1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



857 



pursued for ages as enemies are only harm- 

 less friends. Yes, more ; that they have 

 been laboring diligently for us for ages past. 



FUMIGATING HONEY. 



DR. MILLER TELLS WHEN AND HOW TO FUMIGATE 

 WITH BRIMSTONE. 



§0 much has been said lately about brimstoning 

 honey, and the plans in general are so trou- 

 blesome, I am now tempted to give my way, 

 although I have given it before. It is a very 

 simple matter. Just get some powdered sul- 

 phur, light a match and set fire to it, and that's all 

 there is of it. No dipping rags in sulphur, nor any 

 preparation whatever. Within two minutes after 

 the sulphur is brought from the store I can have it 

 slowly blazing away, needing no furthur attention 

 till the last atom is consumed. Although there is 

 scarcely any trouble about this, I take some pains 

 to avoid any danger from fire. Let me give you the 

 minutne of my last experience, which does not ma- 

 terially differ from that of se\ eral years. We were 

 getting our crop of honey r< ady for shipment; and 

 trusting somewhat to what I had read of the experi- 

 ence of others, I had said, " This honey has all been 

 taken off so promptly, is so white and nice, and 

 there is not one section in a thousand with a cell 

 of pollen, that I don't believe there is any need of 

 smoking it." But after scraping a good many sec- 

 tions we began to find here and there the tell-tale 

 bits of powder that showed the little worms were at 

 work there, even though we could nut see them 

 with the naked eye. So we concluded the remain- 

 der must be smoked before any more were packed 

 in cases. 



I said to my wife and Emma, " Now don't let me 

 ever again omit fumigating. Those who say there 

 is no need of it have different bees, or something 

 different from mine, and it is just possible that, if 

 they watched the matter closely enough, they 

 would find some of their sections are wormy before 

 they reach the table of the consumer." 



So I got a pound of powdered sulphur. The roll 

 brimstone is cheaper, but a great deal more trou- 

 blesome to burn. The sequel showed that a pound 

 was not enough for so large a room ; and, to tell the 

 truth, I don't know what is the right amount. If 

 too much is used, some of the sections are made 

 green; and even with too small an amount used, a 

 few sections were slightly greened. It must make 

 some difference as to the amount of honey in the 

 room. Suppose you have a room measuring ten 

 feet each way, and you find just the right amount 

 to sulphur a single section, will it not require a less 

 amount when you fill the room just as full as you 

 can with sections? When the room is about empty, 

 if it contains 1000 cubic feet of air it may be filled so 

 full of honey that it shall contain less than half the 

 air; and are you not to gauge the needed amount 

 of sulphurous vapor by the volume of air to be sat- 

 urated? If the honey is smoked within ten days or 

 two weeks after leaving the hives, much less sul- 

 phur will answer than a month later. After the 

 worms have attained full size it seems almost im- 

 possible to affect them with any amountof sulphur. 

 But, to return. I have an old kettle, worthless 

 for ordinary purposes, which is placed on a drip- 

 ping-pan turned upside down. The kettle has a 

 capacity of perhaps 16 quarts, and is filled a quar- 



ter to a third full of ashes. On these ashes stands 

 another kettle of much smaller dimensions. In 

 this latter I put the pound of sulphur. Making a 

 kind of little dish in the top of the pile, I stuck in it 

 a lighted match, and at once there was a little melt- 

 ed puddle on which a blue flame was playing. I 

 covered over the whole affair with a worn-out milk- 

 pan, both for greater security against fire, and so 

 that it would burn more slowly. It was placed 

 near a window, so that I could look in and see what 

 was going on. The sulphur was lighted at about 

 six in the evening. At 10 p. m. a line of blue could 

 be seen burning away under the edge of the milk- 

 pan. I then went lo sleep and did not look at it 

 again till 12, when it had burned out. Next morn- 

 ing, doors and windows were opened some time be- 

 fore the room was aired out fit to breathe in. 



ROBBER-CLOTHS. 



Friend Root says he didn't see any robber-cloths 

 when here. No, we didn't need any; and, indeed, 

 robbers troubled very little this year. Still, we did 

 need them later in the season, and they were then 

 used, but not very much. In the revised Lang- 

 stroth, Dadaut & Son include among "the utensils 

 needed for neat extracting on a large scale," " two 

 robber- cloths." Although I believe the robber- 

 cloth is my own invention, I am always glad when 

 it is not needed. C. C. Miller. 



Marengo, 111. 



Well, doctor, if I had found evidences of 

 worms in the sections, as you did, I should, 

 without question, resort to the sulphur 

 fumes ; but so many have of late said they 

 did nothing of the kind, and never saw 

 a moth worm anywhere about the whole 

 crop, that I had begun to think it was not 

 necessary ; and even now I do not believe I 

 should think of fumigating until I saw 

 some evidences of the moth worm. I would, 

 however, keep an eye on the crop for sever- 

 al weeks after it is taken from the hive. 



THE REESE CONE BEE-ESCAPE. 



AN IMPROVEMENT. 



AM, now using with great success and pleasure 

 my bee-escape made wholly of a flat board 

 and a single cone. The board is just the size 

 to cover the T super or surplus case, and may 

 have bee-space or half bee-space above or be- 

 low, or both, as needed, and the 2-inch hole is put 

 through the board at such a point that the cone will 

 fit down into the lower or unfinished case of sec- 

 tions. When you have taken one section out tem- 

 porarily, and this point will be determined by the 

 width of section used, this cone may be about 3 l / 2 

 inches long, and is easily made from a piece of 

 wire cloth 6 inches square, by turning a piece of 

 hard wood to about the shape desired, as a form, 

 and shape the cone over it The cone may be at- 

 tached to a piece of thin 

 board with a hole in it, in- 

 stead of the board direct, 

 so the cone may be easily 

 taken off, and all snugly 

 stored away for next sea- 

 son. Now, to" take off the 

 last case of sections at the close of the season, 

 just place an empty super over the brood-chamber; 

 lay the escape board on, with cone down, of 



HEESE'S SIMPLJ H'IKI) 

 BEE-ESCAPE. 



