July 11, 1901. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



439 



into the hive, thus driving the bees out and toward the 

 receiving-hive. 



One thing, however, I did to assist Mr. Bond : With a 

 small copper scoop, such as grocers use in handling teas, 

 which I had brought from the house with me, I transferred 

 a lot of bees from the body of the box-hive to the new 

 hive, putting two scoop-fulls in among the frames. This 

 established bee-coonection between the two hives ; and the 

 bees were not slow in seeing it. 



Let it be understood, however, that I did not forget to 

 direct my pupil's attention to the fact that there was only 

 one right way to use that scoop without irritating the bees 

 and killing many of them. 



" It wouldn't do at all to scoop up bees as you would 

 potatoes," I explained to Mr. Bond. " It has to be done in 

 such a gentle, careful, and yet quick way, that the bees will 

 not find out they are being scooped. 



"Now, Mr. Bond," I said, after most of the bees had 

 been driven out of his hive, " there are quite a lot of bees 

 inside that box of yours yet, and the best way to get them 

 out and into the new hive is to tip your box bottom-side up. 

 They will soon all be on the wing, unless the queen is yet 

 with them — that, however, is not probable. In a few min- 

 utes you will see that these, and the bees flying about 

 where the wagon stands, will have united, and gradually 

 all of them will go in where the queen is with the swarm. 



'• This evening j'ou can take them home with you safely 

 and in good shape ; but not done up in a sheet, Mr. Bond. 

 I'll show you a better way." 



" What do you do that for ?" asked Mr. Bond, when he 

 saw me set a piece of board slantingly against the front of 

 the new hive. 



"I do that," I replied, " in order that the bees that fly 

 out will mark the location of the hive before leaving it. 

 It is not necessary to do this when a swarm is first hived. 

 But when a hive of bees is moved from one location to 

 another, or a colony is transferred from one hive to another 

 and the location changed, it is always best to take this pre- 

 caution ; because without it many of the worker-bees will 

 never find their way back to the hive after leaving it from 

 a location they have never marked. 



•' Well, Mr. Bond, you have had a very important prac- 

 tical lesson in bee-keeping this morning ; and without get- 

 ting any stings, I believe. We are now ready for some- 

 thing else. I want you to learn about drones to-day. I pre- 

 sume you remember what I said yesterday about looking 

 after drone-brood in the parent hive of that swarm we 

 hived. Well, that's where you will get your next lesson. 



" Here you see the lesson that's before you now," I 

 said to Mr. Bond, pointing to the super on the brood-frames 

 of the old hive, after I had removed the cover." 



•' That super has to be removed before we can properly 

 proceed with our drone-lesson. That is plainly apparent to 

 both of us. Well, here you have a first-class chance to 

 learn one of the important lessons in bee-keeping. It is 

 something that can't be avoMed without detriment either 

 by the great or small bee-keeper. If you should conclude 

 to keep only one colony of bees you must, if you want 

 surplus honey, learn how to put on and take off supers. 

 This interesting and important lesson is now before you." 



'• All right. I'm ready I" exclaimed Mr. Bond, enthusi- 

 astically. '■ What shall I do first ? Smoke into the hive 

 to make them fill up ?" 



" No," I replied, '• the bees in this hive are nearly all 

 baby-bees and don't require heroic treatment. The first 

 thing is, to pry the frames loose from the super with this 

 chisel. If the bees then make a rush toward you, don't 

 dodge, but give them a little smoke. They are rather 

 timid, and easily subdued. 



" Then you lift the super off and set it down on top of 

 the cover there " — pointing to the cover I had just removed 

 from the hive — " but in setting it down please be careful 

 that none of the bees on the under side are crushed. That 

 can be avoided by setting the super down rather slowly, 

 and very carefully, thus giving the little things time to 

 get out of the way. 



"Be careful now, Mr. Bond 1" I cautioned, when he 

 bent down to lift the super. "Make sure that you get a 

 good hold at each end before you lift : because if your hold 

 slips you would quite likely have another fracas with my 

 bees, worse than the first." 



" I thought you said, just a minute ago, that baby-bees 

 wouldn't sting," remarked Mr. Bond, looking up, his eyes 

 twinkling mischievouslj'. 



" I beg your pardon, Mr. Bond ; but I did not say that, 

 exactly. Such an event as your dropping that super was 

 not then thought of. I think there are lots of bees in that 



super, and in the hive, too, that are old enough to sting if 

 you hurt them and smash their treasures. 



" Besides that, Mr. Bond. I wish to impress this upon 

 your mind to serve you in the future as a bee-keeper : Bees 

 rank very high in the insect world in the degree of intelli- 

 gence they possess. I have always been guided by that 

 idea — which to me is a fact — in any manner of handling 

 my bees. I believe that bees — young bees — can be spoiled 

 for life by ill-treatment ; about as babies are generally 

 spoiled by the wrong kind of treatment, beginning almost 

 as soon as they are born. Now, right here we have a good 

 illustration, which I shall use in order to fix the prin- 

 ciple of the matter upon your mind. 

 {To be continued.) 



\ Questions and Answers. \ 



CONDUCTE 



DR. O. O. MILLER. Afareng-o, 111. 



(The Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal oJBce, or to Dr. Miller 



direct, when he will answer them here. Please do not ask the 



Doctor to send answers by mail. — Editor.! 



Swarming-Time Troubles. 



What is the matter with me or my bees ? I have had 

 eleven swarms and have but two left. They all settled 

 once, except one, and were easy to hive. Some would 

 come out again the same day, and others the next day. 

 Some I put in the third time and then they went away. I 

 clipped the wings of one queen, and still they went away 

 and left her. 



My hives are of my own make — Langstroth size, made 

 of white pine with white poplar frames, and foundation 

 starters. I1.LIN01S. 



Answer. — I don't know what is the trouble, but can 

 make a pretty safe guess. The great probability is that 

 your bees would not stay in the hive because it was too hot 

 for 1^em. A cool, shady place for the swarm will help mat- 

 ters. Even in a dense shade it may be so close, with so 

 little chance for a breeze, that I have known combs to melt 

 down in a hive where the sun never shone. On a very hot 

 day, after a swarm is hived, it helps to cool them oflf to 

 sprinkle well the hive with water. Perhaps more than 

 anything else it is important to see that there is abundant 

 ventilation in the hive. Raise the hive on blocks half an 

 inch to an inch, and at least for a day or two leave the 

 cover partly open, so the air can pass readily through the 

 hive from bottom to top. If the hive must be out in the 

 sun, provide shade for it in some way. Boards laid across 

 the top, weighted down with a stone will do in place of a 

 regular shade-board. An armful of long grass laid on top, 

 held down by two or three sticks of firewood, will answer 

 a good purpose. Some give a frame of brood to a swarm. 

 They are not so likely to desert brood. 



I can hardly think the bees absconded without that 

 clipped queen, or some other queen. They may have gone 

 back to their old hive ; they may have gone into another 

 hive ; or they may have gone off with a young queen which 

 joined them. 



A Half-Dozen Questions. 



1. How do you separate the honey from the comb in 

 old combs, without an extractor ? 



2. What is a Van Deusen wax-tube ? What is it like, 

 and how used ? 



3. How do you fasten foundation in shallow extracting 

 frames, 5x18 inches with a groove in the middle of the top- 

 bar, and how do you use wax and rosin in fastening founda- 

 tion ? 



4. There was an article in the American Bee Journal of 

 June 6, by F. Greiner, on the management of out-apiaries, 

 where he furnishes them a new hive with six Langstroth 

 frames, with starters. (The supers, he says, should be put 

 over an excluder, which, however, may be taken off after a 

 week's time.) What is the super for? I suppose it has 

 been on the hive and he is putting it back. 



5. I have some Langstroth frames with thick top-bars, 



