1882 



GLEANINGS IN JiEE CULTUKE. 



273 



thousand of our readers. That would make 

 $5000 ; but instead of offering you that, I 

 think we will credit you with $5.00, and for 

 the rest you can have the satisfaction of 

 liaving done good. We again give the cut, 

 and full measurements. It is all made of I 

 pine. The piece with the mortise in it is 20 

 inches long by 4 in. wide at one end, and 

 only 2 in. wide back where the screw goes in. 

 The mortise is made by boring I holes 3i in. 

 apart, and cutting out the wood between 

 them. The upright piece is 30 in. long, 2i 

 wide where it goes into the mortise, and H 

 wide where the walnut pin for the foot is 

 put through. About 3i in. below the top, 

 and i in. from the back edge, is put an iron 

 pin, i in. diameter. The hard-wood block 

 that rubs in the edge of the fdn. is 3fx2ixf . 

 The lower edge is brought to a rounded sort 

 of an edge. Friend Clark has told how the 

 machine is to be used. A couple of wire 

 nails will stop the sections so as to have the 

 fdn. come just in the right spot. If you 

 prefer us to make them, we can at the fol- 

 lowing prices : 



Eor Simplicity sections, 40c ; other sizes, 

 50c. If sent by mail, 35c extra. 



REQUEENING IN THE FALL.. 



YOUNG QUKEXS VERSUS STIMULATIVE FEEDING. 



^^|OME time since, I wrote j'ou in regard to re- 

 ^)) queening in the fall, and you claimed that you 

 could accomplish the same results by feeding, 

 and that it would be a loss to kill the queens, etc. I 

 have tried this on a small scale for a number of 

 years, and am satisfied that it will pay largely. As 

 soon as the honey season was over last season, I de- 

 prived my bees of a laying queen, and kept them 

 from rearing brood for two or three weeks (I can see 

 no advantage in having a great horde of bees hatch 

 at a time when no honey is to be gathered). I then 

 gave them laying queens, young queens just 

 hatched, and queen-cells, being governed by their 

 strength as to kind of queen needed. These young 

 queens commenced laying, and kept it up till late in 

 the fall, without any stimulating. They went into 

 winter quarters with plenty of young bees and an 

 average of 40 lbs. of honey. Now for the result: 

 This has been quite an unfavorable spring for bees, 

 yet these young queens have kept laying right 

 along, and have converted nearly all their honey 

 into brood without stimulating, or protection with 

 chaff or quilts. This mode does away with feeding, 

 and you need not kill many queens. As customers 

 generally prefer a tested queen, one year old, mine 

 are generally all sold every season at remunerative 

 prices, and I thus save the price of a queen, 

 and a large amount of honey that would have 

 been converted into brood at a time when it 

 was not wanted, besides doing away with feeding 

 and tinkering. File your objection?, friend B., and, 

 if I am not right, set me right. 



L. W. Vankirk. 

 Washington, Pa., May 23, 1883. 



I do not know that I have any objections 

 to make, friend Y., for in the main I agree 

 with you. It seems to me you have unwill- 

 ingly made a pretty strong point in favor of 

 dollar queens, and I have, for some time 

 past, thought I would rather have an average 



dollar queen than a tested queen, when the 

 latter was raised the season before, as al- 

 most all our tested queens are, until, say, 

 about the lirst of July. But, why keep a 

 colony queenless, just because you do not 

 want so many bees V Would it not be better 

 to divide, or, if you do not want more stocks, 

 sell the bees by the pound at some price V 



THE "TINKERLESS" SWARM- 

 CATCHER. 



STILL ANOTHER PLAN. 



WANT to say a few words in regard to that new 

 invention. Brooks' swarm-catcher. You say, 

 " If it is not complete," etc. Well, you know it 

 is not; but still, it cost $5.00. Now I will tell you of 

 a swarm-catcher that does not need any tinkering, 

 if you will keep still about it, and not get it patent- 

 ed. Two years ago I had 45 stocks at home, and 

 Mr. Johnson had 73, worked for honey; those at 

 home, my wife attended, I placing the hives for her 

 in the morning before breakfast, where she wanted 

 them to stand. You see I always make it a point to 

 have breakfast at home. Are you listening hard for 

 that "tiukcrless"? Well, breakfast-bells always 

 make a break in my business. If you are here yet. 

 now take a box, any size that will hold a swarm, say 

 16 inches high, 8 inches by 13 or 10, according to the 

 size of your swarms; leave one side 3 Inches short 

 for the bees to enter. No bottom. Now for the 

 corn-popper idea: you remember I gave you a hint 

 before, but you did not seem to " catch on." Take 

 screen wire enough to make a cage for your queen, 

 and half a pound of bees; make a plug for one 

 end, and fasten and tie a string to it. Make a 

 plug for the other end to slide in, and fasten with a 

 pin. Have a sheet to throw over the front of the 

 hive. 



now TO PROCEED. 



"Mamma, the bees are swarming!" 



"Are the> ? I declare, and my dishes are not 

 washed yet!" 



Take the cage, go to the hive — bees tumbling out 

 like smoke— hold it to the entrance till you have 

 bees enough; put in the plug; catch the queen; put 

 her in with the bees; throw the sheet over the hive, 

 leaving it so the bees can come out at the sides; 

 set the box on the sheet in front of the hive; put 

 the cage under the box. Now go and finish the 

 dishes. Ten minutes, dishes all done. Draw the 

 cage out from under the box; take hold of the bail 

 to the box, and carry the bees where you want them. 

 Shake the box, and they fall in front of the hive, and 

 go in. Draw the plug and lay the cage so the queen 

 and bees go in with the swarm. The bees in the 

 cage have a great deal to do with making a success. 

 If the bees do not go up into the box, loose the 

 queen and bees, and they will go up. Do not shake 

 the bees and queen from the cage, as you are liable 

 to injure her. Don't put this in Gleanings with my 

 name to it. Don't credit me with $5.00. It cost 

 some study, but I have my pay. We don't saw off 

 any more limbs; we don't climb any more trees; we 

 don't race any more bees to the woods in the hot 

 sun, nor have any more music of the kettle-drum 



sort. J.J. SWARTWOUT. 



Union City, Mich., May 24, 1883. 



Friend S., I have obeyed you in every par- 

 ticular, except putting your name to your 



