1902 



GLEAKINGS m B£E CULTURE. 



65 



the frames by. 1 have taken particular no- 

 tice that I always hold the frame by these 

 projecting parts of the top-bars. The rest 

 of the top-bar is g-enerally covered more or 

 less with bees. 



In regard to their popularity in this lo- 

 cality, I can say that they are not in it at 

 all. I have yet to find the first bee-keeper 

 who likes them. The V edge on the end- 

 bars is all right. I used some square edges, 

 as suggested by Mr. Hyde, and found that 

 propolis would accumulate on them and 

 cause the spacing to get wider and wider 

 each season until I could not get the follow- 

 er-boards in. By using a little pressure 

 the V will cut through the propolis when 

 warm, so that the same spacing is main- 

 tained. I have used frames with top-bars 

 y$, thick and IjV wide, with inverted comb- 

 guide, for four years, and like them better 

 than anj^ other stj^le. They do not sag, 

 and are more profitable to me than thick 

 top-bars. W. C. Gathright. 



Las Cruces, N. M. 



[As I have before stated, we and all the 

 manufacturers are prepared to make top- 

 bars of any length desired. In fact, we 

 keep the long and the short top-bar on hand 

 as standard stock. Let us have a free ex- 

 pression of opinion. Don't hold back your 

 own individual feelings and experiences be- 

 cause you do not happen to agree with the 

 editor. — Ed.] 



THE SCENT OF BEES DURING SWARMING. 



I observe in Gleanings for Aug. 1, 1901, 

 p. 639, a most interesting subject by Y. W. 

 L. Sladen, on the scent-organ of the bee. 

 Isn't it strange, without knowing any thing 

 of the organ, that I discovered about the 

 scent by accident? I had five swarms issue 

 at intervals in one day, and the first three 

 clustered on the same limb e^ich time. This 

 set me to thinking. I experimented on cer- 

 tain lines for a time, and now I can saj' 

 positively that I have found a way of stop- 

 ping about 90 per cent of the swarms issu- 

 ing in an apiary. As soon as I am sure a 

 colony is swarming I grab up three or four 

 bees at the entrance of that hive, and, crush- 

 ing them, rub them on a strip of black 

 cloth. Hoisting this among the circling 

 bees they soon settle on the cloth. To save 

 stinging, grab up with cloth. I never 

 knew any thing of the Zoubarefif organ, but 

 I can easily understand why the crushed 

 bees and black cloth have a talismanic ef- 

 fect. Leslie Alexander. 



Malvern, Jamaica, B. W. I. 



[It is well known that, where a swarm 

 has once clustered, there is a great proba- 

 bilitj' that another one will lodge in the 

 same place. There is no other cause for 

 this than the scent left by the previous 

 swarm under the full heat of the swarming 

 impulse. Mashing a few bees on a cloth or 

 some other object might have the effect of 

 drawing the swarm. But better — far bet- 

 ter — would it be to draw the cloth or branch, 

 or whatever is used for clustering, right 



through the bees after they have clustered, 

 raking it back and forth slowly until the 

 object itself has become thoroughly scent- 

 ed.— Ed.] 



THE DOUBLE COVER NOT SATISFACTORY, 

 AND WHY. 



I notice considerable is being said in 

 Gleanings recently in reference to hive- 

 covers, and I am somewhat surprised to 

 learn that so many of your correspondents 

 are in favor of the double cover, as in this 

 locality I find them to be a nuisance, espe- 

 cially by affording a good nesting-place 

 for ants and other insects, making them 

 very disagreeable to handle. I'd rather 

 handle the little black bees than ants. I 

 have ten or twelve hives with double covers 

 in my apiary, that I bought about 15 j^ears 

 ago, and every spring I find them full of 

 ants, while my single covers are never, or 

 at least scarcely ever, troubled by them. 

 Many old apiarists may say ants do not 

 amount to much any way — that they do no 

 harm in the hive, and, if they do, it is an 

 easy matter to get rid of them. These fel- 

 lows may be right; yet I find it very disa- 

 greeable, when taking off covers, to have 

 thousands of these little black ants swarm- 

 ing all over me, and biting like little bull- 

 dogs, as they often do when I move a dou- 

 ble cover, obliging me to change my clothes 

 and drown them out of the covers before I 

 can continue my work. 



Swanton, Neb. L. O. Westcott. 



[It is certainly true that ants are much 

 worse in many parts of the West and South 

 than here in the East; but, even if this be 

 true, the two-thickness cover should give 

 satisfaction if it be properly made. We 

 make one st3'le of double cover that we will 

 guarantee to be ant and vermin proof, be- 

 cause it is provided with side cleats to close 

 up the side openings. I quite agree with 

 our correspondent in saying that the ordi- 

 nary air-spaced cover would, for his locali- 

 ty, be very unsatisfactory. — Ed.] 



A handy apiary TOOL. 



Mr. Root: — I wish to add a handy tool 

 for the apiary, to those illustrated in the 

 August 1st number of Gleanings. It is a 

 vineyard pruning-knife, with an edge put 

 on the front end and the temper partly 

 drawn so it won't snap off in prying. To 

 separate supers, place the point of the knife 

 at the joint; tap the back with the palm of 

 the hand, to force it in; then either pry 

 down or lift up, and the slightest effort will 

 separate an3' hive. To separate frames, 

 insert the edge between the frames and 

 then turn the handle sidewise, and apart 

 they come, no matter how badly glued. To 

 get out frames that are stuck, insert the 

 end under the top-bar, pry backward and 

 up, and the frjime must come or break. To 

 take off a cover, insert the end under the 

 front strip, and then lift, and the least ef- 

 fort brings the cover up. The back will 

 drive a nail, the front edge will scrape oft" 



