730 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



frames, a covei-, a bnlloiii, and a sheet. One yonng 

 man climbed up wi'th a liandsaw hung in his sus- 

 penders, and had glo\ es and bee-veil on. After a 

 hard climb he succeeded in reaching a position 

 where he could saw the limb off, but he could not 

 liold it. Its length and weight, with the bees, was 

 too much, and he had to drup it. The two of us 

 u)iderneath received a shower of honey-drops. The 

 few bees that reached the ground quickly joined the 

 t,->varra in the air. 



Soon they commenced to cluster again on a limb 

 of a tri^e near by; and after waiting for them to 

 settle, the other lad tried his luck at it but with the 

 same result. After the second tumble they formed 

 again on the first tree, and the first man tried again, 

 but with no better success. Once more they were 

 all in the air. 



While we were watching them we noticed that 

 they were alighting on the lad's hat in numbers, 

 and soon they began to cover his hat and veil. I 

 advised him to keep still as long as they were not 

 angry and did not sting him, which he did. When 

 m-jst of them seemed to cover his head completely I 

 told him to come down carefully and not jar them 

 any more than necessary and I would shake him in 

 front of the hive. After he had descended very 

 slowly we had to lead him to the hive, since he 

 could not see tlirough the cluster of bees. We had 

 him place his head on the sheet. Very soon he drew 

 out of the hat and veil and we had the pleasure of 

 seeing them march into the hive like a drove of 

 sheep, and the young man did not get a sting. 



While we were intent in our watching the bees 

 enter the hive we did not give any thought to the 

 remainder of the bees in the air until one of the 

 men happened to look up. He exclaimed, " Well, 

 we haven't all of them — look there! " 



Sure enough, there was a cluster of good size 

 a >vay up high, enough to be a swarm of itself. 



So the fourth climb was made, and I went to the 

 house and secured a rope to let them down by. We 

 were successful in this method, and had more fun 

 in seeing them also go into the hive in orderly man- 

 ner. About 6 o'clock we carried the whole outfit 

 up to the yard. My new colony went to work the 

 next day in earn't'st. 



Hol>oUc, Mass. CvRxis H. T.\r.T:R. 



What Causes the Bees to Ball their Queen 

 Every Time the Hive is Opened 



I liavie about thirty }-'vc.- of bt'"s, or n iclc-i Last 

 year I bought a few queens and introduce! tliem 

 with smoke with very good success; but when I 

 would go to open the Iiive to see if they were laying, 

 even after a week or two weeks, they would ball the 

 queen, and oftentimes kill her if I was not very 

 careful. I thought it was on account of the dry 

 weather, for they used up a!! their honey, and some 

 of thera I lost on account of its being so dry. 



This yeai' they have been able to gather white- 

 clover honey pretty steadily, and yet they seem to 

 want to ball the queen — not in all of them, but in 

 a great number, when I went to look through. 



Last Saturday I smoked one hive, which covered 

 five frames with brood and honey, and took some 

 empty frames out in a liive-bodv abo\ e the one I 

 had placed there to keep tlie worms out; and wln^n 

 I went back to get more frames they liad the queen 

 balled; and at other times, after giving them a puT 

 or two of smoke, and lifting a frame up, thej^ would 

 start after the queen and ball her. I have known 

 them to be laying, and on going through the hive 

 the next time the flueens would be gone and queen- 

 cells started. They do not seem to want to stiug 

 me, but only the queen. 



New Castle, Pa., Aug. 9. Jay C. Whiti:. 



I It is not clear to us whether this trouble of ball 

 ing the (|ueeu every time the hive is opened is con- 

 fined to oni." colony, to several of them, or to all of 



tliem. Sometimes the trouble is undoubtedly due to 

 the queen, and at other times it is due to the pecul- 

 iar terapeiament of the colony. We hav« known 

 colonies (but the cases of them are very rare) 

 where, several times, when the hive was opened, the 

 bees would ball their queen. Apparently disturb- 

 ance annoys them, with the result that they seem 

 inclined to lay all the blame on the queen. But it 

 is seldom that such balling results in the death of 

 tlie queen. We have knovi'n of other cases where 

 tlie queen was so timid that, no matter what colony 

 she might be in, she would squeal when the hive 

 was opened, and the bees would proceed to ball her. 

 A queen that shows fright, and tries to run, is much 

 more liable to lie balled than one that acts in a 

 perfectly natural and normal way. 



If several of your slock show this balling tendency, 

 then we should look back to a common origin — that 

 is to say, back to some grandmother that was the 

 uiother of the queens in those several colonies. 

 When the old bees die off the trouble should disap- 

 pear. — Kd] 



A New Hive-stand 



I am illustrating a model of a device which I am 

 using for a hive-stand. I think it is particularly 

 well adapted to city apiarists. The bees seem to 

 lilve it. Painted green, it has a clean and substan- 

 tial appearance and gives a finished look to the 

 hive, which is not the case with hive-stands gener- 

 ally. 



, y\^j- 2;^"'''J^'''--^^.'-'-'-'''"''''''''''M'^''''''-'''M'/''^^y'j77r- .J 



The entrance is under- tlie hive. 



The entrance being back and under the hive, the 

 guards are not annoyed by objects passing the hive, 

 thereby reducing the danger of stings. As the en- 

 trance is under the hive, the stand also forms a 

 portico; and in bad weatiier tlie bees fly right in 

 out of the wet. 



Toledo, O. T. J. Frost. 



Never Again en Aster 



My bees are not in as good kip lition us usual or 

 as I could wish. The situation is due largely, I 

 believe, to aster winter stores, coupled with cold, 

 wet, high winds in the spring. I shall not winter 

 my bees again on such stores. 



T never had Isives so spotted before nor so much 

 a.ster honey as last fall. 



Kllwood, Ind. E. Neilsok. 



