1SS0 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



157 



CARING FOR STRAY SWARMS. 



I caught 2 stray swarms of black bees that were 

 passing through our village, and Italianized them. 



MICE ; LOOK OUT FOR THEM. 



To this date all our colonies are doing well, except 

 3 which were nearly suffocated by the mice working 

 in the chaff packing so as to obstruct entrances. 

 They had eggs and larvae when liberated; one per- 

 ished, the others I think will survive. 



WOOD SEPARATORS. 



How generally, or to what extent, are wooden 

 separators used? Do they seem to be less objec- 

 tionable to the bees than tin? How thick should 

 they be made, if used? 



WOOD FOR CHAFF DIVISION BOARDS. 



Will the thin stuff, such as is used for picture 

 backing, answer for chaff division boards? Would 

 not the rough unplaned surface be an insuperable 

 objection? 



RAPE. 



This plant did nicely; wo had two crops on the 

 same ground, the last being self sown. It was not 

 molested by any insect, but the bees worked on it 

 from daylight until dark, and even while raining 

 sometimes. The frosts do not injure ir, so the bees 

 can work on it long after other bloom is gone. 



Mrs. D. C. Spexcer. 



Augusta, Wis., March 0, 1880. 



Thanks for your items of experience, my 

 friend. One of my first points in making 

 the chaff hive, was to arrange it so that no 

 mouse could ever, by any possibility, sain 

 an entrance. The size of the entrance cuts 

 them off, and if the bottom-boards ever get 

 decayed, they should be removed in time, 

 and new ones supplied. I believe wood for 

 separators has never been used very much. 

 The objections are the extra room they must 

 occupy unless they are so thin as to be very 

 liable to injury, and that the bees are much 

 more likely to attach their combs to wood 

 than to tin. The boards you mention for 

 chaff division boards do nicely, and there is 

 no objection to the rough surface, unless it 

 is that the bees might be more likely to at- 

 tach combs to them than if they were 

 smooth. I am very glad to know that rape 

 can be made to succeed, for I am sure, from 

 the few stalks we have raised, that it will be 

 a very valuable plant. 



$o#j/ f^fli'iipii!. 



AM only a boy of IT as yet, but think a great 

 deal of bees. I have k«"pt bees from 2 to 3 years, 

 and am Studying and practicing all the time. I 

 have transferred them from the old box hives into 

 Langstroth's, and if ever there is a job to be done in 

 the line of bees, I am sure to be there. 



Fredrick Holtke. 

 Carlstadt, Bergen Co., N. J., Jan. 89, 1880. 



That is rigid, my young friend. Be on 

 hand every time, when there is something to 

 be learned, and have both eyes wide open, 

 and it will not be long before they will begin 

 to send for you to do such Work, and who 

 knows but you may get to be known as the 

 "boss bee boy" of the neighborhood, with 

 all the bee work on your hands you can do, 

 before you are 21 years old. 



HOY'S KEEPING BEES. 



I thought I would try to tell something about 

 keeping bees in our state. I am a boy 10 years old, 

 and my brother is 20. We are in partnership, and 

 have if hives of bees, in good condition. 



The past winter has been very mild, so that bees 

 could By almost every week. Bees have been work- 

 ing on maple for sometime, and have been carrying 

 in pollen very freely. 



SELLING EXTRACTED HONEY. 



From all accounts in Gleanings, nearly all the 

 bee-keepers get more for their comb honey than 

 they do for their extracted; but we can get more for 

 our extracted. We sell it in yeast-powder bottles, 

 which we can buy for 4c. to fie. per doz. It does not 

 cost much to wash them, and we sell them full of 

 honey for 10 to 15e. a piece. The bottles hold about 

 lOoz. We get labels printed for them, with name 

 and address for $1.50 per thousand. This would 

 make the honey average about 2iic. per pound. We 

 sell them by the doz. for 90c. to $1.00. 



A 50C. EXTRACTOR. 



Harry Black, a neighboring bee-keeper, wanted a 

 honey extractor last summer, so we all set to think- 

 ing. He bought a syrup barrel for 50c, and we made 

 a comb basket for it (for we help each other all we 

 can); then we went up there one night, sawed the 

 barrel off at the right height, and put the comb 

 basket in. So his extractor only cost him 50c. How 

 is that for ABC scholars, Mr. Root? 



INTRODUCING QUEENS WITHOUT A C VGE. 



We introduce all of our queens without a cage. 

 We first drive some of the bees into a box, and find 

 the old queen; then daub a little honey on the new 

 one with a feather, and let her run into the box with 

 the bees; then smoke them' with a little tobacco 

 smoke, to give them the same scent (we have a 

 smoker made of wire cloth especially for tobacco), 

 and also smoke the bees in the hive a little with to- 

 btcco; then put the bees in the hive, and they are 

 all right. The tobacco will make the bees a little 

 giddy at first, but in a half hour they will be work- 

 ins' as if nothing had happened. 



We never lost but one queen in introducing this 

 way, and that was when the bees commenced rob- 

 bing, while we were introducing her. What do you 

 think of this way of introducing, Mr. Root? 



Charles D. Duvall. 



Spcncerville, Montg. Co., Intl., Mar. 8, 1880. 



"Well done, boys,— well done, indeed ! 

 Why, if you keep on that way. you will leave 

 us old fellows all in the shade, in a little 

 while. Your way of selling extracted hon- 

 ey is the thing exactly, and I have often 

 thought that if the old bottles that lie about 

 and disfigure the premises were all gathered 

 up and washed, they might do a deal of 

 good. If you had counted your time, boys, 

 I am inclined to think your home-made ex- 

 tractor would have cost a little more than 

 •50c. Your plan of introducing queens is es- 

 sentially the one friend Alley lias given. I 

 confess I am a little afraid of the tobacco, 

 for it so often happens that hoys of your age 

 get to smoking or chewing it when it lies 

 around handy. I believe the plan works 

 usually, but I think you will find cross hy- 

 brids that will pitch into the queen after 

 they "wake up," as viciously as if they had 

 never been choked and sickened with 

 tobacco. 



