1887 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



771 



not liave had very much walls. Friend Y. 

 admitted they didn't ; bat he said they had 

 enough so they answered every purpose. 

 What strange tilings do come up in bee 

 culture ! It only illustrates what I said a 

 good while ago, that when people take a no- 

 tion to a particular machine, plan, or pro- 

 cess, tliey in time become so expert in their 

 own way that they will produce astonishing 

 results, where people generally would not 

 get along at all. He agrees with the state- 

 ment made by friend Ileddon, that, when 

 the press got to working nicely, from ten to 

 twenty sheets could be put through without 

 any lubrication whatever. I can not quite 

 understand now why friend Ileddon aban- 

 doned the press after he had ))ecome so ex- 

 pert in making it work. Will friend I. R. 

 Good aud others who were strongly in favor 

 of the press some time ago please tell us if 

 they still hold to it y 



Perhaps I should mention that the name 

 of the young lady who made over five tons 

 of foundation herself, in one season, is Ja- 

 cobina Ericsson. lie says in their own 

 country they call her "• Yacob," for short, 

 spelliug it Jacob, our J being their Y. I 

 might mention that she is taller than our 

 portly friend Young himself, and he is cer- 

 tainly more than six feet high. Whatever 

 Norway succeeds in doing in bee culture, 

 we shall have to admit that she " takes the 

 cake ■' in producing stalwart men and wo- 

 men. Bee cidture is making great progress 

 there. S ime quite large apiaries have suc- 

 ceeded in producing over 100 lbs. of extract- 

 ed honey per colony, and this honey retails 

 at 25 cents per lb. " 1 wonder if it would not 

 be a good idea for a lot of us to emigrate to 

 Norway. 



^ I ^ 



BEE-HUNTING, CHAPTER TWO. 



now TO USE THE nUNTING-BOX ILLUSTRATED ON 

 / PAOE 737, LAST ISSUE. 



«S soon as the bees get to working' well it is 

 best to move along the line; and until you 

 have more bees at work than are needed, It 

 is advisable to carry a few. It Is seldom a 

 good plan to carry less than three or more 

 than tenor twelve. Get the bei s at work on the 

 lower comb in No. 2; close the cover; jar the bo.\ 

 enough to make the bees rise; push the slide shut, 

 and you liave them so that they can not get daubed 

 with honey. Make your second stand as nearly on 

 the line as possible. Pull out the slide so that the 

 bees can get to the feed. Put one of the extra 

 combs beside the box, and stick near it a scented 

 feather. In a couple of minutes, uncover the win- 

 dow in the cover; and when the bees rise, let out 

 one at a time. Note the direction in which it dis- 

 appears, but don't place much dependence in the 

 first lines. 



Good judgment must be used iu moving. When 

 the bees work well, and we are a good distance 

 from the tree in an open country, it pays to move 

 half a mile at a time; but in thick woods I seldom 

 move a stand more than foi'ty or si.vty rods. 

 Should it be necessary to leave a stand a day or two 

 it is best to leave a good supply of feed. Still, if 

 none is left, bees can usually be called by the use 

 of scent. When leaving stands, it is best to cover 



them with bark, and to place them out of sight of 

 any passer-by. 



We should move as often as practicable, and di- 

 rectly on the line of flight if possible. While run- 

 ning through the woods I have often been obliged 

 to run a vei-y crooked " bee-line," as the bees often 

 vary their flight to avoid obstacles in their way. 

 Bees often, in going from the stand to the same 

 tree, will fly far apart, some on one side of a clump 

 of trees, and some on the other. This may occur 

 anywhere on the line, but more especially near the 

 tree. Also when a line runs from a field into heavy 

 woods nearly parallel with the edge of the timber, 

 the bees, instead of Hying directly on the line, will 

 pass down the edge of the clearing for several rods, 

 and then make a short turn into the woods. 



It is a waste of time to look for the bee-tree, or to 

 make cross-lines, until you get beyond the tree. 

 When the bees fly back on the line, you may rest 

 assured that you are beyond the tree. Move your 

 last two .stands closer together (lining the bees 

 carefully), so that they are only ten or fifteen rods 

 apart. Now, as you have bees flying from two di- 

 rections into the tree you will pr-obably discover 

 where they are immediately. But if you fail to find 

 them easily, take a stand ofl" to one side, eight or 

 ten rods, and cross-line. This is the only place that 

 I find a cross-line of any advantage. Usually, 

 when you get to the right place, you can sec the en- 

 trance and bees plainly. Score the body of the 

 tree and the end of broken limbs carefully. A 

 good spy-glass is a great help in looking into the 

 tops of high trees. Quite often they will fly five or 

 six rods off to one side of the tree, and then make a 

 square turn, in order to get to the entrance. But 

 sometimes the bees don't go up, in which case the 

 tree is generally hard to find. 1 have found them in 

 fallen timber. We should hardly e.xpect to find a 

 bee-tree on the ground, hence it causes a diligent 

 search to find it. Having found the tree, it is best 

 to mark it by cutting our initials on the bark. 

 Then we have a legal claim upon the bees and hon- 

 ey. In this section of the country, not one bee- 

 tree in a hundred is valuable for luml er. But 

 should it be a valuable tree we are under moral 

 and legal obligations to see the owner and get his 

 permission to cut it, unless we climb the tree and 

 takeout the honey and bees, as explained in the 

 ABC book. I prefer to fall the tree on to a small 

 tree, so as to ease its fall. 1 have helped fall many 

 bee-trees, and I remember of only one which re- 

 sulted disastrously to the bees or combs. In that 

 instance they were in a dead limb. 



When it is intended to save the bees (as I ahvaj's 

 do) I should cut the tree immediately, and trans- 

 fer the brood comb into frames. I prefer to cut 

 bee-trees in the day time, as the flying bees are 

 then out. Get the frames of brood, and as manj' of 

 the bees as possible, into the transferring-box. If 

 it is cold, be careful to keep the brood covered 

 with bees that it may not get chilled. Search for 

 the queen. She may be found on the brood-combs; 

 but often she hides in some corner of the cavity. 

 For dipping the bees into the box, J use a large 

 spoon— one with a handle a foot long. After the 

 honey is removed, place the box near the cavitj', 

 with the entrance open, and leave it there until 

 dark. The flying bees will find the brood, and clus- 

 ter in the bo.\ and on the outside. Bees can be 

 taken from the woods late in the fall, and, by giv- 

 ing them combs aud honey, bo wintered successful- 



