392 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



A PH. 



see, every comb is full of brood or pollen, and 

 some honey; and, as you see, every cell from which 

 a bee has hatched is full of new honey and bits of 

 new comb built on the upper edges of the frames. 

 This indicates that more room is needed. You may 

 get a clamp of sections for this hive; also a sheet 

 of enameled cloth to cover it with." 



"One of your clamps, Mr. Manum, will not cover 



the brood-chamber; do you not want two clamps?" 



" No, I put on only one clamp at first; and after 



four or five days, if the honey continues to come 



in, you may put on another. " 



" Do you like such small clamps as well as whole 

 clamps that cover the whole hive? " 



" Yes, for several reasons. First, they are much 

 nicer to handle in the apiary and in the honey- 

 house. In the next place, if I used large clamps 

 holding 32 one-pound sections instead of clamps 

 that hold only 16 sections, they would be larger 

 than the bees ought to have at this time. It would 

 be giving too much room at first; and, again, at the 

 close of the honey season I find it very convenient 

 to taper off with these small clamps. There, I 

 place it on the further side of the hive from me; 

 now cover the clamp with the enameled cloth, 

 black side down, and lay the half honey - board 

 under the hive where it will be out of the way un- 

 til it is wanted after the honey season is over. 

 There is a swarm coming out! " 

 "WHere?" 



"From No. 60; get me the swarm-catcher and 

 I will show you how I do it. There, open the catch- 

 er-cage and hold it to the entrance and catch as 

 many bees as you can and close it; lay it down and 

 watch for the queen; as she is clipped sbe can't fly. 

 There she is. Now I take her and put her in this 

 little round pocket-cage that has a small wire hook 

 to it, and hang this cage outside the catcher. It 

 would be as well to put the queen right in the 

 catcher; but in doing so some of the bees would es- 

 cape; and, besides, by having the queen in this 

 small cage she can be handled better than in the 

 large catcher-cage. Now I see the swarm is cir- 

 cling over the north side of the yard. I take the 

 catcher and set it up directly under the swarm, 

 and leave them to themselves and go about putting 

 on boxes as before, at the same time keeping an 

 eye on the swarm. As I have explained to you 

 how to hive the bees, it is not necessary that I re- 

 peat it, for I see you hived those six swarms yes- 

 terday all right. The next time I come I will show 

 you about tiering up the clamps, preventing sec- 

 ond swarms, contracting, etc. 



" Now one word before I go. Be sure to keep a 

 close lookout for swarms, because it is much easier 

 to get the queen as she comes out of the hive than 

 to hunt for her if she gets in the grass; and, be- 

 sides, the sooner you get the catcher set up, the 

 more likely you will be to catch the swarm and 

 prevent their clustering in a tree or returning to 

 the hive. Hence when you see a swarm coming 

 out, hurry to it at once. Yes, run if you are a slow 

 walker." A. E. Manum. 



Bristol, Vermont. 



There is one thing I don't like about the 

 above. You let the boys all go trout-fishing, 

 and then you did not take even one line to 

 tell what luck you had, nor whether the 

 trout were good, etc. Now, when I get my 

 vacation to go up your way, I am going 

 trout-fishing, and I am going to tell the 



readers of Gleanings all about it. Proba- 

 bly a great many of them never saw a speck- 

 eled trout at all, and more of them never 

 tasted one. You folks away up in Vermont 

 need not think you are going to monopolize 

 all the good things.— Your plan of driving 

 out ants is unique. Why, just think of it ! 

 Tear off a piece of tarred paper, and toss it 

 into the hive. Mrs. S., down in the lunch- 

 room, just told me that the ants were get- 

 ting into the granulated sugar. I guess I'll 

 " holler " to her to throw in a piece of tarred 

 paper. The packers are using lots of it in 

 the adjoining room. There is another rea- 

 son for favoring clamps holdiug 16 sections 

 instead of 32. A good many people would 

 buy a clamp of 16 when they would not buy 

 32— that is, if you sell them in the clamp.— 

 By all means, run when swarms are out. If 

 you can not get up enthusiasm enough to 

 run in swarming time, you will never suc- 

 ceed as a bee-keeper. 



SETTING BEES OUT. 



SHALL WE PUT THEM ON THEIR OLD STANDS, 

 OR SET THEM OUT AS CONVENIENCE DIC- 

 TATES ? 



T CAN see that some of our best authorities differ 

 ||f on questions of vital importance to bee-keep- 

 W ers; and while this shows independence of 

 A thought, and perhaps, in some instances, a 

 variation of circumstances which we do not 

 take into consideration, yet there is one point 

 which, so far as I can now see, there is a variation 

 of opinion upon, which must be largely due to an 

 expression of opinion without careful observation. 

 The question is as to whether bees locate them- 

 selves afresh after being in winter quarters, or if, 

 after months of confinement, they simply fly out; 

 and if the hive has been on a new stand they re- 

 turn to the old location. I see no less an authority 

 than "Langstroth on the Honey-Bee," revised by 

 Dadant, considers it important to have them 

 placed upon their old stands. Now, I have been 

 taught to the contrary, and always preached to 

 the contrary, but I could not say who was correct. 

 Considering the question a somewhat important 

 one, especially if a part only of the bees would be 

 set out each day, I observed closely this spring. 

 The bees were not placed upon their old stands 

 when taken out, and they were set out partially 

 oneday and more later; half of them were moved 

 to an entirely new yard, three-fourths of a mile 

 away, and I can say with certainty that the bees 

 did not fly out and return to the old stands, in those 

 instances at least. Now, I claim there is enough 

 to attend to that requires all our time and energies; 

 therefore if there is nothing to be gained by ob- 

 serving and marking the place and hive of each 

 colony, let us not do it. I would substitute the 

 weighing of every colony at the close of the honey 

 season; again when going into winter quarters; 

 again when issuing from the winter repository, and 

 again after the colony has had a cleansing flight. 

 I believe an extensive test of this kind would give 

 us information of value, and would prevent the loss 

 of many colonies. My bees consumed an average 

 of about 6 lbs. per colony in the front row, proba- 

 bly 11 lbs. in the back row, and the lowest consump- 

 tion was 3 lbs.; the highest, I believe, 19 lbs., which 



