218 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 



the edge of the paper and shake them up 

 toward the entrance ; they will soon go in. 

 A paper is better than a cloth, for they can- 

 not stick fast to it. If yon carefully flxed 

 things before commencing, so there was no 

 crack or crevice into which a bee could 

 crawl, except into the entrance of the new 

 hive, and if you have been careful — as you 

 always should be — to avoid setting your 

 (clumsy?) feet on a bee, you certainly have 

 not killed the queen, and she is in one hive 

 or the other. To be' sure she is in the new 

 hive, shake all before the entrance when 

 you are done, and see that every bee goes in- 

 to the hive. Save out the drone comb, and 

 fix it all in a frame or frames by itself. It 

 will do well for surplus honey, but we don't 

 want it in the brood chamber. Utensils 

 and bits of comb that have much honey 

 daubed on them may be put in the upper 

 story for the bees to clean up, but if the 

 weather is cool, keep the quilt down over 

 them closely for a day or two. We would 

 look them over carefully every day or two, 

 and as fast as they get the combs fastened, 

 remove the clasps or other fastenings and 

 bend the combs into place. 



Each operation is very simple and easy in 

 itself, if you go about it at the proper time 

 and in the right way. Bear in mind that 

 the bees, from first to last, are to be kept 

 constantly in subjection, by use of the 

 smoke, and that you must never let them 

 get the faintest idea that, by any possibility, 

 can they become master. Send them back 

 among the combs as often as they poke 

 their heads out, until they are perfectly sub- 

 dued, and hang in quiet clusters, like bees 

 at swarming time. 



It makes no difference which side up the 

 brood combs are, in transferring ; turn them 

 horizontally from their original position, or 

 completely upside down, as you find most 

 convenient. Store comb in which the cells 

 are built at an angle, would perhaps better 

 be as it stood originally ; but if you do not 

 get it so, it makes very little difference ; the 

 bees have a way of fixing all such matters 

 very quickly. 



WHEN TO TRANSFER. 



Several inquire it we would advise them 

 to transfer bees in the months of June, July, 

 Aug., etc. We really do not see how we can 

 answer such a question, not knowing the 

 persons. Among our neighbors, there are 

 those who would work so carefully that they 

 would be almost sure to succeed ; and again, 

 there are others who would be almost sure 

 to fail. We are inclined to think those who 



make these inquiries would be quite apt to 

 fail, for the careful ones would go to work 

 without asking any questions, and do it at 

 any season, if they were sufficiently anxious 

 to have it done. Bees can be transferred at 

 any month in the year. If in June or July, 

 you will need an extractor to throw out the 

 honey from the heaviest pieces, before fast- 

 ening them into frames. The spring has 

 been decided to be the best time, because 

 there are then less bees and less honey, as a 

 general thing, than at other times. The 

 bees will fix up the comb better, when honey 

 enough is being gathered to induce them to 

 build comb to some extent, and the period of 

 fruit blossoming seems to secure all of the 

 above advantages more fully than any other 

 season. 



APPLIANCES FOR FASTENING IN THE 

 COMB. 



We generally use and rather prefer trans- 

 ferring clasps. 



These are made of pieces of tin of various 

 sizes, from 2 to 5 in. in length, and from I to 

 I in. in width. They are bent twice, at right 

 angles, so as to leave just | of an inch be- 

 tween the two bends. As I have directed 

 all our frame stuff to be made of f inch lum- 

 ber, these clasps will just slip over either the 

 top, bottom, or sides, and catch on the comb 

 so as to hold it in place as shown in the cut 

 below. 



Thin slips of wood something like comb 

 guides, are sometimes used by tacking them 

 to the bars of the frame. Others wind fine 

 binding wire clear around the frames. Some 

 of the large bee-keepers of York State use a 

 long, sharp thorn, which is pushed through 

 an awl-hole made in the centre of the frame 

 stuff. This holds the frame very securely, 

 and the thorns may remain in, to give 

 strength to the comb. 



There is still another plan, by the use of 

 bent wires, which I shall call transferring 

 wires. The wires and the manner of put- 

 ting them on are shown in the cut below. 



TRANSFERRING CLASPS, WIRES, AND 



STICKS, AND THE MANNER OF 



USING: THEM. 



