1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



559 



When John H. Larrabee left his apiary in 

 Vermont to serve the goverilment as an heroic 

 " apistical experimenter," his brother Walter 

 stepped into his shoes as a worthy successor at 

 the home apiary. After a year's service, John 

 left the government position for a higher walk 

 in life, and walked into matrimony. Walter, 

 like all observing bee-keepers, noting the felici- 

 tous condition of his brothpr, has also recently 

 walked into matrimony. Walter and his help- 

 meet, I believe, stick to the bees and the farm, 

 while John runs a bicycle-factory in Lansing, 

 Michigan. [Good for Walter! The force of 

 habit is strong. Beware, Bro. Rambler. — Ed.] 



When Mr. Alpaugh returned to Canada, from 

 his travels in the Golden State, he gave some of 

 his experiences in the Canadiaii Bee Journal; 

 and among other things he said he found a con- 

 dition in a certain California honey-house that 

 he would not divulge, for It would amuse some 

 Californians, and it might make some mad. 

 Well, I have waited for the secret to come out; 

 and, behold, Bro. Gemmel the tale unfolds be- 

 fore the whole Oxford Bee-keepers' Association, 

 to their evident amusement. Bro. Alpaugh 

 found a skunk in a can of honey — that's all. 

 Why, my Canadian friends, that is a common 

 occurrence. That particular apiary was in- 

 fested with foul brood, and the owner was mak- 

 ing a disinfecting compound to be used in the 

 early spring. " Mephitis mephitica " and hon- 

 ey I would recommend to Inspector McEvoy, or 

 any Canadians afflicted with foul-broody apia- 

 ries. It is easily prepared, as Mr. Alpaugh wit- 

 nessed. 



A petition is out for governmental interposi- 

 tion in behalf of Aj^is dorsata. Prof. Benton 

 says it cost not much less than ^1000 for his ab- 

 ortive effort to import the great bee. Of course, 

 Prof. B. does not wish to abort again on his own 

 capital; but it seems to me that, if Apis dorsa- 

 ta is worth any thing to bee-keepers, it is a 

 mighty poor national industry that can not 

 land the bee here on its own account. [Are we 

 sure Apis dorsata would be of any practical 

 value once introduced? I have the impression 

 from what I have read of them that they are 

 exceedingly hard to domesticate. If such is the 

 case, would it not be better to ask for appropri- 

 ation in much more needed directions? We 

 need, for instance, an apicultural station under 

 the national government, and Frank Benton 

 would be a good man to conduct it. — Ed. J 



" There comes a tenderfoot. Now we shall 

 have some fun," said a bee-keeper to his help- 

 er; but when the supposed tenderfoot emerged 

 from the foliage of a gum-tree near the apiary, 

 he was veiled ready for emergencies. " Not 

 much tenderfoot there," said the bee-keeper, 

 " and no fun." This leads me to remark: Why 

 do we laugh with delight to see a fellow-mortal 

 stung by our bees? and the more dignified the 

 unlucky man is, the more intense the laugh- 

 ter. I think the reason is found in the fact that 



dignity stands no show before the angry hum of 

 the bee. A reverend gentleman is supposed to 

 be very grave and dignified ; but let the sharp 

 persistent hum of half a dozen bees .sound close 

 to his ears, and dignity is instantly dethroned. 

 He swings his arms with greater energy than 

 when pounding the pulpit; ducks his head, and, 

 with hat toppling off. plunges into the neigh- 

 boring bushes, with coat-tails in the air. Per- 

 haps he comes out with an eye swelled shut; 

 but the only sympathy he gets is a laugh and a 

 shout— '-Got stung, hey?" A cool, collected 

 bee-keeper, then, should be the most dignified 

 man on earth. 



SHAKING BEES FROM OFF THE COMBS. 



Question. — I am bothered very much in get- 

 ting bees off their combs when I wish, for any 

 reason, to change combs with certain colonies, 

 and in extracting. We are told to shake them 

 off, but there must be a peculiar way to shake 

 them; for, shake as hard as I can, I get very 

 few off, and generally make them angry when 

 I try it. Will you please tell us in CrLEANiNGS 

 how you get bees off their combs when you 

 wish to ? 



Aiiswer. — In changing combs in the apiary I 

 always shake the bees off, or the majority of 

 them; and with hybrids and the blacks, every 

 bee can be shaken off, providing the combs are 

 built in the frames as they should be, so that 

 they fill the frames full and are in a straight 

 and even line with the frame, thus giving the 

 bees no little holes or open space along between 

 the bottom -bar to the frame and the comb, into 

 which they can crowd in such shape that they 

 can not be dislodged as long as they stay there. 

 After having the combs built out as above, and 

 desiring to take a comb away from the bees, I 

 place the projecting ends of the frame on the 

 ends of the two middle fingers of each hand; 

 and then with a quick upward stroke throw 

 the ends of fhe frame against the ball or thick 

 part of the hand at the base of the thumb. As 

 the frame strikes the hand, let the hands give a 

 sudden downward motion, which makes the 

 shock still greater. As the frame strikes the 

 fingers it is again thrown back against the 

 hand, and so on till all or nearly all of the bees 

 are off. The principle is, that the bee is on its 

 guard all the while to keep from falling off, 

 thus holding on tenaciously so as not to be 

 easily shaken off by any motion which tends to 

 throw it down. By a sudden stopping of the 

 upward and a quick downward motion, the 

 bees are thrown off their guard and dislodged 

 from the comb in an upward direction. I do 

 not remember of ever having broken a comb by 



