16 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 1. 



my other colonies; and as the brood had all 

 hatched in those colonies where the queens 

 had been removed. I exchanged their empty 

 combs for combs filled with brood, from those 

 colonies that were preparing to swarm. I was 

 careful to take only such combs as contained 

 uncapped or very young capped brood, and in 

 its place I put in the empty combs taken from 

 the hives where the queen was removed, and to 

 these I gave the brood. The old (or hatching) 

 brood was left with the old queen, inasmuch as 

 the hatching of the brood gave her more room 

 in which to deposit eggs, and as this exchange 

 was made at the commencement of the honey- 

 flow (the old queen having plenty of room), 

 swarming was prevented— at least, they showed 

 no further disposition to swarm. Now. as 

 young queens very rarely swarm the first sea- 

 son, it is quite safe to rely upon their not, 

 swarming; at least, none of these twelve of- 

 fered to swarm." 



" Manum, do you like this plan better than to 

 remove all the queens, as you have heretofore 

 done?" 



" In one respect I do', Charles, because, when 

 I have gone through the operation, the work is 

 done for the season, while by removing all the 

 queens we have, first, to hunt out the queen, 

 then cut out all the queen-cells twice; then the 

 virgin must be introduced, queens reared for 

 the purpose, etc. I have practiced this plan on 

 a small scale three or four years; so far it has 

 worked well. Now. where bees are allowed to 

 swarm, the queens from half the colonies may 

 be removed, as in the ca<e of my twelve colo- 

 nies I have just told you about, except that 

 they are not allowed to rear queens. They are 

 kept queenless for the reception of any swarm 

 we may wish to hive with them, as those that 

 were permitted to retain their queens will, in 

 due time, swarm out when about two-thirds of 

 the swarm is hived in with one of those colo- 

 nies whose queen has been removed, and the 

 othei- third returned to where they came from 

 and there allowed to rear a queen;' or the hives 

 may be changed from one stand to the other 

 while the swarm is in the air. This method, 

 however, is not new, as it has been practiced 

 by others." 



"I should not like the last-mentioned plan, 

 on account of our large hives— they are too 

 heavy to handle. What is it you are burning 

 in your smoker, tliat smells so strong?" 



" It is particles of propolis sprinkled over the 

 fuel in the smoker-barrel. Mr. J. E. Crane 

 told me of this when he was here a few days 

 ago; and I tell you, Charles, it is worth know- 

 ing. I never tried Tany thing that would just 

 drive the bees out of the way as nicely as this 

 will. I think it would be a good plan"tomelt 

 up a lot of propolis and dip pieces of wood into 

 it, and keep them handy by, to be used when- 

 ever the bees are troublesome, for it will quiet 

 them in a moment." 



" Have you seen his new smoker ?" 



"No. I have not; but, judging from his de- 

 scription of it. I think he is ahead on smokers. 

 I hope it is all he claims it to be." 



Bristol, Vt., Dec, 1892. A. E. Manum. 



[We do not take much stock in Saturn's in- 

 fluence through the agency of electricity affect- 

 ing our honey seasons for good or ill; but we do 

 take some stock in Manum's latest method for 

 preventing increase. Whether it is new or not 

 matters little, and we hope bee-keepers will try 

 it another season. The Crane smoker is an ex- 

 cellent one — the best, in our opinion, ever con- 

 structed. Whether it can be made as cheaply 

 as other smokers, remains to be proven. We 

 think it can.] 



BIOGRAPHY OF LITTLE MISS LEAH ATCHLEY. 



A six-yp;ar-oi>d hee-keeper. 



ILThe subject of this sketch was born at Lam- 

 pasas, Texas, Dec. 10. 1886. The first thing she 

 learned to say was " Bees," and point to the hive 

 —this at the age of ten months. She has been 

 trained in the apiary from two years old up to 

 the present time, and this season she has been a 

 great help in the bee-yard. She can graft 

 queens, and rear them herself, after the Doo- 

 little plan, and has had eight out of ten cells 

 accepted, of her own dipping and grafting. 

 She weighs 31 lbs., and is keen, active, and 

 very quick to learn, and has managed her own 



MISS LEAH ATCHLEY. 



little apiary of six nucleus colonies this year; 

 and when her brother Willie would take a 

 queen from her hives without her knowledge 

 she soon found it out and raised a row about it. 

 Being asked by a visitor one day how she could 

 tell when Willie had taken one of her queens 

 she quickly replied, " I know by looking in my 

 hive and not finding her, and by my bees start- 

 ing queen-cells," and she never was satisfied, 

 either, till she was [)aid a nickel. 



When doubling-up time came this fall, Willie 

 had doubled her colonies before she knew it. 

 She soon found it out, however, and asked what 

 had become of her bees. Willie told her that 

 he had doubled them up for winter. She walk- 



