200 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



April 



drone side. This is accomplished by the use of per- 

 foratei zinc as entrance-a^uards to the hives. These 

 guides are ten inches loiiy, and each guide is a box 

 with the bottom and one side removed. A cross- 

 Fection of this box is one inch square. The holes iu 

 this zinc arc rectangular, 3-16 by 9-16 of an inch long. 



ft^ 



eel their bees all right, like everybody else, 

 you know, and so they were tliinking of 

 selling bees. Here is the board he had in 

 his hand. 



JONES'S BEE-GUARD. 



The zinc occupies abort as much space as that occu- 

 pied by the holes: that is, aboutone-half of the met- 

 al is cut away. These holes, while they permit the 

 workers to pass freely through, are a perfect bar to 

 the drones and the queen. Now. by pincing this guide 

 with tho wanting side against the end or side of the 

 hive, before the entrance, we have a perfect barrier 

 to the drones and the queen, while the workers may 

 pass with freedom. 



now TO USE THE GUARDS. 



By placing these guards before the hives, in our 

 own and near neighbors' apiaries, we may preclude 

 the flight of all such drones as are not desired to 

 meet the queens. Of course, if there are wild bees 

 in the vicinity, ns is always the case if there are 

 forests near by, then this method is only a help, not 

 a sure preventive of undesirable mating. A still 

 better way to use the guides is to let the drones fly 

 from all but the very best colonies on such days as 

 there are no young queens to fly out. and about one 

 or two o'clock put all the guides at the entrances of 

 the hives, and at night, after the bees are in their 

 hives, kill the drones. Tho drones shoiild always be 

 kept down either by this method or by cutting out 

 the unhatched drone-brood, as they eat a great 

 amount of honey, and are expensive and worthless 

 appendages to any hive. I permit drones in my 

 choicest hives only. 



The next, friend M. said he bought in the 

 city, on purpose for John's mother ; for he 

 had observed, when fllling pitchers and 

 bowls with honey, how hard it is for a wo- 

 man to pour it out of a tin can or pail. This 

 can be boxed up nicely for shij)ping, and yet 

 a pound of honey could easily be poured 

 from it at any tinie. 



GROOVED BOARD, FOR FASTENING MOV.\BLE FRAMES 

 FOR SHIPMENT. 



You will notice the strip of board has 

 three grooves in it. AVell, suppose such 

 a board were slipped into each end of a 

 three-frame nucleus hive. If the grooves 

 were just the right depth and width, the 

 frames would slide right down in them, and 

 then they would l)e a fixture, so far as any 

 possible shucking about were concerned. To 

 fasten the frames of a whole colony, six snch 

 boards are used, putting in 9 combs instead 

 of 10. These boards do away with all wedg- 

 es, or mashing bees, and the frames can be 

 puslied down into these grooves, when cov- 

 ered with bees, almost as easily as they can 

 be hung in the hives. Where bees and 

 combs of brood are to be sent in a shipping- 

 box, without any hives, these boards form 

 the end of the shipping-box — thin stuff 

 making the sides, and wire cloth covering 

 top and bottom. They decided that, with 

 machinery, they could make boards like the 

 one in the picture for 8 cents each, or $2.50 

 per hundred. 



" O Mr. Merrybanks ! " said Mary ; " how 

 did the bees get along making honey out of 

 the sap ? " 



" Why, my girl, tliey got along pretty well, 

 only they found the ' feed ' a little ' thin '." 



"• And, oh ! don't you believe," said Fred- 

 die, " Uncle Billy is going to build a mill 

 with all those stones at the quarry ? " 



BOXED C.VN, FOR SHIFPING OR RETAILING HONEY. 



Mrs. M. rather objected to the arrange- 

 ment, on the ground that it was too compli- 

 cated, and not as handy as a common tin 

 can with a honey-gate near the bottom ; but 

 when friend M. reminded her that such a 

 can was very awkward to ship, without hav- 

 ing the honey-gate broken off, she admitt- 

 ed it. 



John's father here came over to show 

 something he had studied np, and to ask 

 friend M. to help him study up machinery 

 for making them rapidly. They had winter- 



^ %qwh §n§€umging. 



TWO NUCLEI IN ONE HIVE. 



jjp AM feeling quite jubilant to-day, and really must 

 sit right down and write you a short letter. My 

 bees are all in fine condition at tho present 

 writing. I have not lost a queen, colony, or nucleus. 

 I have never failed to safely winter nuclei on their 

 summer stands. I always winter two nuclei in one 

 hive, and they go through the winter as safely as a 

 full colony would. To-day my bees are carrying 

 natural pollen; and that's what makes me feel " top- 

 loftily" like. I suppose they get their pollen from 

 swamp willow. I always consider my bees perfectly 

 safe when I see them carrying natural pollen; and 

 if after that I lose a colony, I call it neglect, and not 

 "spring dwindling." Fruit-buds arc swelling, and 

 peach-trees will soon be in bloom. Judging from 

 present app?arances, there will be an abundance of 

 apple and cherry bloom within the flight of my bees. 

 There are at least one hundred acres In orchards 

 within reach of me. M. J. Harbis. 



Calhoun, 111., March 1, 1883. 



