath precisely like my section 

 frames, only a trifle larger, rip up old hemp salt- 

 bags (cost us 8c. each here, and one will cover 4 

 frames), and wind them clear around the frames, 

 tacking and folding over at the sides and bottom; 

 fill from the top with chaff. Thus, you have a chaff 

 cushion at a cost not exceeding 4c. If the frame is 

 made large enoug-h, it ought to require a slight pres- 

 Kurc to carry it down to its place. It should rest on 

 the bottom board, as well as tht;*rabhets. By turn- 

 ing the brood frames half way round, and placing 1 

 such chaff frame on each side, and a cushion made 

 of similar stuff on top (or two folds of rag carpet), 

 you have a perfect chaff hive. Bro. Boot, to whom 

 I conveyed the idea over a year ago, illustrated with 

 a diagram, said then, and has since said, that it re- 

 quired "too much fussing." So I thought, until I 

 devised a /rame/i)?A-, to turn 4 or 6 frames, at one 

 motion of the hand. Imagine a 4 fined pitchfork 

 v/itli the two inside tines broken out, and the re- 

 maining two tines flattened, so as to slip easily be- 

 tween the sides of the hive and frames, when pass- 

 ing up under the projecting arms; thus 4 or 6 frames 

 are lifted at once. 



Temporary appliances are often used, and 

 with satisfaction for a short time, but they 

 a,re almost always soon laid aside for some- 

 thing neater, more permanent, and substan- 

 tial. Such, I think, will be the case with 

 your lath frames, enameled cloth separators, 

 division boards, etc. The objection to the 

 last is that the bees will sooner or later gnaw 

 to pieces cloth that comes next to the combs ; 

 combs built next to them will be uneven, 

 compared with those built next to a smooth 

 board, and tliey look untidy. 



HOME-MADE FDN. 



My fdn. was made caily in the spring, from plaster 

 of Paris casts, taken from Bro. Ko(k's fdn. One 

 sweep of a wide whitewash brush dipped in melted 

 wax, after first soaking the cast in water, gave mo 

 such nice sheets of fdn. that the bees accepted it 

 with "tears of joy" in their eyes. Bro. Foster's 

 method, described in July No., gets one ahead of 

 me, I should judge, and ho deserves the sincere 

 thanks of all of us purse bound bee-keepers. Good 

 casts can easily be obtained by mixing the plaster 

 very thin, and working it into the fdn. in small 

 quantifies, with a case knife, before adding the bulk 

 of the plaster. 



ANOTHER FEEDER. 



Best and simplest of all, is my feeder, made by 

 tacking a piece of tin to each side of a common, or 

 lath frame. The tin should reach up to within an 

 inch or two of the top bar. This makes a feeder 

 holding 3 quarts or more. It is easil.v filled, if tight- 

 Ij" tacked does not leak, and is very accessible to the 

 bees, even in coldest weather. A piece or two of 

 lath, of the inside lengtli of the feeder, Uoat upon 

 the sweets, and upon this the bees sit like turtles on 

 a log. As they sip the syrup, they descend with the 

 raft clear to the bottom, and arc in no danger of 

 getting drowned. 



Well, my teacher, I will close this article, lest I 

 get my ears boxed, as did your A B C scholar, Bu- 

 chanan, for his long but, to me, very interesting ar- 

 ticle in Aug. No. of Gleanings. Let me say in con- 

 clusion, however, that I send you a peace offering in 

 the shape of the names of 4 new subscribers, so don''t 

 lay it on very hard. In return, you can do nothing 

 calculated to please us subscribers better, than to 

 insert a good sized engraving of yourself, in the 

 very next No. of Gleanings. Indeed, we insist up- 

 on it. It is the one great desire of my wife, to see a 

 picture of the wonderful man of whom her husband 

 talks and reads so much. N. G. Puelps, D.D.S. 



Milford. Del., Sept. 0th, ISTS. 



Now, my friend. I was going to say some- 

 thing about that feeder, but your conclud- 

 ing remarks have entirely driven the idea 

 out of my head. I once tried to get an en- 

 graver who could give you a faithful like- 

 ness of Novice and Blue Eyes ; the picture 

 was never used. Since you have suggested 

 the matter, we will try once more ; not that 

 we think ourselves good looking, but be- 

 cause it is a pleasure to see our fViends, be 

 they ever so homely. 



i ia i B i <Bw 



GSAPE SUGAR, CONTROVERSIES, ETC. 



Messrs. Sayles' letter on page o06, in relation to 

 "queens by mail," and see what room you give for 

 such charges as are made against you in Sept. No. 

 of the A. B. J., as to self interest, &c. 



W. S. BOYD. 



p. S.— Can it be possible that you deserve the abuse 

 that you get through the tiept. A. D. J:? I can not 

 but believe that friends Newman, Dadant and .Muth 

 are sincere in what they say, tuid can only wish 

 there was more harmony between you. W. S. B. 



Hamilton, O., Sept. od, IdTS. 



I think, friend B., you misappreliend me. 

 If it is best and proper that (]ueens should 

 go by mail, I believe we shall soon be al- 

 lowed to send tliem thus ; and if the people 

 are pretty generally agreed in the matter, a 

 ])etilion to Congress might be a very good 

 thing. I do not believe in moving rashly in 

 these things. Our friend, Dadant, is doubt- 

 less sincere in what he says of grape sugar, 

 but, for all that, I think him very much mis- 

 taken. I have eaten it in large quantities 

 .iust as I would maple sugar, and have fed it 

 to our bees for over a year, without a single 

 bad featiu'e showing.itself so far as I know. 

 It has also been used largely all over our 

 land, and is now quite an article of com- 



