446 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUUE. 



June 



disappear for a period of as long as six 

 weeks, possibly longer, and yet reappear. 

 We are reminded, also, that fonl brood is a 

 subtile enemy. He will hide himself away, 

 and then when you have just drawn a 

 breath of relief, thinking that you have con- 

 quered him, he will rise up with renewed 

 stiength, and let you know, if you never did 

 before, that he is almost one of the invincl- 

 bles. 



In last issue, we had decided to All orders 

 from the home apiary. We had not, how- 

 ever, sent out mcn'e than two or three be- 

 fore tl)e condition of the apiary was dis- 

 covered, so that the friends who" may have 

 purchased of us do not, I think, need to be 

 alarmed ; for, as we have repeatedly stated, 

 foul brood can not be communicated by 

 shipping bees and queens by the pound. 



As soon as we became aware that foul 

 brood had reappeared, we immediately de- 

 cided to reinforce the Swamp Apiary. On 

 the supposition that we had cured foul 

 brood in the home apiary, the former had 

 been abandoned. Word was immediately 

 sent to friends Rice and Shook, located some 

 twelve miles south of us, to bring us a cou- 

 ple more loads of bees, in order that we 

 might continue filling orders as heretofore, 

 but with bees which ive l-new to he entirely 

 free from any traces of the disease. In re- 

 sponse to the order sent, early yesterday 

 morning (May 24th) they arrived with the 

 bees. We then drove over to the Swamp 

 Apiary, and in the course of the day you 

 miglit have seen 57 colonies scattered here 

 and there among the blackberry-bushes and 

 young l)eech-trees. In the evening of the 

 same day, orders for bees and queens then 

 on our books were filled, witliout causing a 

 delay of more than one or two days. 



To me, the location of this new apiary is 

 rather pretty. There is quite a growth of 

 un<lerbrush,"long grasses, and weeds. The 

 wild and uncared - for appearance of the 

 place is peculiarly attractive ; and the shrub- 

 bery, together with small trees, will give the 

 bees sufflcieni landmarks by which they can 

 easily locate their own entrances. 



In this connection I wish to make men- 

 tion of the chief factor which I think spread 

 foul brt)od in the home apiary. In the lat- 

 ter place, the readers of the A B (' book, and 

 those who have seen the picture of the apia- 

 ry, will remember that the hives are ar- 

 ranged with geometrical accuracy. The 

 grapevine trellises and general surround- 

 ings of each hive are almost identical in ap- 

 pearance — so much so that the bees of the 

 several hives are very frequently confound- 

 ed as to their real entrance. On almost any 

 bright day in early spring, when the bees 

 are out, v/e find scoi^es and scores of them 

 buzzing around at the back side of some 

 hive, having mistaken it for their own hive. 

 This general symmetry in the arrangement 

 of hives causes the bees to become mixed, to 

 a very great extent. Now, tlien, if one col- 

 (my is diseased, almost all the neighboring 

 hives will ])e pretty sure to have the disease 

 sooner or later, because the young bees from 

 the diseased colony, not being able to dis- 

 tinctly locate theirown hive, will enter oth- 

 er hives, the entrances to which have almost 



the same appearance. In this way the in- 

 fection is carried. In the Swamp Apiary 

 we decided to abandon all rules of symme- 

 try — make the entrances and the general 

 surroundings of each liive peculiar to itself. 

 AVe did not do this because we feared foul 

 brood in the Swamp Apiary, but because 

 voung queens, if the entrances of different 

 hives are alike, are quite apt to get into the 

 wrong hive and so be killed. I am well 

 aware, that an apiary which has a symmet- 

 rical appearance lookfi nicer, and has a more 

 pleasing look to the eye, but I have felt con- 

 fident for some time that we ought to have 

 suttieient distinguishing features about each 

 hive and its location, so that the bi es will 

 not be continually getting into "the wrong 

 hive, and so waste valuable time, in the 

 height of the honey-fiow, in trying to deter- 

 mine where they belong. 



THE BINGHAM SMOKER. 



Some three or four months ago, at my re- 

 quest Mr. T. F. Bingham sent me one oif his 

 " Doctor" smokers. At first I did not like 

 it. I followed the directions which accom- 

 panied the smoker — that is, to use sound 

 hard wood for fuel. For some reason or 

 other I could irot make it work. That kind 

 of fuel was hard to light ; and when I suc- 

 ceeded it had a fashion of going out. I next 

 tried sawdust fuel. The latter material was 

 so combustible that the Bingham sent a 

 tongue of flame out of the nozzle for a dis- 

 tance of three or four inches, along with a 

 goodly number of sparks. Some of tlie 

 sparks lodged in my clothing, and a few in 

 my face until I actually became afraid of the 

 thing. After several unsuccessful attempts 

 1 laid the smoker on a shelf in the house api- 

 ary, and it remained there for a couple of 

 months. One day I concluded I would give 

 the thing a most thorough trial. I knew 

 that good bee-keepers had used it and liked 

 it, and so instead of using liard wood I de- 

 termined to try Dr. Millers plan; i. e., fill 

 the fire-box with planer shavings, and stuff- 

 ing the nozzle with green grass. As the 

 Bingham seemed inclined to send out a vol- 

 ley of sparks when shavings or other light 

 fuel was used, I thouglit that the idea of 

 stuffing the nozzle with green grass seemed 

 reasonable. I accordingly grabbed up a 

 handful of Excelsior, mixed with fine saw- 

 dust, lighted it, and sh(n^ed it down the itar- 

 rel. I then crammed in more Excelsior, 

 packing it down tightly. Into the nozzle of 

 the smoker I crammed a handful of green 

 grass, and adjusted it on to the barrel. The 

 results were highly satisfactory. I used the 

 smoker from three o'clock until seven in the 

 evening while I watched for foul brood. I 

 had a good volume of smoke, but not a sin- 

 gle spark. I have since used it. and will 

 now say. even at the risk of hurting our 

 trade in'theClark smoker, that the Bingham 

 is a first-class implement. The valve works 

 quickly, and a slight compression of the bel- 

 lows will send a very genlle whiff' of smoke. 

 It is always the same, as theie is nothing in 

 its construction to become clogged up with 

 soot. But without the green grass in the 

 nozzle, I cei'tainly could not tolerate the 

 sparks. The grass not only arrests sparks, 

 but prevents too great a draft for the shav? 



