1886 



GL^ANIKgs In iJEE OULTUHfe. 



.S5t 



to say a few words regarding each I will speak of 

 the cell plan first. 



CITTTINQ OUT AI.T. THE QIIEEN-CEM.S EXCEPT ONE. 



We are told if we open the hive at anj' time dur- 

 ing- the first five or six days after the swarm has 

 been cast, and cut off all the queen cells e.vcept 

 one, no after-swarms will be the result. If the bees 

 desire more queen-cells they have plenty of brood 

 yet sufficiently young from which to rear more 

 queens. In nine cases out of ten such cells are 

 formed, and the cell which was left is destroyed, or 

 the young queen killed as soon as she hatches. 

 This results in after-swarms fourteen to eighteen 

 days after the first one issued. 



Now for my improvement on this plan, which 1 

 have used without a failure for over ten years. It 

 is very simple. Just listen a moment in the eve- 

 ning, at the side of a hive which cast a fine swarm 

 eight days pievious, and if the swarm issued upon 

 the sealing of the first queen-cell (which as a rule 

 most swarmsdo; there are exceptions, we all know), 

 the young queen will be hatched, and her peeping 

 will tell you an after-swarm may be expected the 

 next day. Early the next morning open the hive 

 and proceed to shake the bees from every frame in 

 front of the entrance so they can run in, and so 

 you can easily see every queen-celi, so as not to 

 miss any. Now cut oH" every one, and you are sure 

 of the thing. No "hope so" or "guessing" about 

 it. 



" But," says a friend, " Bro. Heddon tells us, on 

 page 415 of Gleanings for June l.'ith, that 'if we 

 are going to produce cheap honey at a profit we 

 must manipulate hives more and frames less,' while 

 the plan you give Is one for the manipulation of 

 frames." 



"Have you tried Hro. Htililons plan, usgi\en on 

 page 41.5?" I ask. 



" No," says he; " have yon?" 



"Yes, I tried it ?((}(/ year, which was the poorest 

 honey season 1 ever knew, and it worked in every 

 instance, so I recommended it to Bro. Burns, of 

 Thorn Hill, and to Bro. Nesbit. Well, titix year fif- 

 teen out of every twenty so tried have cast after- 

 swarms, while Bro. Burns says every one of those 

 he tried has swarmed again, and Bro. N. has fared 

 little if any better. Hence the Heddon plan goes as 

 an entire failure in this locality, and I am blamed 

 for recommending it. If we are to go through all 

 the manipulation of hives, only to come to the man- 

 ipulation of frames at the end of the lifting and 

 lugging of hives, I beg to be allowed to manipulate 

 frames without going through with the former; 

 fOE the two operations can not help produce cheap 

 boney. But, stay a moment, friend, for I have 

 learned something from these experiments, which 

 may be of help to the bee-keeping fraternity. It is 

 t^his: Have a box or hive with the desired number of 

 frames (I use frames of comb) in it, and when a 

 prime swarm issues take the box to the hive from 

 which the swarm came, setting the frames out of 

 the box near the hive. Now open the hive and take 

 out the frames of brood, putting them in the box. 

 I|f the combs of brood seem to still be well covered 

 with bees, and the weather is warm, shake a part 

 of them off in front of the hive, before putting the 

 combs in the box. If few bees or cool weather, put 

 all in the box, setting the box in the shade, and a 

 rod or so from the hive, as soon as all the frames of 

 brood and the bees on them are in it. Now put the 

 frames brwught from the shop into the hive, and 



re-arrange it, by which time the swarm will return 

 if the queen has a clipped wing. If not, they are to 

 be put back in this hive. Next put the combs of 

 brood in a hive whei-e you wish a colony to stand, 

 and the next morning give a queen-cell, which will 

 hatch in 12 to 24 hours, or give a virgin queen, which 

 will be accepted if done at this time. In this way 

 I secure all the advantages Bro. H. does by his plan, 

 and make the prevention of after-swarms a perfect 

 success." G. M. Doolittle. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



SOME VALUABLE HINTS FROM OUR 

 GOOD ERIEND MRS. JENNIE GULP. 



fRIEND ROOT:— Gleanings for July 15th is re- 

 ceived and contents noted, and I find (as is 

 often the case) some articles which make me 

 feel just as sister Chaddock says your foot- 

 notes make her feel, and I have concluded to 

 let forbearance cease to be a virtue, and "ansner 

 back." I can truly sympathize with her concerning 

 foot-notes, and extracts published from private let- 

 ters, for it makes my head swim now when I think 

 of the "answering back " I am compelled to do on 

 account of them. 



Article II.— J n your " Apology to our Ohio Breth- 

 ren " you ignore the sisters, as though you did not 

 ow«> them an apology too. Perhaps you are not 

 aware that a sister nominated you for the presiden- 

 cy, and that the sisteis helped elect you without a 

 dissenting voice. We the "sisters" are perfectly 

 willing the " lords of creation " shall hold the lines; 

 but we feel it is our privilege to occasionally step 

 out and tell you the way you iiuoht to go. 



Alt. HI.— A little plain talk with sister Chaddock. 

 Allow me to say, sister C, before commencing, that 

 I have no wax-extractor to sell, neither am I em- 

 ployed to pufl" them or any othen labor-saving ma- 

 chine. Your article on how you made beeswax was 

 the cause of my losing nearly a whole night's sleep. 

 It was not the hard (unnecessary) work you had 

 done that worried me, as much as it was your deter- 

 mination not to be enlightened on the sub.ject, and 

 vow to burn, hereafter, all the fragments of corat> 

 and wax that come in your possession. The com- 

 immd in Holy Writ is, " Gather up the fragments 

 that nothing be lost," and this can be done most ef- 

 fectually in the bee-business. Washings of cap- 

 pings and honey-vessels will keep the family sup- 

 plied with delicious vinegar; the old broken bits of 

 couib-triramings, and scrapings of hives and honey- 

 boxes, with the use of one of A. I. Root's wax-ex- 

 tractors (I wouldn't be bothered with one of his Xt- 

 cent ones), will transform it into beautiful wax, 

 with scarcely any more attention than you would 

 give a Kettle of potatoes boiling for dinner, and no 

 muss either. I know what I say to be true, for I 

 have used one for four years, and could not be per- 

 suaded to do without one, if I owned only half a 

 dozen colonies of bees. The proceeds from my lit- 

 tle apiary, in the form of wax, have netted me in 

 the three years I have had charge of it, $30.1K). The 

 fragments are worth saving, dear sist»>r; but 1 

 must acknowledge to j'ou;the wax-extractor had to 

 be thrust upon me by a kind and loving husband, 

 who would not consent to my mussing with it iu 

 the oven, burning fingers, and occasionally spilling 

 wax ou the tloor.or carpet, and y t u know it is not like 



