650 



GLEANLNGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 15. 



leave the hive by way of this hole. They carefully 

 note the place of their first exit, and return the 

 same way. If these bees are permitted to re-enter 

 their hive in the manner indicated, the worker 

 brood is not destroyed ; but if no after lioney-flow is 

 in immediate prospect, and tliis brood is of no 

 apparent benefit to tlie bee-lieeper, closing' this 

 hole with a little tin slide will soon end the open 

 brood. 



While the devices named are a great aid to the 

 harvesting and finishing of comb honey, by pre- 

 venting swarming, perhaps just when the combs 

 are nearly ready to be capped, there are in this no 

 rules without some exceptions. Usually when the 

 controllers are adjusted no attention need be given 

 them for a week; but if both colonies are quite 

 strong they may have made preparations for 

 swarming before the controller was adjusted; and 

 while it prevents swarming from tlie hive from 

 which the bees are excluded, as it were, it may 

 heighten the swarming fever in the other colon\ ; 

 and a swarm may issue from that colony before the 

 end of the expiration of the usual week's work. 

 This may take place but once in 50 colonies (we had 

 but one in 60); yet even then it may be avt)ided. 



Depopulating one colony for three days seems to 

 effectually remove their desire to swarm ; therefore 

 this colony, having been placed in a non-swarming 

 condition for about a week, at the end of three days 

 we change supers and bees over to the other hive, 

 and now have this colony under control for ii week, 

 and work goes on uninterruptedly for a week. At 

 the end of a week we remove full supers, set vinfin- 

 ished cases over to the other hive, add more supers, 

 swing the metal door over to the other entrance, 

 and work goes on another week. At the end of the 

 week we again remove full cases, change back to 

 the other hive, and so on once a week to the end of 

 the season. 



If, when first adjusting the controller, the colo- 

 nies are of unequal strength, the supers are first 

 placed on the weaker one, which may not be in con- 

 dition to swarm for a week. Under such condition 

 no change need be made until the end of a week. 



The value of these bee-controllers has demon- 

 strated itself to us very forcibly this season, at 

 least so far; for, contrary to the reports received 

 from our brethren east of us, we are receiving but 

 little honey in sections. Colonies working singly 

 are gathering just honey enough to place them in 

 good swarming condition, neglecting the sections, 

 while those colonies supplied with controllers are 

 the only ones working in sections. 



Red Oak, Iowa, July 18. E. Kisetchmer. 



Keep thee far from a false ni.atter; and the innocent and 

 righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked. — 

 EXODUS 23: 7. 



We have just made two "century runs." 

 The first day we covered lOG miles, and the sec- 

 ond day 110. A lady in the same party covered 

 the same distance. We expect to make that 

 "bike "visit quite a number of apiaries this 

 summer. Of course, we expect to go along 

 with it. 



Some complaint has been made about the 

 shiny paper that has been used on Gleanings, 

 because the light would reflect and make the 

 pages hard to read. The last carload is a heav- 

 ier paper, with a less glossy surface, and we 

 feel sure that the superior printing will be ap- 

 preciated by our subscribers. This number is 

 printed on it. 



The editor of the American Bee-keeper is 

 riding a bicycle. Good ! It will be in order 

 now for Bro. Hutchinson to get down off from 

 his three-wheeled tricycle, and mount one of 

 the luxurious pneumatic-tired safety bicycles. 



Bro. York, of the American Bee Journal, if we 

 may judge from the advertisements in his pa- 

 per, is also riding a safety. 



YE.STEKDAY we Sent out .54 queens bv mail 

 from our own and neighbor H.'s apiaries, to 

 Australia; and we expect that a very large per- 

 centage of them will get through alive and in 

 good order. We do not say this to boom our 

 own trade in queens, but to indicate to other 

 queen- breeders that the business of sending 

 queens half way around the world is now a de- 

 cided success; and not only have we been suc- 

 cessful, but other queen -breeders as well. 



It just now occurs to us that we are not hear- 

 ing from our lady contributors as much as 

 formerly. We do not wish them to feel back- 

 ward about "speaking in meeting." A very 

 seasonable as well as decidedly fruitful theme 

 upon which to write is the canning of all kinds 

 of fruit in honey— is it practicable, and, if so, 

 how? Incidentally, it would be in order to give 

 us a few good recipes for making various kinds 

 of honey-cakes. Mrs. A.xtell and Mrs. Harri- 

 son, some time ago. gave us some hints on this 

 subject. Perhaps they can tell us more about 

 it; and Miss Wilson too, we are sure, is in a po- 

 sition to give us some valuable hints also. Let 

 us hear from many of the ladies. 



Veky recently we have had sent us several 

 little consignments of broken comb, to be ren- 

 dered up by us. and the senders to be credited 

 with the amount of wax secured, less the ex- 

 pense of rendering. We never really thought 

 that this paid. Old combs necessarily takesev- 

 eral times the bulk required to take the actual 

 bulk of wax when melted into nice clean cakes. 

 It is far cheaper to render out your wax at 

 home, and send on the product to us, than to 

 send comb that is all dirt and cocoons, paying 

 extra freight for the extra bulk and dirt. Three 

 lots of broken comb were sent us recently, from 

 as many different parties. By mistake they 

 were all mixed together. Although the broken 

 comb made several bushels of " stuff," we se- 

 cured from the lot, after a great deal of labor 

 —a half a day's time— only 5 lbs. of wax. The 

 combs had been worm-eaten, were dirty, and 

 we almost hesitated to undertake the job at 

 all. Let us say right here. that, if you ex- 

 pect good wax out of your combs, do not, for any 

 consideration, let worms get into them. If you 

 are going to render them up at all, put them 

 into the solar wax-extractor at once. 



KIND WORDS FROM THE BEE-KEEPERS' ENTER- 

 PRISE. 



During years past, some exceedingly kind 

 and encouraging words have come from time 

 to time in regard to the department of our jour- 

 nal called the Home Papers; but among them 

 all I do not remember of any thing like the fol- 

 lowing, taken from the Bee-keepers' Enterprise : 



As to the world at large, I do not believe there is 

 a religious paper published that has done more 

 good than Gleanings' Home Papers. 



Now, friends, please do not imagine that I 

 am vain enough not to think the above only a 

 good-natured mistake. If it were true, I should 

 be sorry for the religious press of our land. 

 The main point I would direct attention to is 

 this: The above appears in another journal, 

 and in a bee-journal too. For many years it 

 was the custom for bee-journals to pitch into 

 each other, and especially to hold up the faults 

 of brother-editors; hence it makes the above 

 worthy of note. Does it not indeed foreshadow 

 the coming of the new heavens and the new 

 earth, when God's will shall be done on earth 



