t)24 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



A " KECIPE " TO PREVENT STINGING. 



Please give a recipe for stopping- bees from sting- 

 ing' every one wlio goes out of tlie lioiise. I divided 

 four colonies, and ever since they want full posses- , 

 sion of the yard. A. S. V'ansvoc. 



Indianola, la., June 38, 1887. 



If yoii want to make bees very cross — so 

 cross, indeed, that it is liardly safe to vc^ii- 

 tiire into the apiary, just let them get to 

 robbing. In transferring, let the bees lielp 

 themselves liberally to the sweets ; let them ' 

 get into the honey-house, and get to going 

 there on your new honey. Friend V.. the 

 only way we know of to pievent bees from 

 being cross is just the converse of the al)ove. 

 Be very careful not to let the bees get start- 

 ed. DoiTt let even one bee get a sip of hon- 

 ey that does not rigiitly belong to him. If 

 you have jnire Italians, and robbing is a 

 thing unknown in youi- apiary, almost any ' 

 one can go into it with impunity. Even 

 cross hybrids, if you are careful, and do not 

 let robbing get started, will be kind o' de- 

 cent. 



STRENGTHENING .\ NUCTjEUS ; QUESTIONS BY A 

 BEGINNER. 



To helj) a weak swarm, will it be safe to take 

 combs, bees and all, out of a strong- one and put the 

 same into the hive with the weak oneV Will the 

 bees light, or will there not be danger of having the 

 queen killed? Would it work, in case the weak one 

 had no queen? J. B. Baumberger. 



Washington, Kan., June 37, 1887. 



The l)est way to strengthen a weak colony 

 liaving a (pieeh is to give them one or two 

 frames of hatching brood. In a few days 

 there will be a large force of young bees. If 

 you desire to fiuther strengthen tlie colony, 

 give them another frame or two of hatching 

 brood. In colder weather be careful not to 

 give them more frames than the bees can 

 cover easily. You can take frames of brood 

 with adhering bees from a strong colony, and 

 put them into the weaker one ; but if the 

 latter has a queen there is danger that the 

 l)ees from the stronger colony will kill the 

 queen, tliough they probably would not, be- 

 cause all the old bees would return to their 

 old stand, leaving the young ones on the 

 coml)S. These, of course, woidd not be like- 

 ly to molest their jiew mother. If tlie weak 

 colony has no ([ueen you can do almost any 

 thing with tliem in the way of uniting tliat 

 you wisli, with no troid)le. See "Nuclei,''' 

 in the A B C book^ 



A CHEAPI.V EXTEMPORIZEU SOLAR WAX-EXTRACT- 

 OR. 



I have a good sun wax-extractor which I made as 

 follows: I first took otf a large pressed-tin pan. 

 Into this I fitted, about half way from the bottom, 

 half a barrel-hoop, with wire cloth tacked on. plac- 

 ed inside of the pan to receive the comb and wax 

 refuse. The whole was then covered with a sheet 

 of glass, and it was done. It certainly is a grand 

 affair to keep all small pieces in, as well as any 

 cappings, as the sun reduces the wax very quickly. 



A. L. Klar. 



Pana, Christian Co., 111., July 8, 1887. 



Your wax-extractor is complete, except 

 that it has no reflector other than the flar- 

 ing sides of the pan. In hot weather it 

 niiglit do very well without a retlector ; but 



we find that ours works a great deal better 

 and faster when the retlector is up than 

 when it is not. 



BEE REPORT. 



1 began the season with 30 colonies. By taking- 

 two frames and brood from each of the several 

 hives, placing in their stead frames of fdn., I have 

 made five additional colonies. Into two of the new- 

 made hives I carried, with the brood-frames, a 

 queen, and allowed the hives from which the 

 queens were i-emoved, to create a (lueen. The oth- 

 er three new-made cok>nies had to make Iheir own 

 queens. All now have laying queens. I had only 

 one natural swarm. If others came they abscond- 

 ed, unknown to me. About one-third in number of 

 the hives were stored in sections from 10 to 30 lbs. 

 each. In other apiaries I have not heard of any 

 natural swarming, and all say that honey-storing 

 is very limited. 



I see our bees work on the sunflower and mus- 

 tard bloom very vigorously. I have sown half an 

 acre to buckwheat. I suppose that amount is hard- 

 ly a circumstance for so many bees as we have. 

 Every little will help, but I should think that, for 

 30 or more colonies, less than five acres sown to any 

 blooming plant would be poor dependence. 



John Cadwallader. 



North Indianapolis, Ind., July 17, 1887. 



BEST PACKING FOR WINTER. 



I wish Ernest to tell us what he is satisfied is the 

 best material to make or fill the cushions with to 

 lay over the bees in winter. I do not like chaff, as 

 it gets musty; and then when laid aside in summer, 

 mice are sure to tear the whole to pieces. I should 

 like soft dry planer chips if I could get them. Now, 

 I can't see why the common dry sawdust (not the 

 long stringy kind) would not be as good a thing as 

 could be had. When we want to pack our ice we 

 ask for nothing but sawdust to keep out the heat; 

 and why not to keep out tlie cold from the bees? 

 WHiat do you say? I use the Hill device in princi- 

 ple, so the cushion can not rest heavily on the 

 frames, and it leaves a space for the bees. 



Moscow, Vt., July 11, 1887. J. W. Smith. 



For winter packing over and around the 

 brood-nest, we prefer wheat chaff. It is 

 cheap, light, and always obtainable — at 

 least, in most localities. The sawdust which 

 you speak of might answer just as well. 

 Our principal objection to it is, that it makes 

 the cushions too heavy to handle. As to 

 mice gnawing into chaff cushions, we scarce- 

 ly ever have any trouble from that source. 

 During summer we always store our cush- 

 ions in a mouse-proof room. 



the queen as RUIiER. 



Mr. K. B. Bobbins" experience with a swarm, July 

 1,5th issue, together with the foot-notes of the editor, 

 corroborates very closely my experience this last 

 spring. 1 was looking at my bees, and ui)on open- 

 ing one hive I noticed the queen near the top of the 

 frame, running and twisting herself in wild excite- 

 ment, and all at once I heard a sharp "iieop, peep, 

 peep." This lasted nearly a (juarter of a minute, 

 when suddenly every bee in the hive was uttering 

 the same shrill note, and they rushed for the en- 

 trance. Not familiar with such proceedings I at 

 once called for my smoker, l)ut soon saw that it was 

 only a natural swarm, and so I did not need smoke. 

 I kept the enameled cloth oft, through the whole 



