844 



GLEANINGS IN BP:E CULTURE 



June 1 



empty one with screen cover in the place of 

 it. Shake the bees from the old hive out in 

 front of the entrance of the hive covered 

 with screen. Handle them as quietly as 

 IKJssible, for, the more quiet they are, the 

 less h(mey they will take with them into 

 the new hive. Lay a sheet of heavy paper 

 in front of the entrance to catch any honey 

 which may drip from the combs when shak- 

 ing the bees from the frames. (This can 

 then be burned after you are through with 

 it.) It is better to do the shaking in the 

 evening; but we have done the work during 

 the day by using one of the Root hive-tents. 

 After the bees are all in the new hive, close 

 the entrance and carry them into the cellar 

 or a dark room. I prefer the cellar, as it is 

 cooler, and they will consume the honey 

 which they have carried with them much 

 sooner. Leave them there at least thirty- 

 six hours; then take another hive with good 

 clean combs (I have used full sheets of foun- 

 dation by giving one frame of brood). Put 

 the new hive on the old stand from which 

 the bees were taken; bring the bees from the 

 cellar. i)referably in the evening, and shake 

 them in front of the hive with the combs. 

 The next day examine them to see if they 

 have a queen. If not, always have one 

 ready to give them; but nine times out of 

 ten they will have raised a queen before go- 

 ing into the cellar. 



It is surprising how they will go to work 

 after they are brought from the cellar and 

 put into the new hive, and how quickly 

 they will build up. We have had swarms 

 treated in this way during the latter jiart of 

 Ma>' horn which we have taken 50 lbs. of 

 extracted honey in the fall, and have never 

 yet found any traces of foul brood in colo- 

 nies so treated. I call this the starvation 

 plan, and will guarantee it to work every- 

 where and every time. 



In case the swarms to be treated are very 

 weak we take them to a strange yard after 

 removing the queens, and unite two or even 

 three of them by piling up the hives with 

 screens between them and cutting a small 

 entrance in the wooden frameof each screen. 

 After twenty-four hours the screens may be 

 removed, when the bees will all go together 

 without fighting. If there is any honey in 

 the old hive from which the bees were first 

 taken, extract it, then boil it thoroughly, 

 after which it can be mixed with sugar syr- 

 up, and fed to the bees when needed. I have 

 fed this honey in the fall for winter stores, 

 and have never found any trace of disease 

 in colonies .so fed. Melt the old combs and 

 have the wax made into comb foundation 

 to replace them. Take the covers and bot- 

 tom-boards off the old hives and nail a strip 

 of wood across the top to hold the frames 

 in; ))lace them in a tank of hot water and 

 boil them. Two minutes of hard boiling is 

 sufficient. After the hives are boiled, ])ut 

 in the covers and bottom-boards and boil 

 them, when all will again be ready for use. 

 AVe like this ])lan better than boiling the 

 frames and burning out the hives as given 

 in ScholFs method on page 77, Feb. 1, as in 



this way it can all be done at once, and the 

 hives are not charred and dirty inside as 

 when burnetl. After all is finished you are 

 at no expense except your time, as the extra 

 wax will more than pay for the making of 

 the foundation. 

 Union (enter, Wis. 



[The plan here described is practically the 

 same as that advocated by Moses Quinby in 

 the first volume of his book, in 1853. Mr. 

 D. A. .lones, of Canada, some thirty years 

 later, got out a booklet in which he describ- 

 ed what he called the "starvation plan." 

 He confined his bees, without brood or 

 combs, in a dark cool place until they had 

 consumed all the honey in their sacs, then 

 let them loose on foundation. But the ob- 

 jection to this starvation i)lan has been this; 

 It reduces the vitality of the bees. In order 

 to build comb bees ought to be well fed. In- 

 deed, they ought to be fat. To starve them 

 down gives them a bad setback. Experience 

 has shown that bees jiut on foundation will 

 generally use up all the honey in their sacs 

 in drawing the foundation out into comb, 

 especially if they are made to build comb 

 from foundation twice. 



But if foul-broody bees are to be let loose 

 on clean dry comb, they should be starved 

 as recommended by our correspondent, and 

 ought to be starved long enough to use up 

 every particle of the honey in their sacs. — 

 Kd.]' 



THE ALEXANDER PLAN OF BUILDING UP 

 WEAK COLONIES. 



Some Practical and Timely Manipulations; Alex- 

 ander's Ideas Sound. 



BY WM. L, COUPER. 



The discussion relative to the Alexander 

 method of curing foul brood should serve to 

 remind us how much bee-keeping lore we 

 owe to the late veteran of apiculture. 

 S])eaking personally, my entire system of 

 management has been changed by his writ- 

 ings, though I have frequently varied his 

 plans somewhat to suit my own methods. 



1. think the first Alexander plan that I 

 tried was his method of building up a weak 

 colony by i)lacing it on top of a very strong 

 one with an excluder V)etween. The first 

 year 1 tried this it jjroved a failure with me, 

 though I endeavored to follow his directions 

 exactly. Since then 1 have emi)loyed it 

 continually and most successfully, and I 

 fancy my first failure must have been due 

 to a Jfailure to realize v.hat .Mr. .A. meant by 

 ■*a very strong colony." I notice that a 

 good many bee-keepers tind it necessary to 

 place either i)aper or wire screen between the 

 colonies at first. I have never taken any 

 precautions of the kind, and have yet to .see 

 the first fight; but my Ijees are all Italians. 

 About an hour before sundown I rem(»ve 

 the cover of the strong colony, rejjlacing it 

 with an excluder. Two hours later I place 

 the weak colony on top, and the job is done. 



