460 



GLEANINGS IK liEE OULTUUE. 



JuNe 



if you do not keep a shiirp lookout you may not see 

 these first blossoms. It is a decided iidvantago to 

 replace one of the central sections in the first su- 

 per with a section partly lilled that has been kept 

 over fi'om the previous season. You will find such 

 a section occupied very promptly; and althoug-h the 

 bees may empty all the honey out of it, they will 

 still remain, at least a few of them, on it; and as 

 goon as they have a surplus to dispose of they will 

 commence relilllng- this section. It is possible that 

 an empty section from which the honey has been 

 emptied the previous fall may do nearlj' or quite 

 as well, but 1 have never tried it. 



When the first sui)er is well filled with bees, and 

 the work well started, the sections perhaps half 

 filled, a second super should be added. Peihaps 

 thul does not give exactly the right idea. On one 

 hive the super may be almost filled with honey, and 

 the colony not yet ready for a second super, while 

 another colony may be ready for a second super 

 before its first super is more than a quarter filled. 

 If a colony is very strong', and seems to have more 

 than enoug-h bees to occupy one super, if the hon- 

 ey-How is good and likely to continue, it may be 

 well to add a second sui)er in a short time after the 

 first, oven if little has been stored in the first. This 

 second super is to bo placed under the first, which 

 is raised for this purpose, and the bees will imme- 

 diately occupy it. Indeed, I have added supers 

 thus in rapid succession, always putting the empty 

 one next the brood-nest, until the bees were work- 

 ing in six supers at once, and, as a result, I had six 

 supers mostly filled with unfinished sections. The 

 strongest colonics will not often need more than 

 three supers at a time; for before the fourth is 

 needed, the first is ready to be taken off. Don't 

 wait for every section in the super to be finished 

 before taking off; for if you wait for the outside 

 ones to be finished, the central ones will become 

 dark. When all but six or eight of the outside 

 ones are sealed over, take off the super and i-eturn 

 the unfinished ones, to be finished in another super. 

 Whilst at the beginning of the harvest, the etfort 

 should be to urge the bees to occupy a large num- 

 ber of sections as quickly as possible; when the 

 harvest begins to wane, the opposite course should 

 be pursued. Here is a colony, for instance, that 

 has about filled all its sections, but they are not 

 capped over. If these are raised up, and a super of 

 empty sections put under, the bees will commence 

 work on the empty ones, and the honey-flow may 

 stop before the upper sections are finished. On 

 the other hand, if no empty sections are given, the 

 honey-flow may continue longer than anticipated, 

 and the bees become crowded for room. So, to- 

 ward the last of the season, instead of putting the 

 empty sections under, put them on top. The bees 

 will go on finishing the sections already occupied, 

 nearly if not quite as well as if no super had been 

 put on top. If the lices need more room they will 

 go up into the u|)per super, and if they don't need 

 it they will let it alone. When the honey-flow 

 ceases (and you will tell it by the bees becoming- 

 cross, and robbers troubling), it is best to takeoff 

 all the sections, making a clean sweep of it. 



Friend Root, you said my little book was lacking 

 in pictures, and I never jawed back a word. But, 

 now, you have put Hutchinson's book along with 

 it, and I don't think that's fair. I don't think I 

 ever so fully appreciated the educating power of 

 an illustration as I have since your insisting upon 



it so strongly, and I know of moi'e than one place 

 in my book where 1 studied how to clearly describe 

 something till my head ached, that a picture would 

 have cleared up in a twinkling. But in Hutchin- 

 son's book I can hardly see the same need of pio- 

 tures. It is merely a new use of old things, and I 

 am not sure that illustrations would help much. 

 The chief purpose of the book was to give in full 

 a peculiar system of management, and 1 am glad, 

 very glad, to add it to my small collection of books 

 on bee culture. He has told his story very concise- 

 ly; and whether I follow his plan or not, if I want 

 it at any time I can find it in compact form without 

 hunting through all the pages of the periodicals. 

 Then if you must have pictures, the cover of the 

 bookTs itself a beautiful one. I know T wouldn't 

 take 2.5 cts. for my copy. C. C Miiii-ER. 



Marengo, 111. 



SOMETHING SEASONABLE AND VAL- 

 UABLE FROM M. S. ROOT. 



SWAISMS ENTERING EMPTY HIVES. 



Y brother, M. S. Root, now of Na- 

 tional City, San Diego Co., Califor- 

 .^ nia, sends* me the following letter, 

 ■^ wliich was written to himself. Some 

 of our readers will doitbtless remem- 

 ber, that on page 60S last year, my brother re- 

 lated an experience similar to the following: 



M. S. Root:— In reading Gleanings I saw you 

 had some notion of embarking in the bee-business. 

 Now, let me give you a little circumstance that may 

 be to you a benefit. My nephew and I kept bees, 

 but concluded to divide, so he took his off and sold 

 all the bees; but there were some boxes left, and 

 some comb. To sa^•e the comb from the moth he 

 put three or four in a box spread out evenly, so 

 they did not touch by 3 inches. He then piled the 

 hives or boxes four and six high, so that it looked 

 like the stump of a tree. This is the way we save 

 comb in or out of doors. In this country. 



One day, in course of time he walked out to see 

 if his comb was keeping all right, when he saw 

 some bees in one tier. On lifting the lid there was 

 a veritable swarm of Italian bees, so he took the 

 box, put in some more frames, and set it out for 

 business. He concluded to go through and see if 

 there were any more, and kept on till he fixed up 

 six good swarms. In a few days he went back 

 again and found some more in. About the time 

 swarming season was over he had 17 good swarms, 

 with no ettort on his part to collect them. There 

 was no chance for the old bees to come back, as 

 thej- were hauled three days' journey off. This 

 may be too late for your neighborhood for this 

 season, but I have been very bus.y. Mj' bees have 

 not swarmed much— only about 8 or 10 this season. 



J. N. Gilchrist. 



El Montecito, Santa Barbara Co., Cal. 



Many thanks, brother Marsh. The item 

 yon funiisli is, I opine, one of mnch value, 

 i suppose your correspondent uses the terms 

 " boxes " where he means hives— or, at least, 

 we would call them hives. The point is 

 this: lie by accident stacked up his empty 

 hives in tie'rs, so they resembled trees in the 

 forest. Each hive contained tliree or four 

 combs, ]>laced far enough apart to be safe 

 from the moth-miller. The entrances to 

 these hives were also left open. Now, it is 



