308 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 15. 



hives, insert a chip, with hole near the center 

 of the spiral cage: put the point of a cell in 

 this hole; draw the upper coils apart a trifle, 

 and putasolid chip in the coil just above the 

 cell. If to be used as a nursery, and to confine 

 the queen when she hatches, fill a tin rim, de- 

 scribed above, with prepared candy; put this in 

 the bottom half of tlv cage, and insert a solid 

 chip under it. Years ago we put blocks of 

 sponge, saturated with honey, into these rings; 

 but they were uncertain, and the candy of mod- 

 ern times is a great improvement. 



To introduce queens, slip a perforated chip in 

 the bottom coil; roll up a ball of candy as large 

 as will drop into the cage, and, with a little rod, 

 crowd it back over the hole a trifle. The bees 

 gnaw this out and liberate the queen. Now, 

 friends, why is not this cage, used seventeen 

 years ago, as good as any recently invented and 

 put upon the market ? 



RECORD-MARKING OF NUCLEI. 



Various systems for recording the condition 

 of nuclei and colonies have been recommended, 

 but we never found any system so complete as 

 to number the hives. Years ago we painted 

 numbers on squares of tin, for all our hives. 

 Tacks held these on; but strong winds often 

 blew them off. We finally procured the small 

 eyes intended to fasten cords to picture- frames. 

 These are quickly screwed in, are certain in re- 

 sults, and are quickly transferred. We read 

 that ordinary lead-pencil marks on zinc become 

 indelible, and more distinct with age. This 

 plan is simple, and worthy of a trial. 



Our daily transient record is kept on thin 

 narrow boards, numbered consecutively. We 

 write on both sides, and abbreviate many words; 

 as, '• htd " for hatched; "No" for number; 

 "gvn" for given; "q" for queen; " br " for 

 brood; "cpt" for capped, etc. During showers, 

 and mornings and evenings, these records can 

 be examined, the future planned, and the pres- 

 ent work ascertained. 



We have also a good-sized well-bound book 

 in which we record the hive number, pedigree, 

 age, size, color, and characteristics of queens; 

 also the traits of the workers; also how the 

 queens were finally disposed of. It takes time, 

 and is trouble to keep these records; but they 

 afford us satisfaction and profit, for wi' cnn at 

 any time ascertain which are prolific, which 

 give a cross in breeding, and which bees are 

 most industrious and peaceable. 



As we always clip our queens'after they lay, 

 we are never at a loss to idcuUify them. When 

 two queens are in one hive we designate the 

 ones in right end as Ki, the other as K; a, the a 

 always pointing to the queen inthe left end, 

 when it follows the number used on a hive. 



A good -sized market-basket carries our par- 

 aphernalia. Across one end we fit a box which 

 becomes a part of the basket, and which reaches 

 down about half the depth of the basket. In 

 it a small apartment is set apart to hold the 

 chips used in queen-cages; another holds tools 

 for grafting queen-cells; another holds some 

 wire nails used to mark these grafted cells; an- 

 other holds a small wide-mouthed bottle for 

 honey, the rest being used to carrv spiral cages. 

 The rest of the basket is devoted to punk wood, 

 wings, record- boards, a can of bee-candy, and 

 the smoker. How profitable and handy to go 

 loaded! matches and knife we always carry in 

 our pockets. 



We nearly forgot to mention i an old case- 

 knife, ground narrow and thin, and made very 

 sharp on both edges. This we use to cut out 

 cells, and trim and insert the same. To keep 

 this siiarp, and avoid danger, a little wooden 

 case was made, into which the knife-handle 

 wedges. 



bee-candy; transposition-tools. 



By request, friend Root mailed us a pound of 

 prepared bee-candy. It came in a little can, 

 provided with a wide-mouthed cover that 

 screws on. The postage cost considerably more 

 than the candy, but the convenience of that 

 can far more than compensates the cost of post- 

 age. The many improvements almost persuade 

 us to again embark in the queen-rearing busi- 

 ness. 



The small wide-mouthed bottle for honey re- 

 ferred to, is kept ready to introduce laying 

 queens. To keep this cork from going too deep 

 and thus fitting too snugly, also to prevent its 

 rolling, we put two thin wire nails through it at 

 right angles, allowing them to project on all 

 ends about ^g-inch, cutting off the heads. 



After reading G. M. Doolittle's book on queen- 

 rearing, we decided to try our hand at trans- 

 ferring larva? into queen-cells. He recommends 

 goose-quill toothpicks, but these were too much 

 trouble for us, so we tried our hand at forging 

 them from thin steel wire nails; we succeeded 

 very well as follows: Close up the steel jaws of 

 a vise. With a round-faced hammer draw out 

 the point of a nail thin and flat. Use a file, if 

 necessary, to fashion the point to your idea; 

 then insert the flat point a trifle in the crevice 

 between the jaws of the vise, and turn over the 

 nail as far as you wish. We made some wider, 

 and some we bent more than others, so that, 

 when using, we choose the one that pleases us 

 most. Several of these can be made in fifteen 

 minutes. 



We have used a good deal of wired founda- 

 tion, also very thick sheets without wire. Last 

 season we had neither, so decided to try wiring 

 the frames horizontally. A board larger than 

 our frame had :?f;'-inch cleats nailed on it, so that 

 the frames just go over them, the top-bars 

 resting on the cleats. A hinged hook at top 

 keeps the frames from dropping off, and a pro- 

 jection at the bottom holds all secure. The 

 right sidg of our brood-frames comes even or 

 flush with the end of the wiring-board, and a 

 piece of tin is hinged to the latter, so that it 

 swings up against the side of the brood-frames. 

 In this tin, four holes are put to indicate where 

 they are to occur in the brood-frames. After 

 being marked, the tin is swung back and the 

 holes are finished. 



At first two of us put in the wires quite slow- 

 ly: later, the writer could, unaided, make con- 

 siderable headway. This method of wiring 

 proved quite satisfactory. In very hot weather 

 a few broke down; and when honey was scarce, 

 some colonies would eat some of them oft' at the 

 wires. 



Since we have used the square frames our 

 bees have been wintered out of doors about 

 half the time. Fortunately we seldom encoun- 

 tered a long period of very severe weather. At 

 such times the danger is that bees will use all 

 the stores near them, and finally starve. 



In preparing to winter out of doors we invert 

 the bottom-boards, so that the space under the 

 frames is nearly two inches. We never have 

 over seven or eight frames in each hive. These 

 are in the middle of the case, with followers at 

 each side, shingles to go loosely, set in to close 

 the spaces below the followers; then quilts, 

 carpets, or bran-sacks are tucked over and at 

 both sides. By the way, bran-sacks with a 

 hasty seam at one side, to get the necessary 

 width, stuffed moderately with clean chaff, 

 make fine cushions. Who else has used them ? 

 A water-tight close-fitting cap completes the 

 task. When two queens are to be wintered, 

 this outdoor plan is not advised, for, to some 

 extent, the cluster is divided. 



For some time we have contemplated con- 

 structing a bee-cellar right in our bee-yard, for 



