1893 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



439 



cells should be eight or nine days old. If econ- 

 omy is not so much of an object, purchase some 

 good untested queens of some reliable queen - 

 breeder. In August tliey are as low as they 

 will be — generally about 75 cts. each. 



Corbctt A Cooper, of N. C, inquire whether 

 we would recommend putting supers on new 

 swarms the first season; also, whether a starter 

 should be put in the bottom of the section as 

 well as at the top. Their hees are in old box 

 hives, because they do not believe they are 

 equal to the task of transferring. ^?is.— If you 

 are speaking of first swarms, or swarms that 

 are strong, we wonld say. put the supers on, 

 providing honey seems to be coming in. Start- 

 ers — that is, nari'ow ones — may with advantage 

 be fastened to the bottom of the sections as 

 well as at the top. Dr. Miller uses a wide 

 starter at the top, letting it hang down two- 

 thirds of the way. He also fastens a narrow 

 one at the bottom. In this way he finds that 

 the bees, in drawing out the comb, leave a good 

 attachment at both top and bottom — the upper 

 starter, as it were, growing into and uniting 

 with the lower one. As to the difficulty of 

 transferring, that is a small matter providing 

 you follow the Heddon short method as de- 

 scribed in the ABC book (which you have), 

 under the head of "Transferring." On page 

 390 of our last issue will be found another de- 

 scription of the same plan, perhaps better 

 adapted to your situation. 



J. i?., of 111., has a colony of bees in a tree in 

 thedooryard. Not desiring to cut the tree, he 

 would like to know how to get the bees out. 

 Ans. — This is a rather difficult job. If there is 

 any other hole to the cavity in the tree (in the 

 absence of one, one can be made with an auger). 

 a stream of smoke could be blown in, driving 

 all the bees, including the queen, out at the en- 

 trance. Before they can return, plug boih 

 holes up, and then hive the bees in a hive near 

 the tree — of course, keeping the old entrance in 

 the tree plugged up for two or three weeks, or 

 until the bees are entirely accustomed to their 

 new location. If it is impracticable to use 

 smoke, place a wire-cloth cone bee-escape over 

 the hole in the tree. Not a bee, as it comes out 

 of the tree, of course, can get back; and if the 

 escape be attached on a warm day, when the 

 bees are flying heavily, there will be quite a 

 little swarm cluster on the outside. These may 

 be hived as first directed; but as you will not 

 be 'likely to secure the queen, it will be better 

 to put them entirely in a new location a couple 

 of miles away with another queen. Leave 

 them there for two or three weeks, and then 

 put them where you like. Of course, the brood 

 and comb will have to remain. 



I. W. C, of OkUthoma, \\ ants to know how to 

 prevent swarming. This is a knotty question. 

 and ordinarily we would refer our questioner to 

 the subject in the text-books: but for the pres- 

 ent we might refer him to the Langdon non- 

 swarming system, as described on page 40(j of 

 our last issue. This promises much; but possi- 

 bly it may prove to be a failure when tried by 

 others. One of the old methods, and a good one, 

 has been to remove or cage all the queens, on 

 the eve of the swarming season and during that 

 time. Another method has been to cut out all 

 cells every eight or nine days; but as some 

 cells are liable to be missed, and as bees some- 

 times — yes, frequently — swarm anyhow, cells or 

 no cells, this method is not reliable. Our plan 

 has been to let the bees swarm, and catch them, 

 either by the I'ratt automatic hiver, or in the 

 good old-fashioned way, i. e., putting them in a 

 new hive, placing the same on top of the old 

 one. After the swarming season, we unite the 

 two colonies; but this resulted in not much 



more than keepint,' down increase. What we 

 desire to accomplish is. to keep down increase 

 and secure honey at the same time, and we 

 look forward with hope to the Langdon method. 

 T. T. T., of Ohio, sends us a photograph of 

 his honey-strainer. It is simply an empty ex- 

 tractor-can placed beneath the honey-gate of 

 an ordinary extractor, the top of the can binng 

 covered with an ordinary cloth stretched over 

 the rim. and dislied a very little in the cen- 

 ter. T. T. T. ofll'ers to make a contract with us 

 so we can manufacture them under royalty. 

 For the life of us, we do not know what there is 

 to patent about it. although T. T. T. says he 

 has applied for one. We have no doubt that 

 it will answer the jmrpose for straining honey, 

 but it is an altogether too expensive way of do- 

 ing it. A far simpler way is, to Tnake a cheese- 

 cloth bag and tie the mouth of it around the 

 honey-gate. Wheie one is doing considerable 

 extracting there should be several such bags, 

 and the same should be washed out occasion- 

 ally. These will strain the honey as perfectly 

 as T. T. T.'s elaborate honey-strainer on which 

 he proposes to secure a patent. Such a strainer 

 as T. T. T. proposes to patent has been in use, 

 not only by bee-keepers, but by housewives on 

 washing-days, when they have wanted to strain 

 water by pouring it through cheese-cloth, 

 stretched over the top of a tub. We can scarce- 

 ly beli(>ve that our friend is really serious. 



Ourselves and our neighbors. 



Children, obey your parents in tlie Lord; fortius 

 is rlglit. Honor ihy t'ailier and motlier, wliicli is tlie 

 first commandment with promise; that it may be 

 well with thee, and thou mayest live long- on the 

 earth. And, ye fatheis, provoke not your children 

 to wrath, but bring' them up in the nurture and ad- 

 monition of the Lord.— Eph. 6:1—4. 



Toward the close of the year 187.5— just about 

 eighteen years ago— I first started a department 

 in our journal, headed " Our Homes." My con- 

 version to ChristirUiity took place some months 

 before, and theie had been for some time a feel- 

 ing in my mind that prompted me to take up 

 some line of Christian work, even though it ap- 

 peared in a journal which at that time was sup- 

 posed to be devoted to bees and honey. Some 

 of our older readers will remember that the 

 journal was at that time enlarged to make place 

 for these Home Papers. I felt impressed that 

 God was calling me in a certain direction; and 

 although I did not then exactly understand 

 what it was he would have me do. I felt sure he 

 would guide me if I listened carefully and pray- 

 erfully to his guiding voic(\ Looking back 

 through the years, I feel just now more than 

 ever satisfied that it was God's call, and that I 

 was right in taking up the subject which I tlu'U 

 entitled "Our Homes," as my special field of 

 work. Other things occasionally pressed them- 

 selves upon me; and as our intercourse with our 

 fellow-men brings our homes so near the homes 

 of our neighbors, very often the>;e talks to you 

 have been under the head of ''Our Neighbors" 

 — sometimes both. 



Even now it impresses itself upon my mind 

 that the welfare and perpetuity of our Ameri- 

 can institutions depend more on the homes and 

 home inlUiences of our land than upon any oth- 

 er one thing. In picking out my text I found 

 nothing in the Bible tliat seemed to include just 

 the thought that I had in mind so well as the 

 verses given above. Taul first inakt^s an exhor- 

 tation to the children: and that the home n)ay 

 be secure and safe, he exhorts them to obey 

 their parents. Again, " Honor thy father and 



