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GLEANINGS IN BKH CULTURE. 



Apr 1 



I waut it, and keep it coming there easier than 

 with any other, as the least pressure on the 

 bellows keeps it coming. Bbnj. Passage. 

 Stark, Mich., Jan. 3. 



[Mr. Passage sent us one of his smokers to 

 try. The blast, I should say, is not continu- 

 ous, but a rapid series of little whiffs ; that is 

 to say, there are two blasts to every movement 

 of the fingers instead of one, as in the ordi- 

 nary style of smoker. But the blasts are so 

 much weaker that for myself I should prefer a 

 single blast, as the slow movement of a large 

 bellows furnishing a long-range stream of 

 smoke, is, to me, more satisfactory than the 

 intermittent short whiffs of a double bellows. 



Another objection is the weight of suck a 

 bellows. It strikes me that, some seven or 

 eight years ago, we illustrated something sim- 

 ilar to this, but just now I can not give the 

 place. — Ed ] 



CAGING QUEENS TO PREVENT SWARMING. 



Will you please give me a little light on 

 caging queens to prevent having a lot of con- 

 sumers only, instead of honey - gatherers ? 

 What are the greatest objections to the plan ? 

 Our honey here comes only from the bloom of 

 fruit and almond, and, of course, comes very 

 early, and doesn't last long. J. Umhoi^TZ. 



Los Gatos, Cal. 



[The practice of caging queens for the pur- 

 pose of preventing swarming is carried on 

 successfully by only a verv few bee-keepers, 

 comparatively; and even these few acknowl- 

 edge that it involves a great deal of work. 

 In the first place, there are many bee-keepers 

 who, after having tried it, believe that colo- 

 nies with caged queens, or colonies without 

 queens, do not work with the same energy 

 and vim as those that have been allowed to 

 swarm once. It seems to be pretty generally 

 agreed that the one swarm plan results in more 

 honey. But there are localities where it is not 

 desirable to have a lot of consumers after the 

 honey-flow is over ; and in such the caging or 

 removal of the queens has the advantage that 

 it cuts down the force of consumers when 

 there is nothing for them to do. 



The modus operandi is as follows : Just at 

 the approach of the honey-flow, and before 

 the bees begin to swarm, the queens of all the 

 colonies in the yard are caged. Any flat wire- 

 cloth cage may be used — something that can 

 be slipped down between the frames or on top 

 of the frames under the hive cover or quilt. 

 These cages may or may not be provisioned 

 with Gaod candy. Ordinarily I would recom- 

 mend supplying them with food. But the 

 bees will take care of the queens, feeding them 

 through the wire cloth, food or no food. I 

 have had queens which I had forgotten, caged 

 for three months over the brood-frames, and 

 yet the bees were taking care of them. So 

 much for caging. 



All cells, if any, at the time of caging must 

 be destroyed. In eight days more the cells 

 must be destroyed again, and again in eight 

 days. Not a cell must be missed ; and to 

 make a sure job, it is, perhaps, better to shake 



all the bees off the frames, and then destroy 

 the cells, as they can be easily seen. But this 

 destruction of cells every eight days involves 

 an enormous amount of work. While, of 

 course, it renders unnecessary the attendance 

 of an apiarist during the swarming season, 

 yet the owner of the bees must go down to 

 the yard and spend practically a whole day 

 in the apiary, looking over the combs and de- 

 stroying the cells. A week hence he must go 

 through the operation again. As this work 

 must necessarily be done during the height of 

 the honey- flow, it comes when the bee-keeper 

 can the least afford the time. Be that as it 

 may, he has, perhaps, saved the expense of a 

 man in the yard, and saved the expense of 

 rearing a lot of useless consumers when they 

 can be of no use to him after the honey-flow. 

 After the swarming season, queens may be re- 

 leased by simpl)' opening the cage. Of course, 

 five or ten per cent of them may be killed. 

 If the queens are valuable, I would recom- 

 mend introducing in the regular way. — Ed.] 



A TERRIBLE AEFAIR. 



H. T. Gifford was shot Feb. 16th by C. D. 

 Reed, a renter. There had been some dissat- 

 isfaction about the crops, but no heated words 

 for over three weeks. Reed used a shot-gun 

 loaded with No. 4 shot, and fired without 

 warning, at a distance of 50 feet. Mr. Gifford 

 was unarmed, and was pumping water for his 

 horse. He saw Reed when he aimed, and 

 threw his head and body behind the pump 

 and platform. This saved his life, but he is 

 badly wounded. He is 62 years old, and most 

 highly respected by the residents of Indian 

 Riv.er, as well as in his native State, Vermopt. 



Vero, Fla., Feb. 22. Mrs. F. C. Prange. 



PROSPECTS GOOD, BUT FEW BEES IN CALI- 

 FORNIA. 



Don't put the producers of honey on net- 

 tles over the prospects of a big honey crop in 

 California. The season may be good, but 

 where are the bees to store the honey ? The 

 empty hives echo, "where?" I would glad- 

 ly sell 150 good clean empties in the southern 

 part of the State at 10 cts. each — «ome never 

 used. H. I. Morse. 



Palo Alto, Cal., March 5. 



A LARGE average PER COLONY FROM A 

 BEE-KEEPER OVER 75 YEARS OLD. 



My father, J. H. Meloy, of Wyeville, Wis., 

 during the season of 1900 produced from 42 

 colonies 8960 lbs., an average of 213,'-( lbs. per 

 colony, and increased by natural swarming to 

 61 colonies. All had plenty of stores left for 

 winter, not extracting any from the brood- 

 chamber. Previous years we kept about 200 

 colonies ; but being in the 75th year of his 

 age he is not able to care for as many. 



He says this is the largest average yield he 

 remembers getting. It was gathered mostly 

 from goldenrod and buckwheat. Did anyone 

 ever do better? I have more bees, but my av- 

 erage was not as large. E. L. Meloy'. 



Tomah, Wis. 



