1893 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



307 



banded varuity. It would seem that these extra - 

 yellow bees may count hardiness among their 

 good qualities. 



All summer long there were piles of hives 

 and supers containing empty comb scattered 

 about the apiary, besides stacks of empty hives 

 into which they might have gone if they had 

 wished. Other swarms took advantage of these 

 opportunities; but these were either perfectly 

 satisfied to remain where they were, or they had 

 no idea of looking up a home for themselves. It 

 is in order for those who claim that bees send 

 out scouts to look up a home to go to before 

 swarming, to stand up and explain. 



I do not know whether the habit of selecting 

 the bare limb of a tree for a habitation, <i Id 

 Apis dorsata. ought to be encouraged or not: 

 but certainly the trait that would lead them to 

 hang" patiently on the limb until the apiarist 

 comes to hive them is a desirable one. I most 

 solemnly aver that I did not ring any bells, 

 pound any tin pans, flash any mirrors*, nor go 

 through any other time-honored performance tj 

 induce these bees to settle and wait till I should 

 be ready to hive them. 



The fall yield of honey in my locality was very 

 limited in quantity, so these bees were not very 

 abundantly supplied with stores. I am very 

 sorry now that I did not feed them enougli tb 

 last them until spring, and see if I could not win- 

 ter them. I thought I would give them only 

 enough to last them as long as they could reason- 

 ably be expected to live out in the open air with- 

 out protection, and then unite them with anoth- 

 er colony. I overestimated the amount of honey 

 they had on hand, though, and on the 17lh of 

 November, after a week of very cold and stormy 

 weather. I found them just dying of starvation. 

 I intended to save the combs, which would have 

 been a very interesting specimen, but they were 

 unfortunately broken in transportation to my 

 new home. I have the pieces yet, and may try 

 to patch them up. It would make a very inter- 

 esting part of a bee-keeper's exhibit. 



Ottawa, Ills., Feb. 25. J. A. Gkeen. 



[This is quite an interesting case — the more 

 so as we have the full and exact history. There 

 have been other recorded instances where bees 

 have taken up their abode in the open air, even 

 in the Northern and Middle States. We not 

 only believe that bees do nothing invariably, 

 but they are quite liable to perform some 

 strange and unaccountable freaks. We pre- 

 sume' it would be quite impossible to compel a 

 swarm to stay in the open air — that is. provid- 

 ing we allow the queen to have perfect liberty; 

 but they do so occasionally, without any com- 

 pelling. The photo was hardly clear enough 



for reproduction by th(> half-tone i)roc<'ss. and 

 so we made the next best thing— a zinc etching] 



RECOLLECTIONS AND EXPERIENCES ; BY AN 

 OLD BEE-JOURNAL EDITOR. 



QUEEN AXD CELL CAGES; BEE -CELLARS, HOW 

 TO make; WINTERING, ETC. 



During the summer of 1874 or 1875 we bought 

 of C. C. Van Deusen, Sprout Brook, N. Y., about 

 three dozen spiral queen-cages. These were 

 nearly or quite one inch in diameter, and made 

 of heavy wire. Two button - molds, one for 

 each end, and a mold with a hole burned 

 through its center, were provided for each cage. 

 These were slipped between the coils, the per- 

 forated one forming a rest for queen-cells. 

 These cages were too thick and too heavy, yet 

 we often used them. 



Finally we made a lot of cages from No. 18 

 gauge stiff wire (wire not annealed), as follows: 

 We procured a piece of common round iron, % 

 inch in diameter, and about 31 inches long. 

 Three inches of one end was bent at a right an- 

 gle; then 10 inches was also bent at a right an- 

 gle, 18 inches of the bar remaining. It now 

 looks something like this: 



The end at A was 

 thinned off a little, a 

 thread cut, and a nut 

 r-i fitted on. A small 

 "^U ^ hole was then bored 

 nearly through the shaft, one inch from the nut 

 A. The cost of this rig was less than 25 cents. 



A board IG inches long was nailed to each end 

 of it; a %-inch board, five inches long; a ^-in. 

 hole in each short piece near the top allows 

 the iron shaft to enter, after which the nut A is 

 screwed on. The machine was now complete. 

 It resembles this: 



Tills wooden frame is 

 fastened to a solid bench, 

 flush with its front edge. 

 Having provided a coil of 

 ■'^bright stift' wii'e (tinned 

 wire is best), one person 

 inserts the end of the wire 

 into the hole near A, and 

 holds firmly to the wire as it winds about the 

 shaft, while another turns the crank and holds 

 a sharp -cornered piece of iron, ^ inch thick, 

 between the last coil and the one about to 

 form. Thus proceed until the shaft is wound. 

 With a very little practice we soon learn to 

 wind the wire very evenly. With a sharp- 

 cornered file, proceed to cut' the coil into three- 

 inch lengths. Take off the nut, remove the 

 rod, and you get five cages at a wind. With a 

 pincers to hold the coil, bend about 1^4 inches 

 of one end at a right angle with the main coil. 

 This penetrates the comb when you desire to 

 hang a cage in a hive. 



Blocks of close-grained hard wood, like red- 

 birch, clieiry. or apple wood, are cut 1 Vg inches 

 long. :?^ inch thick, and as many inches wide as 

 the size of your block. With a thin circular 

 saw cut off chips ^ inch thick. These chips 

 are now 13-s inches long, % inch wide, and ^ 

 inch thick. Before sawing off, bore or burn f>^;- 

 inch holes in some blocks, so that, when sawed 

 off. th'se chips look like this: 



Soak these chips for some 

 time in linseed oil. Some 

 sti'ips of tin are cut i.. by 

 1,'',; inches. Bend the.se round 

 a half-inch rod, and solder 

 both ends together. Our 

 cages are now ready to use. 

 If we introduce queen-cells into queenless 



