GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



and there you are — both sides emptied with- 

 out any reversing, automatic or otherwise, 

 with no Clashing of cells against wii'e cloth, 

 and no danger of breaking combs out of 

 frames. Twenty frames at a time, mind 

 you. — L'Ap'iculieur, 60. [It is a little difli- 

 cult to determine the precise principle of 

 I he extractor referred to above. If it is of 

 the non-reversing type, the pockets an-ang- 

 ed like tiie sf)okes of a wheel, the bottom- 

 bars of the frames next to the shaft of the 

 reel, or if all the frames are in the same 

 plane, with the end-bars pointing toward 

 the hub of the wheel, either or both have 

 been thoroughly tested and found wanting. 

 They have been illustrated and described in 

 the journals. Thin honey, such as some 

 beekeepers too often extract, can be remov- 

 ed from the combs on either of these two 

 plans. But even then the combs are not 

 cleaned. It is impossible to extract thick 

 honey and get more than fifty per cent of 

 it out of the combs. The only way to ex- 

 tract clean is to have the combs reversed so 

 that the full strength of the centrifugal 

 force can be applied. We went over these 

 principles very thoroughly some fifteen or 

 (ighteen years ago, and found that a non- 

 leversible machine, or, rather, a machine 

 that extracts the combs without reversing, 

 is a long way from a success. — Ed.] 



About that quahking business, p. 747. 

 The trouble with you, Mr. Editor, is that 

 you are too up-to-date, discouraging all 

 natural swarming, so that I am wondering 

 whether you ever heard qualiking. I have 

 not for many years; but my recollection is 

 this: In the evening go to a colonj' that 

 contemplates sending out an after-swarm 

 next day, and put your ear to the side of 

 the hive. For a time you hear all sorts of 

 gabbling, and then comes a clear tone above 

 all others, long drawn out, followed by 

 several others, each one shorter than its 

 predecessor. That's piping. Immediately 

 come one or more responses — each response 

 a succession of short tones, the first tone as 

 short as the last. That's quahking. The 

 two may be made the sam>e way; but do you 

 think a cell or a barrel could account for 

 the difference in length? [Yes, in the olden 

 daj's we have lieard quahking as well as 

 piping. As we remember, there were two 

 notes. The lighter one sounded like a tiny 

 tin trumpet a long way off, while the other 

 sounded like a larger trumpet closer by. 

 While it is true one can hear both piping 

 and quahking when a colony is about to 

 cast a swarm, is it not probable t'.iat tlie 

 jjiping is made by a hatched queen, and the 

 quahking by another one in a cell as a 

 ''liallengo? And is it not probable that the 



two sounds are made by the same organs in 

 precisely the same way, but under different 

 conditions? Naturally enough, the same 

 sound inside of a wax cell would be weaker 

 and more muffled than outside of it. Perhaps 

 a barrel is not a fair comparison, but it 

 would seem that the quahking would be 

 shorter and more inteimittent inside of a 

 cell because there would be less air imme- 

 diately available. We have to confess we 

 do not know very much about this whole 

 proposition.— Ed.] 



Uniting is most easily done by the news- 

 paper plan. Put a sheet of newspaper over 

 one hive, and set the othrr over, with no 

 chance for the upper bees to get out till 

 they gnaw through the paper. In the same 

 way a queen may be introduced by setting- 

 over the hive the nucleus containing the 

 queen, with newspaper between the two 

 stories. Sometimes you want to unite a 

 queenless colony, A, with a nucleus, B, 

 leaving all on the stand of the nucleus. 

 Here's a good way : Take a single comb 

 with adhering bees from A and give to B, 

 making sure that the added bees are not 

 more than half as many as B already has. 

 Next day add another comb or two, and so 

 on each day until all are used up. At the 

 last leave a comb for any returning bees, 

 giving these to B. [If this form of uniting 

 be practiced in September it may occur 

 during a spell of very hot weather; and 

 then would there not be danger that the 

 bees in the upper hive might smother for 

 want of proper ventilation? Of course, if 

 it were only a nucleus it might survi\e a 

 boiling hot sun on a hot sultry day. When 

 bees have access to an entrance they can 

 control the temperature of the hive by 

 ventilation ; but when all means of access 

 are closed, the temperature of the liive may 

 go clear up to a point where it would kill 

 bees and brood. 



In our locality a thermometer placed on a 

 hot day on lop of a hive-cover painted 

 white will reach from 120 to 130 in the 

 sun. That would mean that the tempera- 

 ture of a closed hive might be 110. Such 

 a temperature would kill some brood. 



Practically speaking, however, the out- 

 side temperature at the time of uniting is 

 generally low enough so the newspaper 

 plan will work 99 times out of 100. But 

 even then are there not some returning bees 

 after a hole has been made through the 

 paper? 



The other plan of uniting comb by comb 

 would be a slow process. We nmch prefer 

 uniting the bees at two different yards 

 where the bees are operated on the out- 

 apiary plan. — Ed.] 



