NOVEMBER 15, 1915 



951 



Heacrflg of Grmm fromm Differeell Fields 



The Backlot Buzzer 



BY J. H. DOXAIIEV 



Xoiv's the time of year when folks begin to think 

 about buckwheat cakes and home-made saxisage. 

 Pass the honey, v^ea^e. 



Some "Xork State Notes 



Clover vas scarce in the spring, but now I wish 

 yoii could see it. The fields and woods are a bed of 

 if — white, alsike, and crimson. Next year should 

 be one of tlie crreutest honey years we have ever had 

 if the clover does not winter-kill. I still have the 

 supers on the hives, and they are crowded with 

 bees. The queen is laying to her full capacity. 



T have tliirty colonies, of which only four ca.st a 

 svarm this year. To prevent swarming I divide by 

 the Alexander plan. 1 place the queen in the lower 

 part of the hive and set the old hive on top; and 

 ■when the brood is all hatched I shake them in the 

 hive with the queen. I find it almost wholly \tTit- 

 vents swarming. This plan makes extra-strong colo- 

 nies. I rcqueened all of my colonies in July and 

 August, which accounts for my hives being full of 

 brood and cgg.s at this time. 



The crop of honey here has been only about half 

 the average. This was owing to the late cold spring 

 lasting until the middle of June. From that time 

 until the present there have been very heavy rains. 

 The bees were able to work about half time. 



Rhinecliff, N. Y. Peter Wheeler. 



Introducing by the Smoke Method after 

 Queen-cells are Built and Destroyed 



T ha^e learned fome things about the smoke meth- 

 od of qu'-en introduction that may be of interest to 

 others. The first sea.^on I used it with good results , 

 the second very poor; the third a little better; and 



this year. I have learned why the difference. Queens 

 can be successfully introduced by the smoke method 

 during a good honey flow, in a few hours after the 

 old queen has been removed; but wlu-n no honey is 

 coniin;'< in. Uie loss will be heavy; and as I do near- 

 ly all of niy requeening after the main flow is over. 

 I wait about eight or nine days after the old queen 

 is removed. Then I tear down all queen-cells and 

 run in my yuun^ (iiiccns with smoke, and get 100 

 per cent accepted. This is a little trouble, but not 

 so much as giving two or more queens to one hive. 



T have yet to lose my first queen given to a hive 

 with laying workers when she is introduced by the 

 Miller smoke method. I use three puffs of smoke 

 to a single-story hive; six to a big two-story ten- 

 frame hive, and nine if the hive is a three-sTory 

 ten-frame. 



I use planer shavings in the smoker for this 

 purpose, and find that they give better satisfaction 

 than anything else I can get. 



FINDING 35 QUEENS AN HOUR. 



T should like to know how many queens a good 

 operator can hunt up and clip in an hour in ordi- 

 nary-sized hives. I have heard of one man who 

 claimed to catch 35 in one hour. This is much bet- 

 ter than I can do. 



Montgomerj', Ala. J. M. CUTTS. 



[Thirty-five queens an hour is " going some," 

 even if the queens Mere in nuclei. We wish the 

 one who has worked at that rate would tell us hoAv 

 he does it. — Ed.I 



Parcel-post Shipments Successful 



V.'e have made a successful attempt to ship ex- 

 t.rncted honey by parcel post. We sent a number of 

 pails, and every one arrived all right. We shipped 

 in friction-top five and ten pound pails, with the 

 cover pressed down and solder run all the way 

 round to hold it solid. The pail was then enclosed 

 in a stout wooden case, so that, when nailed shut, it 

 fit snugly. 



We are going to try the small screw-top square 

 can. If it will do as well (and we believe it will) 

 it \vill save much tedious soldering. 



The price reali;^ed for honey shipped in this way 

 will be much more satisfactory than what we get 

 from the wholesale buyer, and at the sanse time the 

 iiousov.-ife in the city gets it cheaper than she could 

 at the grocery. 



We shipped to Birmingham, which is in the sec- 

 ond zone from us. 



lolkland, Ala., Oct. 12. Schug & DeWitt. 



Wintering Bees Covered with Hay in a Bam 



My barn has a light loft, and no battens on the 

 siding around the loft, so it never gets damp or 

 steamy. I put down about an eight or ten inch 

 layer of hay, lay two boards on it, and set the hives 

 on these boards close up to each other, having first 

 put on. supers and packed them with burlap and 

 excelsior. Then I put queen-traps or pieces of 

 queen-excluder over mouths of hives in a way to let 

 in plenty of air and keep mice from getting in. I 

 next set sticks, about eighteen inches long, slanting 

 against the front of the hive, and cover with a layer 

 of hay thick enough to keep out the light and drafts 

 of wind, but not so thick but that air can go through. 



Then I stack hay on the other side and each end 

 and top of the row. It keeps out the noise, and 

 ki'cps the temperature even. . I live near the south- 

 ern line of Minnesota, and put my bees in last fall 

 al'out the last of October, in a part of the barn 

 where the sun would not hit them. The last of 

 March I took them up one fine morning and set 



