166 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



Apr. 



HANDLING BEES OFTEN, AND ITS EF- 

 FECT ON THE HONEY CROP. 



Wt?^ EAR NOVICE: —Among a great number of im- 

 FjyJI) portant questions discussed before the Austro- 

 — German Congress at Prague, Bohemia, some 

 were decided in a manner quite contrary to your 

 views. 



You advise the ABC scholars to open hives often, 

 and haul over the bees, to get them used to being 

 handled. Now, our German bee-keepers condemn 

 this idea right up and down. Herr Emil Hilbert, 

 who gave us the only known remedy for foul brood, 

 says on this point: "The less we disturb our bees, the 

 surerwe are of a honey crop. I consider itessential, 

 and belonging to the profitable and right way of 

 keeping bees, to keep them as quiet as possible." 



Does it not look reasonable, that a colony of bees 

 disturbed very often cannot do as well as one that is 

 kept quiet? Do we not experience the same thing 

 in every-day life? For instance: We are at work in 

 our shop, making up new hives for the coming sea- 

 son; a neighbor comes in and wants to put a helve 

 into his ax. After considerable talking about how to 

 hang pn ux, how best to fasten a helve, and after 

 giving our advice in regard to the matter, we are 

 crowded away from our workbench, and have to get 

 along the best way we can. Our attention is drawn 

 away from our work, and of course we cannot make 

 much headway in our proceedings. Well, after our 

 friendly neighbor gets through with his job, we have 

 to accept many thanks, and, finally, after he has left, 

 we have to clean away his chips and shavings, and 

 are then ready to go to our work again. 



Now, is not this the way with our bees, disturbed 

 so often by the anxious bee-keeper, who wants to 

 educate them by force and in a hurry? They are 

 pushed away from their places, smoke is blown into 

 their eyes, and it takes a long time before they re- 

 cover from this treatment and got things straighten- 

 ed. 



There is a good deal of truth in this remark of 

 Herr E. Hilbert: "A beginner is not satisfied if he 

 cannot haul over his bees every day." As we are 

 greatly indebted to him on account of the remedy 

 mentioned, we should pay some attention to the ad- 

 vice he gives us. Grei\er Bro's. 



Naples, Ontario Co., N. Y„ Feb. 15, 1880. 



I am afraid, friend G., that our friends 

 across the water do not have as convenient 

 hives and appliances as we do. I occasion- 

 ally go out around the neighborhood, to see 

 how our ABC boys get along, and when 

 they open hives it does not take them much 

 more than a minute, and I do not see that 

 the bees are disturbed or annoyed, especial- 

 ly if it is done in the working season. 

 Sometimes they tip up the combs so that the 

 freshly gathered pollen rattles out, but I 

 scold them for doing even that. Should 

 they smoke the poor little fellows unmerci- 

 fully, it would of course hinder work some, 

 but simply opening and closing the hives 

 does no harm. When we used to extract 

 the hives all through, brood combs and all, I 

 used sometimes to think it demoralized the 

 colony, and stopped work; but since we 

 empty only the combs in the upper story, I 

 can not see that even extracting need seri- 

 ously interrupt the labors of the hive. If I 

 am correct, the greater part of our readers 

 will agree that their most profitable stocks 

 are the ones that have been looked into oft- 



en, and have been made pets of, as it were. 

 A calf or colt, or even a strawberry plant, 

 that is watched and noticed often is almost 

 sure to be the most thriving one in the lot. 

 Is it not so with a hive of bees? The neigh- 

 bor that would come into your shop and pre- 

 sume to take your place and your tools 

 should be told kindly but firmly that you 

 could not well accommodate him in that 

 way. We have the same kind of people 

 here. I would say to the ABC class, that 

 they must not interrupt and bother the bees 

 when they open the hives ; use only a very 

 little smoke ; go to the hives only when they 

 are fully at work ; and you can easily satisfy 

 yourselves that there is no cessation of la- 

 bors, and no loss in the honey crop. I am 

 much obliged to Herr Hilbert, and you too, 

 friend G., for calling attention to the matter. 



The pile of letters waiting for a place in Glean- 

 ings is now greater than ever before. It would 

 seem that my mention of enlarging the journal in- 

 duced many of you to make your letters still longer. 

 It is much like speaking in meeting. To get the 

 most good, we want to hear from all, or at least 

 from the greatest number possible; but, if one 

 brother should occupy 10 minutes of the half-hour 

 how can this be possible? If you want your letters 

 published, write briefly, and to the point; and, if you 

 find your article is getting too long and you are not 

 done, stop without being done. Do you not see how it 

 is, my friends? and do you not agree with me? If you 

 do not write for publication, write as long a letter 

 as you please. I am always glad to road them. 

 — •»- .». i 



I suppose I have been "stealing," in a mild sort 

 of a way, and that the only thing to do is to restore 

 the stolen property, and stop doing so any more. 

 It is the ideas embodied in some of the cartoons. 

 The first oue given, last April, was suggested by an 

 engraving on an envelope, but the original had noth- 

 ing: to do with bees whatever. As our engraving 

 scarcely bore a resemblance to the picture, 1 did not 

 give any credit. The next, in the May No., the en- 

 graver and I made entirely " out of our own heads," 

 as we did also those in the June and July numbers. 

 The one in the Aug. No. (" Mr. Merry Banks' dr earn " ,), 

 which made a good deal of sport, was finished in the 

 lower part of it, and ready for the press, when some- 

 body sent me a copy of The American Punch, from 

 the front cover of which, I borrowed the idea of the 

 wagon and some of the figures. Where they had 

 '■'■punch," I substituted the word honey. As we get 

 must of our ideas from people and things, I did not 

 then think it incumbent on me to explain. "Im- 

 pending Bankruptcy" came also from "■Punch," but 

 was much nearer the original. "Climbing over a 

 fence instead of going in at the gate," was from an 

 item I found in an exchange, but with no engraving. 

 The spider plant was, of course, all our own. Mr. 

 Merry Banks' trials in making fdn. was suggested 

 by a picture in an almanac. The one in the Feb. 

 number came from Land and Home, and was so near 

 the original that a friend wrote the following: 



You would better credit Land and Hone, with that 

 cartoon, or somebody from Stelton will bo "afther 

 spaking about it." G. W. Thompson. 



Stelton, N. J., Feb. 6, 1880. 



The one in the present number, I tore from a scrap 

 of paper, and I do not know the author. The origi- 

 nal had nothing to do with bee culture. Now if you 

 will forgive me, I will try hereafter to give proper 

 credit, even though I am in a hurry, and crowded 

 for room. 



