808 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



blankets, or protectors, being made in two parts, 

 are quickly put on or removed, without being- oblig- 

 ed to draw the lines through them, as one part goes 

 over the lines and the other under. As Fred usual- 

 ly hauls all the honey, and as he leaves his yard to- 

 morrow for that purpose, I am going to take a pho- 

 tograph of him with a load of honey, just as he ar- 

 rives home with it, and send it to Mr. Root, as he 

 may suggest some improvement. 



"I will now get into the wagon, and you may 

 hand me the clamps of honey just as fast as you 

 can handle them; because, as soon as the bees 

 scent the honey they will l>- come altogether too 

 familiar, therefore I want to get loaded as soon as 

 possible, and lie off. You can see this wagon-box 

 was made expressly for this business. We can put 

 in 32 clamps on the bottom for one tier, and 5 tiers 

 will make 16U clamps, and 16 sections to the cla mp 

 gives us 25t>0 sections, making a little over a ton of 



how to take them off and get the bees out quickly, 

 1 have left them all on that were on at that time. 

 Why do you leave them on three or four days after 

 the bees have stopped getting honey?" 



" It is because there are always some sections 

 that are not finished up at the time basswood has 

 gone by; and as there is usually more or less un- 

 sealed honey in the brood-combs at that time, 1 

 leave the sections on a few days to give the bees 

 time to carry it up and complete the sections. But 

 in spite of all that, we shall have a lot of unfinished 

 sections again this year. There, now I have got 

 my smoker well to going, and we are ready to pro- 

 ceed. You say you have 117 colonies here that have 

 clamps on them. All have two, and some three 

 clamps; now, how long do you think it will take us 

 to remove the clamps and get the bees out, and car- 

 ry them into the honey-house?" 



" Well, I do not suppose we can do it all to-day." 



matsum's arrangement to prevent horses from being stung while hauling honey. 



honey. Fred had this box made to suit his own no- 

 tion, so that the clamps for shippiug-jrates just fit, 

 both lengthwise and crosswise, which makes it 

 very convenient for us. You may hand out two 

 clamps more, which will just finish my load. Now, 

 hand me that enamel-cloth covering to spraad over 

 the load to protect the sections from dust or rain, 

 or the honey from the hot sun. There, now all is 

 secure. You may now come out here; and as soon 

 as 1 get seated, with reins in hand, you may remove 

 the blankets and away I go. Good-by! 



" How do you do, Will? I thought I would come 

 today and assist you in removing all the clamps 

 from off the hives. I believe it is four days since I 

 was here and told you basswood had passed, is it 

 not?" 



" Yes, I think it is; and you were right, though I 

 could not believe it; but the scale-hive has not 

 gained a pound since that day; and as you told me 

 not to take off any of the clamps for four or five 

 days, and that you would come up and show me 



" It is now 9 o'clock. Well, I think we can get 

 every section in the honey-house by noon if we 

 have good luck in getting the bees out of them. 

 We will commence here at No. 1, and take them by 

 course. You may look on while I go through this 

 row, and then you can take a row yourself. There, 

 now, watch me closely. 1 raise the cap, pull off the 

 enamel cloth, smoke the bees a little to scare the 

 queen down out of the sections, should she chance 

 to be there; and while she may be doing so I go to 

 the next hive and do by that as I have by No. 1, and 

 so on through the row of 20 hives; and on my 

 return to No. 1 I let down the caps to protect 

 the uncovered sections from robber bees. I 

 now raise the clamps from No. 1, set them on the 

 ground edgewise, get the honey-board (brood-box 

 eover) from under the stand, cover the brood-box, 

 and take up the clamps and place them on the hon- 

 ey-board edgewise, and close the cap and go on to 

 the next hive, and so on through the apiary. You 

 again have the opportunity of enjoying the conven- 



