878 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUUE. 



Dec. 15. 



sible. and y<'t siniplify its inanner of L'(jiistriic- 

 tioH with rcfiTPiu-c to nuicliincry. 



i:ODAK VIEWS OFF THE BICYCLE. 



AT MK. ELWOOJ)"s. 



Ill ilu" last issue I said that I iiad concluded 

 my Notes of Travel. Well, I liave not alto- 

 jjctlict yet. You will remember I took along 



ONE OF MK. ELWOOD'S OUT-APIAKIES. 



my^Kodak, and at various places in- my notes I 

 promised that I would, later, give reproductions 

 of some of the scenes and of some of the things 

 it was my pleasure to see. I took one hundred 

 pictures,"and carried the whole apparatus in a 

 small leathern case, 7x3,Wx4, under my bicycle 

 seat. In fact, the little camera and the case 

 were so small that it might easily be taken for 

 a rtool-box, and I was quite willing that that 

 impression should prevail, because I did not 

 wish my valuable collection to be stolen or 

 tampered with. The whole hundred pictiu-es 

 are now mounted, and are good ones, and I as- 

 sui'e you it is a i)leasure to haul them over and 

 show them to my fiiends. They form the best 

 kind of a permanent record of my visit at various 

 places. For instance, when I stopped at a place 

 I was not obliged to pull out my note-book and 

 take extensive memoi-anda of hives and appur- 

 tenances. No, I just took oiit the little Kodak 

 and let it "wink," as it were, at the object of 

 which I wished to r(^tain a pei-manent impres- 

 sion, and it did its work well, although I am 

 sorry to say that I can not reproduce in half- 

 tone the pictures as nice as they appear in the 

 photographs. 



You will remember I took a number of views 

 while at Mr. Elwood's. One in particular was 

 of a hive as he uses it. If you will look back 

 you will see that it was taken under somewhat 

 adverse circumstances. The bees were sting- 

 ing, and were making things rather lively for 

 Mr. Elwood and myself. The photograi)h 

 shows that the air was full of the luad little 

 rascals, although the half-tone reproduction 

 does not present them very distinctly. For tlie 

 present I pass this by, as it will appear along 

 with some forthcoming papers from Mr. El- 

 wood's pen. 



I have referred, a number of times, to the 

 hills about Mr. Elwood's apiaries. I present 

 you one view above. 



The hills in the rear do not appear to be very 



high: but the fact is. they I'ise one above an- 

 othei-. The tirst range rather hides those behind 

 it in the picture. 



Proximity to hills or mountains is doubt- 

 less a grand thing for the bees. In a good 

 many cases they form a magnificent protection 

 ii gainst the pi'evailing winds, and then they 

 Ijrolong perceptibly the honey-season. As the 

 hasswood opens up, the bees will gather from 

 the valleys. Then as the season advances, in- 

 stead of its stopping as it does with us in about 

 ten days, the flight of the bees gradually goes 

 upward, upward, upward, upwai'd, luitil they 

 reach the summit of the topmost liill. when 

 the hasswood season ends. Although I have 

 heard this stated many times before, this was 

 an exceedingly interesting point to me, as I 

 looked at the hills covered with basswoods. 



Around this particular yard there was a single 

 strand of barbed wire. Said I, " What is this 

 for?" 



'"To keep calves out," said Mr. El wood, jo- 

 cosely. 



On a former occasion some of these young 

 ruminants had been meandering around among 

 the hives, and liad tipped a few over. Very 

 likely they were suddenly put to flight by some 

 of the hybrids, and took the shortc^st cut out of 

 the yard: and if a hive hapiiened to be in their 

 way. it did not matter much to them, even if 

 tiiey tipped some of tliem over. As all his bees 

 were in closed-(md frames, no serious result fol- 

 lowed: for no calf can make the frames, if they 

 are the closed-end, shuck about. 



AT WESLEY DIBBLE'S. 



I told you, on page 748, Oct. 1.5, about Mr. 

 Dibble's automatic swarming-aiTangement. and 

 mentioned the fact of my having taken some 

 Kodak views. Well, here is one. 



WESLEY dibble's AUTOMATIC SWARMING- 

 DEVICE KEADY' FOB THE SWAKiL 



nMr. Dibble uses hives very similar to our 

 Dovetailed. When a hive is about to send forth 

 a swarm he places a twin hive beside it. about 

 seven or eight inches off. Connecting the two 

 very near the entrance is a tube about 1^4 or 1}4 

 inches in diameter, made of perforated zinc. 

 This tube, or coui'se, is let into holes in the out- 

 side of each hive, near the front of the hive, so 

 as to form communication with the two. The 

 entrances are closed with a strip of perforated 

 zinc. When a swarm issues it comes out and 

 fills the air in the regulation way. The queen 

 comes to the ])erforated zinc at the entrance: 

 and on finding egress denied her i)erambulates 

 back and forth until she discovers the before- 



