1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



297 



"Well, Mr. Jones, I suppose you are here for 

 business; so we will get our smokers and go for 

 the bees." 



" Yes, Manum, I want you to put me through 

 while I am here. I am not afraid of bees or 

 work." 



"Now, Jones, it is early in the season; and I 

 want to say to you now that a colony of bees 

 must not be kept long exposed to the cold air. 

 We simply need to open the hives, and quickly 

 look in to see if we can assist the bees in any 

 way. In the first place, we will go through the 

 yard, and open all the entrances to their full 

 size by pulling out the slides. It being a warm 

 spring day, and bees are flying nicely, this will 

 give them a chance to clean house; and when 

 we get through work, we will return the slides, 

 because they require but a small entrance 

 through April and the first half of May." 



" Won't there a great many bees get lost or 

 die on the snow?" 



" No doubt a few of the old bees will never 

 return to their hive; but that we can not help; 

 however, it is so warm to-day there will be but 

 few lost. If there were much wind, or if the 

 air were chilly, I would not open a hive. You 

 would, therefore, lose your journey this time. 



" We will open this hive, No. 1, and take tlaem 

 by course. First, raise the cap very carefully, 

 so as not to disturb the bees. Now remove the 

 cushion, and next the ventilator and honey- 

 board. 1 puff a little smoke to drive the bees 

 down. It seems too bad, they are so very quiet. 

 There— you can see now; they have a plenty of 

 sealed honey: another puff of smoke, and now 

 we see a small patch of capped brood. This 

 colony is all right. They have a laying queen, 

 plenty of honey, and are strong in bees. Now, 

 Jones, as you were timing me, how long did I 

 have this colony exposed?" 



" I am surprised when I tell you that the hive 

 was open only 41 seconds. Now, it would have 

 taken me at least five minutes to satisfy myself 

 of the condition of the colony; and if I learn no 

 more to-day, I shall feel well paid for this day." 



"Here we are to the 23d hive, and all have so 

 far been nearly alike as to condition; but here 

 we have a change. This colony is light, and 

 short of honey. I will cover the bees at once 

 with the cushion, and go to the honey-room for 

 a comb of honey. I break the cappings, that 

 the bees may get at the honey more readily. 

 Now I will place it near the cluster, so the 

 bees will have it near by, where they can keep 

 it warm. I must take out a comb here from 

 the cluster, to see if there are any eggs, as I see 

 no capped brood. Yes, there are eggs; they 

 are all right. Now I will cover them with 

 this old meal-bag, and over it put the honey- 

 board and cushion. This is to keep them as 

 warm as possible. If I can keep them along 

 until May, I can then assist them with brood 

 and young bees from a strong colony." 



" Why not give them brood now, and have the 

 benefit of it sooner ? " 



" Because they aie not strong enough to prop- 

 erly care for it; and, furthermore, it would be 

 bad policy to take brood from any colony this 

 early in the season.. It would damage a strong 

 colony more than it would help a light one. 

 In fact, it would be no great help to the light 

 one; better by far leave the brood in the strong 

 colony to hatch, and then give the light one a 

 few of the young hatched bees. You must re- 

 member that it is only the first week in April, 

 and we are liable to have several days of winter 

 weather yet. My experience teaches me that, 

 the less I do with the bees thus early, the better 

 for them. Here is No. 28, with a mouse-nest in 

 it, and two of the outside combs badly muti- 

 lated. Close the entrance at once: I will try to 

 kill the mice with this new ventilator. Here 

 is a new use for my ventilator. It is just 

 the thing to punch the mice with. There ! 

 there! and there! 1 guess, that is all there are 

 — three of them. Now 1 will remove the nest, 

 and put in two combs partly filled with honey, 

 as I see this colony has not an overabundance, 

 and they are quite strong in bees." 



" Oh, my ! this 29th colony is dead." 



" No, there are a few bees away down in that 

 corner. I will remove a comb and examine. 

 There is the queen — a nice one too. I will set 

 the comb back, cover the hive, and get a par- 

 tially filled section. I usually save out a few 

 for this purpose. There! this section, you see, 

 has wood sides, making a box of it. I'll now put 

 40 or .50 bees with the queen into this box, and 

 break up the colony entirely. I can in this way 

 keep the queen several days by keeping the box 

 in a warm room in the house. Now, when I 

 come to look over the remainder of my bees, 

 which I hope to do this week, I may find a 

 queenless colony. If I should, this queen will 

 come handy. Next week, the work will be a 

 little different. Be sure to choose a still, warm 

 day, or you may lose your journey. 



Bristol, Vt. 



[I take it from the foregoing that Mr. Manum 

 is going to give us a series of practical articles 

 especially designed for beginners, so that not 

 only Abe Jones, but a large number of Abe 

 Joneses, will have the beuetit of tutor Manum's 

 instruction. As Mr. Manum makes tiis bees 

 pay, I have no dou bt that many of the veterans 

 can glean here aiui there a fact worth much to 

 thein. Yes, Mr. M.,i hope you will give us a 

 lull report of your instructions to Abe, and give 

 him a hearty hand shake forme. — Ed.] 



SEPARATORS. 



A READABLE AND PKACTICAL ARTICLE FROM 

 A PRACTICAL BEE-KEEPER. 



By N. D. West. 



I notice on page 210, B. Taylor would have us 

 fall in line with him — make our sections narrow, 

 and cleat our separators, and all this and that. 



