774 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 15. 



largely, we understand, and are very successful 

 with them. Indeed, the most enlightened bee- 

 keepers in this country are coming to acknowl- 



FIG. 3. — THROWING THE BEES FROM THE SKEP 

 IN FRONT OF THE BAR- FRAME HIVE. 



edge that it is not so absolutely necessary toi 

 manipulate frames in the brood-nest as it was 

 formerly considered; for it is now known that 

 many of the operations, such as queening and 

 unqueening. dividing and uniting, etc. (all of 

 which was so ably explained by our friend C. J. 

 H. Gravenhorst, in his article some time ago), 

 can be performed, and very successfully too, 

 without the use of movable frames. Well, our 

 English cousins know just how to do this. 



A very common illustration is a straw skep 

 with an ordinary modern super put on top; and 

 those English bee-keepers, we doubt not, pro- 

 duce just as nice and beautiful comb honey as 

 their wealthier neighbor who has movable 



But, to return to the engraving where Mr. 

 Carr is driving the bees from one skep to an- 

 other. Whether he is transferring, or whether 

 he is dividing one colony and giving its surplus 

 strength to another, or whether he is giving 

 the surplus of the first colony to another empty 

 skep. matters not. But for various reasons, 

 English bee-keepers find it very convenient to 

 " drive " the bees from one skep to another. 

 This is accomplished by inverting the skep 

 from which it is desired to remove the bees, and 

 placing on top of it another skep, so that the 

 mouths cover each other. With a series of 

 blows, either with the palm of the hand or with 

 a stick, the apiarist can soon drive them from 

 the lower to the upper one. Mr. Carr is driving 

 the portion of the bees up, and possibly is now 

 watching for the passage of the queen. Indeed, 

 we understand that very often in this way 

 queens are caught. 



The next engraving. Fig. 3, shows our friend 

 in the act of transferring the bees from a straw 

 skep to a movable- frame English hive. This 

 scene is, perhaps, more common to bee-keepers 

 in this country, as essentially the same means 

 are employed for getting the bees out of box 

 hives, at least, on to a white sheet. This sheet 

 enables the bees to crawl into ihe new hive, 

 and gives the apiarist an opportunity to catch 

 the queen if he so desires, as she makes her 

 way along in the general procession toward the 

 new home. 



Fig. 4 shows a further stage of the same 

 operation, and Mr. Carr is evidently enjoying 

 the sightof seeing the little fellows tuiiible over 

 each other in their glee, all turning their heads 

 toward the new hive. 



Fig. 5 is interesting, in that it shows the 

 comparative size of the English frame and the 

 typical HiUglish hive. Their frame is more 

 nearly square than ours— the Langstroth. It 

 is about the same depth but shorter; and per- 

 haps, for their purpose, it is better adapted to 

 their requirements. It is also interesting to 

 note the prominent position of the Bingham 

 smoker — or, at least, we judge it to be one — one 

 of the old standbys in England. Indeed, as the 

 manufacturer has advertised, it is a standard in 

 every country. 



Fig. 6 shows a few of the styles of hives used 

 throughout Europe. There are no American 

 hives in the lot. that we can discover. The 

 oblong straw skep on the left, while having 

 the same outward appearance, and made of the 

 same material as the old straw skeps, has mov- 

 able frames — said frames being removed by 

 turning the hives upside down — an operation 

 that to us Americans might seem to be very 

 awkward and clumsy; but our friend Graven- 

 horst, editor of the German lUustrterte Bienerv- 



4.— THE BEES RUNNING INTO THE BAR- 

 FRAME HIVE. 



