THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



211 



would one by cue tly liome. It didn't work 

 iu this case — and the plan seems to be no 

 good. In fact, all phins for dealing with 

 this difficulty seem to be no good. You use 

 brood enough to make a good nucleus, and 

 have only a poor nucleus to show for it. 

 Witli persistent fussing it was November be- 

 fore I had this colony with queen, eggs and 

 brood all their own — and the original bees 

 all extinct probably. And the colony peter- 

 ed out in March. 



"Au^UBt 14tli, Invention. Four little studs 

 of white wax, wamiod with the fingers, are a 

 capital fastening to hold a loose comb in a 

 section.'' 



You see I work sections in large wide 

 frames, and in taking out the filled ones, the 

 partly filled ones sometimes have the tender 

 coml) broken out ; hence arises the need of 

 a practical plan to put them in securely at 

 one operation. 



" August 16. Mysterious state of things at 14 — 5. 

 About three pints of sawdust piled in behind the 

 division board, a train of it half an inch deep 

 around the crevice between the two stories of 

 of tiie hive, and sawdust scattered thickly over 

 th(> cushion above, (an it be ants ? A few big 

 black ones were running around.'' 



No better solution than that the ants did it 

 was ever reached. The colony was unpros- 

 perous, and died the next spring, 



" August 17th. Warm day, partly overcast ; 

 rain at eve. Kun 1 Hi. 9 oz. Largest run of hon- 

 ey since basswood While working in the liouse 

 tent to day, just as 1 was closing a hive, the 

 queen came down from above and lit on the cov- 

 er. Query. Did the tent save her from being 

 lost ? Or did it induce her to fly in the first 

 place ? " 



Evidently the dictum that a fertile queen 

 never leaves the hive except in swarming is a 

 good ways from being the absolute final 

 truth. I still suspect, however, that when 

 the combs are being handled under a tent the 

 queen is somewhat more likely to fly than if 

 only the open sky were overhead. To di- 

 gress a little, the queen of an unprosperous 

 colony, which cannot give her room to lay, 

 often flies out to " seek her fortune " at other 

 times than when the combs are being hand- 

 led. 



The honey run, like the one commented on 

 last month, shows evidently the forecast in- 

 fluences of a coming rain. A still more 

 marked instance was August 24th, when a 

 shower in the afternoon of a very hot day 

 heralded itself by a run of 3 lbs. 2 ozs. Aug. 

 27th the conditions were similar, and the 

 run was 8 lt)S. 5 ozs. — but the neigobors got 

 the showers and we didn't get any. Same 

 thing again August Mist. This is one of the 

 perhapses that spoil the weather predicting 

 value of the hive scale. 



"August 18th. Things look brighter for a 

 honey crop. Many hees hung out all night at 

 2-9 I opened, and lo, tliey wore full ! The sec- 

 tions were brdgcil willi lioncy -'1'/^ lbs, or 2V4 

 1})S over weiglit. 1 smokeil most of the bees out 

 of the case, then carried it to the shanty, where 

 1 brushed them olf from time to time. When 

 nearly all were gone, who should run out and 

 and get a brush h\it the queen ! What was she 

 doing there ? Hunting for empty cells perhaps." 



A little amusing to " old salts " it is to see 

 a youngster " perform " with a full case of 

 honey and bees. My present usage in taking 

 honey before tlie close of the season is to re- 

 move the full sections from the frames at 

 once, and on the spot, and to shake off the 

 bees from one section at a time by giving it 

 a quick and somewhat twirling shake. But 

 for a large apiary, when the crop is large, 

 my way is not rapid enough. 



When a hive gets too full of honey queens 

 seem frequently to explore not merely the 

 sections but also crevices a long journey oft 

 from any of the combs. 



" August 27th. Saw bees picking proplis from 

 some frames. They pinched it off with their 

 mandibles, tlien, making rapid passes over it 

 with their feet, it was directly taken to the bas- 

 ket, and very loosely stuck upon the ragged 

 mass already there. This was done without tak- 

 ing wing. First trial of Detwiler's foundation 

 rakes." 



Bees when they have handiwork (or foot- 

 i-work) to do usually prefer to do it while 

 flying. They then have the free use of six 

 feet ; whereas when alight three if not four 

 of them must be used to .stand on, I regard 

 this as quite an interesting observation, in 

 that they were loading up their chunks of 

 plunder just as anybody would, instead of 

 proceeding iu characteristic bee style. To 

 break off a piece and then hover on the wing 

 until it was securely in place, and then to 

 light and break off another piece is the way 

 one would naturally expect them to work. 



Detwiler's foundation rake (or supporter) 

 is an invention entirely superseded and for- 

 gotten, but at the time I thought very highly 

 of it. Even now if I were compelled to use 

 brood foundation as freely as some do I 

 should go back to the rakes instead of using 

 wires. Contrariness perhaps. By the way 

 what would become of this world without 

 contrariness ? What if war secretary Stan- 

 ton had not been contrary ? And if Grant 

 had not been an awfully obstinate man the 

 war might have lasted a year longer, and 

 cost another 100,(K)0 lives. And were there 

 not some saints endowed with the grace of 

 contrariness (so-called) Satan would crowd 

 the institution which calls itself the church 

 into his pocket entirely out of sight — But 



