1884. J 
AMEEIOA^f AGRIOULTURIST. 
493 
1 
Bee Notes for November. 
W. Z. HUTCHINSON. 
Contract the entrances to the hives so that mice 
eannot enter. If the bees which are to be win¬ 
tered out of doors have received no protection, 
furnish it at once. Have everything in readiness if 
they are to be wintered in a cellar or a “clamp.” 
When it is evident that the bees have enjoyed their 
last autumn flight, carefully carry them in. 
Bee-Keepers’ Conventions. —Now begins the 
season of bee-keeper’s conventions; and, if not too 
distant, it will pay to attend one or more of them. 
Before deciding to go, however, let the bee-keeper 
consider whether it would not be more proBtable 
•to invest the money it would cost in bee-keeping 
literature. The social feature of these gatherings 
is perhaps the most interesting part. To greet 
those whose writings we iiave read so long is a 
pleasure. The most instructive gathering the 
writer ever attended were conventions of two. The 
best way to learn about bee-keeping is to visit a 
successful apiarist at his place of business. ' 
Seeling Honey.— Small fruits and flies are now 
gone, the cooler weather excites the appetites for 
sweets, and if your honey crop is not sold, now is 
the time to dispose of it. The local market should 
be looked after first, and no honey sent to the dis¬ 
tant markets until the local demand is supplied. 
When honey can be sold at home for three cents 
less than the quotations of large markets, it is, as 
a general thing, more profitable to sell it at home. 
If there is no local market, make one ; if you have 
never tried, you will be astonished at what can be 
accomplished by a little push. Honey should not 
be “ kept over” in hopes of receiving better prices, 
as old honey is not preferred to that which is new. 
Reversible Frames.— The apicultural world is 
now somewhat agog upon the subject of reversible 
A REVERSIBLE FRAME IN POSITION. 
fratnes, that is, frames that can be inverted and 
used either side up. It is the instinct of the bee 
to store its honey above and as near to the brood 
nest as possible. When the combs are inverted, 
the bees proceed to remove the honey from the 
lower cells, and store it in the surplus boxes above, 
depositing brood in the cells thus emptied. When 
the brood hatches out in the upper part of the 
combs, its place is again occupied with honey; but, 
if the combs are reversed just before the close of 
the white honey harvest, nearly all of the white 
honey will be removed from the brood-combs to 
the surplus boxes, in which it can be sold at a good 
price. If there should be a flow of honey in the 
fall, the combs can be again reversed near the close 
of that harvest, and the brood-combs will thus be 
left at the end of the season nearly destitute of 
honey, and sugar syrup can be fed for winter 
stores. Without the trouble of extracting honey at 
a time when robbers are especially annoying. 
Another advantage gained by reversal is that it in¬ 
duces the bees to finish out and attach the combs 
to the bottom bars, in the same substantial manner 
in which they are attached to the top b'ars. Many 
of the reversible frames now in use are not hang¬ 
ing frames like the Langstroth, but rest on the bot¬ 
tom of the hive upon metal projections attached to 
their corners, or upon elongations of their end 
bars. Reversible frames of this style are held at 
equal distances apart, and thereby lose a most 
valuable feature, that of being movable laterally. 
Numerous devices for allowing the reversal of 
hanging frames, such as tin corners, that can be 
drawn out or slid back at pleasure, wire loops, tin 
corners hung on pivots, etc., have been invented ; 
but, as yet, nothing of the kind has been given the 
public that it is inclined to adopt. We received for 
inspection, a few weeks ago, from a gentleman in 
Missouri, a sample of a reversible frame, that is 
both simple and ingenious, as well as having the 
appearance of being practicable. It is a hanging, 
laterally movable frame, but instead of being hung 
by projections of the top bar, it is suspended by 
four projecting prongs of folded tin, two of which 
are attached to the sides of each end bar at its 
centre, and rest upon a strip of tin nailed to the 
inside of the hive, the upper edge of the tin being 
slightly bent out. 
The prongs upon the nearest side of the frame 
are shown at a, a, in the engraving. If the prongs 
are spread apart slightly, it will give the frame a 
broader support. It will be seen that the comb 
can be used either side up very readily. By using 
the Langstroth frame, which is so shallow as to al¬ 
low but little honey to be stored above the brood- 
nest inside the brood-fi ames, contracting the brood- 
nest and keeping the queen in it, by using a queen- 
excluding honey-board, we have succeeded in hav¬ 
ing so little honey stored in the brood-combs, that 
we have not yet thought it advisable to adopt re¬ 
versible frames. Should we ever conclude to do 
so, however, it would be those of the hanging, 
laterally-movable style we have described. 
The Ox Bot-Fly. 
The Ox Bot-fly or Warble Fly ((Estrus bovis), is 
a serious pest to cattle. It has been carefully 
estimated that there are three-fourths of all of 
our cattle yearly tortured by this inveterate in¬ 
sect, which by a little trouble and at a small 
outlay could be extirpated. This uy, shown in 
figure 1, is about the size of the closely related 
bot-fly infesting horses. The female deposits 
smill, oval eggs upon the hair or skin of its victim. 
The maggot, after hatching, makes its way into 
the lower portion of the skin. Small bands of 
prickles soon form on the maggot, and the most 
harmful portion of the insect’s life now begins. 
The movements of the rough surface of the grub 
cause local irritation, followed by swelling, ulcer¬ 
ation, and the opening of an orifice in the warble. 
This is the stage when the parasite should be de¬ 
stroyed. A small quantity of mercurial ointment, 
placed on the opening of the warble, kills the 
maggot within. This remedy is equally effective 
later in the life history of the warble, but if killed 
early, much suffering is avoided. Some preventive 
measures may be taken when the mature insects 
are depositing their eggs. The flies are usually on 
the wing.at noonday, when the sun is shining. It 
is therefore desirable to provide a cool shade or 
shelter at midday. A tethered animal is more fre¬ 
quently attacked than one that is free to escape 
from the bot-flies. The coat of the animal may be 
Fig. 1.— THE ox BOT-FLY. Fig, 3.— CHRYSALIDS. 
smeared with grease, sulphur, and other sub¬ 
stances not agreeable to the flies. These preventive 
measures are generally disregarded, and therefore 
the early destruction of the maggots with mercu¬ 
rial ointment is urged. The amount of damage 
done to the hides is great, when the warbles are 
permitted to run their full course. Chrysalids of 
the ox bot-fly are shown in figure 8. They are dark- 
brown, and not very unlike the maggot in shape. 
Stone and Iron Gate Posts. 
We herewith present a plan for gates to a gentle¬ 
man’s place (where stones are plenty), whicli is both 
effective and efficient. The drive-way is nine feet 
wide, the posts are laid up vvith stone and cement 
mortar, in the style known as “ broken ashler,” and 
well pointed and capped. The gates are of one-inch 
gas-pipe, made by uniting two five-foot pieces by T 
unions, in the manner shown in the engraving, or 
simply by “elbows.” They should be about sixteen 
inches apart. These slide through the posts in 
pieces of larger pipe, which go entirely through the 
posts and are given a slight slant to the outside. The 
A GAS-l’IPE GATE WITH STONE POSTS. 
lower parts of the gate-frames rest upon a flat stone 
in the center. These gates slide easily, and exclude 
animals, while one gate slides to admit persons on 
horse-back. If there is much passing in and out 
on foot, the gates may be brought together within 
a foot, and be prevented from opening wider by a 
chain and hook, easily removed. The same general 
plan can be carried out with wooden posts—setting 
two in place of the single heavy stone pier—to sup¬ 
port the large gas-pipes in which the gates slide. 
Coarse Fodder for Sheep or Cows. 
A correspondent of the American Agriculturist 
proposes to buy stock to eat up his straw, corn¬ 
stalks, bean and pea-straw, and clover hay, and 
asks which will be most profitable and make the 
best manure? Sheep will make the most manure. 
If the cows are giving milk, the manure will lose 
the nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash, carried 
off in the milk. But you can sell this nitrogen, 
phosphoric acid and potash in the milk at a high 
price, and buy it at a comparatively low price, in 
the form of hay, mill-feed, cotton-seed cake, 
brewer’s grains, malt-sprouts, etc. Whether sheep 
or cows will be most profitable, all things consid¬ 
ered, will depend on your conveniences for carry¬ 
ing on the work, or the kinds of coarse fodder, and 
on the demand and price of milk at the farm, and 
what you propose to do with the cows after your 
fodder is exhausted. 
Farrow cows that are giving milk, can often be 
bought cheap. If fed liberally they will give rich 
milk, and improve in flesh at the same time, and 
sell in the spring for considerably more than you 
paid for them. And the same is true of cows that 
are expected to calve in the winter. New milch 
cows in the winter, or early spring, are always 
wanted by the regular milkmen. We know men, 
who for years have made a regular business of 
buying cows in the fall, and feeding them all win¬ 
ter—selling part to the butchers, and part to the 
milkmen. They make money and manure, and 
find cows more profitable than sheep. Those who 
have had no experience, might do better by trying 
sheep. Sheep will do better on straw than cows. 
Good corn-stalks, cut before frost, and properly 
preserved, are excellent alike for cows and sheep, 
but they are probably fed to cows with more profit. 
And this is true of hay. The real profit in either 
case, especially where manure is wanted, comes 
from the extra grain, oil-cake, etc., fed in con¬ 
junction with coarse fodder. Straw and stalks 
alone, make poor manure. We gain nothing by 
passing straw through a sheep or cow. It is straw 
still. AVe must feed bran, oil-cake, malt-sprouts, 
or grain, and clover hay, in addition to the corn- 
fodder, if we want to fatten the sheep, produce 
milk, and make rich manure. We need not say 
that less labor is required to take care of the 
sheep. If you are in the country where there is 
little demand for milk, keep sheep ; if near city or 
village, where there are plenty of dogs, keep cows. 
