16 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 



two young i)eople start out in the world to 

 make a success of life they can get along a 

 good deal cramped up for "a little while, and 

 they will also manage to get a good deal of 

 stuif into one small wagon. "Well, well ; if 

 they are agreed, we are. 



Let us now look into the back yard. Al- 

 though our bee-man is a hard-working fel- 

 low, he has had time to make friends with 

 not only the grocery - keeper, blacksmith, 

 harness-maker, and the rest of the mechanics 

 of his town, but he is also on good terms 

 with the doctor and lawyer. In fact, these 

 two worthies have been long his best custom- 

 ers, and done much to introduce his honey. 

 The minister has been among his customers 

 too, even if he didn't pay for the honey iu 

 dollars and cents. Well." the people around 

 town are so proud, the most of them, of the 

 establishment in their midst, that when a 

 distant friend comes to see them, they must 

 take him over to see what is being done with 

 bees. And that is the doctor now explain- 

 ing to that chap with the cane, how this 

 man is lu'ospering and building up an honest 

 business, while the neighbors around them 

 tell stories at the grocery, and smoke their 

 pipes. This doctor does not use tobacco. 

 In fact. I have been told there are a good 

 many of the doctors who are following in the 

 wake of the young ministers, in setting a 

 (jood rxanqj^c in the neighborhood thev seek 

 to lead. 



Now, if this story is an interesting one to 

 you, and you want to hear more of it, just 

 go and visit the man who makes bee-hives, 

 somewhere in your vicinity. While 1 think 

 of it, suppose you just carry this Journal 

 along and showhim these pictures. 



DEMOEALIZED SWARMS. 



ANOTHER PLAN TO MAKE THEM STAY. 



T SEE In Gleanings, Nov. 15, Dr. P. G. Alldredffe 

 ||[ recommends caging bees that will not staj' in 

 ^l the hive, and you seem to think his plan is a 

 '*■ good one, and so it is, no doubt; and as I am 

 not much of a bee-keeper T shall not pretend to 

 say that it is not; but if you will jiermit me, I will 

 tell you how I managed such a swarm for a neigh- 

 bor, the past season, They were a swarm of blacks 

 that had been brought from the woods, and trans- 

 ferred from a tree into a movable-frame hive. 

 They did not like their new home, for some reason, 

 and would not stay in the hive. They swarmed out, 

 and were returned to the hive a number of times, 

 and at last refused to enter the hive at all, but 

 would run out and cluster on the outside. At last I 

 was called to help conquer them, and this is the way 

 T did it: 1 first sprinkled the cluster with sweetened 

 watei-; then I spread them out on a large cloth, 

 hunted the queen, and caged her in a wire-cloth 

 cage. 1 npw suspended the cage with the queen 

 from the top-bars of the frames in the hive. Hav- 

 ing done this 1 placed the cluster to the entrance, 

 when they went in with a rush. In 24 hours I went 

 back to see Ikjw they were doing, and found the 

 workers busy at woi l{. I now liberated the queen, 

 and had no more trouble with them. 



.Now, I i>refer tliis pl;ui for several reasons. 

 1. Hi'cansc it saves feeding; li. Uecause it saves 

 time to the bees; the workers being at lil)erty, they 

 will not only make their own living, l>ut a good 

 swarm can. in a week's time, have their hive half 

 full of comb and honey, which they could not do if 

 they were confined to the hive as the doctor recom- 

 "lends. .1. K. Citli'E. 



I.agrango Center, Ind., Dec. 1, 1884. 



MICHIGAN STATE CONVENTION. 



A REPORT FROM W. Z. HUTCHINSON. 



fRIEND ROOT: -As you prefer that convention 

 reports should t>e simply a summing up, I will 

 send you such a report of the convention at 

 Lansing. Any points that are brought out 

 sufficiently iu your editorial upon the sub- 

 ject you can, of course, drop from this report. 



REVERSIBLE FRAMES. 



The idea of reversing frames seems to be gaining 

 ground. Reversal secures the attachment of combs 

 to the bottom-bars, and, if done at the proper time, 

 the removal of the honey from the brood-nest to the 

 sections, where it can be sold for twice what it will 

 cost to buy sugar to put in its place. Sugar is a 

 safer winter food than honey. Reversal secures a 

 large amount of brood in a small hive. No device 

 for reversing, yet given to the public, is free from 

 objections. 



ONE ENTRANCE, 



And that at the bottom of the hive, is sufficient, 

 even when hives are two or more stories high. 



STARTING 1JEE% IN THE SECTION.S. 



If a colony is disinclined to begin work in sections 

 it can usually be started by giving it two or three 

 sections, with the adhering bees, from some colony 

 that has commenced work. 



DISPENSING WITH SEP.\R.\TOHS. 



To dispense with separators, use sections not 

 more than VU inches wide, till them full of fdn.. and 

 don't give too much room in the surplus apartment. 

 The only apparent advantage in sections Zm.« than l?^ 

 inches wide is, that the honey is ripened and sealed 

 sooner. One-pound sections appear to be the most 

 profitable size to use at present. 



THE HEDDON CASE 



For holding sections on the hive received a regular 

 "boom;" all who had tried them were enthusiastic 

 in their praise. Thej' can be used without a honey- 

 board; but one is needed to keep the bees from 

 building brace-combs between the sections and the 

 brood-nest. 



QDEEN-EXCLUDING HONEY-BOAKD.s; 



Are a convenience, and save much annoyance; but 

 they can be dispensed with. If it is desirable to 

 "squeeze" the honey from the brood-nest into the 

 sections, or to hive bees upon empty frames or fdn., 

 and give sections at once, then they are needed. 



SECRETION OF WAX. 



Prof. Cook is positive that bees do not secrete 

 wax unless they have use for it. He had, however, 

 conducted no experiments exactly similar to those 

 made by myself, but thought the increased amount 

 of surplus apparently secured by not using fdn. in 

 the brood-nest might have been the result of the 

 honey being stored in the sections instead of 

 part of it being put into the brood-nest. I shall 

 try more conclusive experiments another season. 



GETTING BEES OfT OF BOXES OR CASES. 



Drive down as many as possible with smoke; if 

 strong enough, shake out nearly all of the rest, and 

 then carry the cases into a honey-house or tent, 

 from which, the few straggling bees can escape 

 through an opening over the window, or in the top 

 of the tent. Another plan is to set the case down 

 on end in front of the hive, and, with smoke and a 

 bunch of Juno grass, drive out what bees remain. 

 The "calling ' of the bees at the entrance of the 

 hive entices the bees from the ease. 



