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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 15 



B's method is the same as above, with this 

 exception: Just after puffing' smoke in at 

 the entrance, he gives the hive a sharp 

 rap or two with whatever tool he may hap- 

 pen to have at the time, or even with his 

 foot. Now, Mr. A claims that the kicking- 

 or rapping on the hive tends to anger the 

 bees. Mr. B, on the contrarj% claims that 

 it alarms every bee in the hive and causes 

 them to fill with honej% while by depending 

 wholly on the smoke there might be some 

 bees which would not get any of the smoke, 

 consequently would be in good fighting con- 

 dition by the time one got to manipulating 

 the combs. Now, I should like your opin- 

 ion of the above methods. Is either method 

 correct? and, if so, which one? Is either 

 one or both of them faulty? and if so, why? 

 An answer througli Gi.faninos would 

 greatly oblige. 



Ansiver. — I am very glad this matter has 

 been brought up, for I find that there are 

 very many in the bee-keeping ranks who do 

 not understand just how to open hives: .md 

 [ think the majority of apiarists use their 

 bees much more roughly than is best for ei- 

 ther themselves or the bees. I never could 

 see just why the bees of ei' fry colony should 

 have their eyes nearly put out, or their 

 breath nearlj^ taken away with stlflini,'- 

 smoke, simply because some awfully ugly 

 colony needs sucli a mode of treatment in 

 order to subdue them, so that the apiarist 

 can conduct some needful manipulation. 

 So, then, we have a knowledge of each in- 

 dividual colony as the governing thought in 

 our manipulating bees, rather than .'in\ 

 method which allows us to treat each and 

 every colony alike. If we do not know the 

 temper of a colony we are about to aji- 

 proach, then we should go cautiousl_v till 

 we find it out. And after finding it out, 

 then we are prepared to operate on that col- 

 ony in just tlie same way every time, before 

 each and everj' manipulation, so long as 

 the colony keeps the same queen it had 

 when we first found out its peculiarities. 

 And, as our questioner says, this principle 

 should hold good in any locality, whether 

 it be north, south, east, or west. The idea 

 of treating every colony alike, then, is the 

 first fault, as I consider it, in both methods 

 given. 



The next fault, as I consider it, is the 

 blowing of smoke in at the entrance e\evy 

 time ajiy colony is manipulated. This I 

 consider a waste of time, a waste of smoke, 

 and a needless disturbing of the bees, tak- 

 ing 99 cases out of 100. And this applies 

 to both methods, as both A and B do this. 

 In my manipulation during the whole of 

 the year 1901 I remember blowing smoke in 

 at the entrance of only one hive, which I 

 will speak of further on. Never do this un- 

 less you have an extremely ugly colony. 

 Then in most cases it is a mistake to think, 

 as does B, that every bee in a colony must 

 be alarmed, and caused to fill itself with 

 honey. This is entirely needless with the 

 average colony, and causes not only a waste 

 of time and trouble to ourselves, but is an 



actual damage to the workings of any col- 

 ony so treated. If close watch was kept it 

 would be found that very few bees would 

 go out to the fields within the next hour aft- 

 er a colony was so treated, to say nothing 

 about the loss of time inside of the hive 

 from this causing every bee to fill itself 

 with honey, and then disgorge the same 

 again, besides the uncapping of the cells 

 by the bees in order to get at the honey, 

 and the recapping of those cells again, aft- 

 er the honey is put back. Where any colo- 

 ny is procuring nectar at the rate of 10 lbs. 

 a day I always considered it a loss of at 

 least 2 '2 lbs. to thus treat a colony for one 

 manipulation; consequently I never do so 

 unless I know that I am actually' obliged 

 to in order to perform some operation need- 

 ed with an ugly colony. The kicking or 

 rapping should not be entertained by any 

 one except with the ugliest of all ugly col- 

 onies, and in such a case two or three kicks 

 or raps are far worse than nothing, as it 

 only arouses the ugl}' colony to the fighting 

 point at the outset. Now, with this explan- 

 ation, I doubt whether I can do better than 

 to tell just what I do in my apiar}'. With 

 the average colony, when manipulating the 

 same, before the supers are put on. I take 

 my lighted smoker with me, with my seat 

 and tool-box combined. This latter is set 

 down in the right place on the sunny side 

 of the hive, so that the sun is at my back 

 when seated, for the sun shining on any 

 bee-veil very much hinders and obstructs 

 the vision. The smoker is set on the ground 

 close by. I now gently pry up the cover, or 

 roll back the quilt, in accord with what the 

 hive is covered with, placing the same with- 

 in handj' reach for replacing. I now pro- 

 ceed to manipulate the frames as I wish, 

 using a little care in taking out the first 

 one: for if there is any resentment it comes 

 immediately on lifting tlie cover, or on the 

 removal of the first frame. Afterward, 

 when the light has been allowed on and in 

 among the combs, no trouble is experienced 

 unless you carelessly kill bees or roughly 

 handle the frames. The manipulation over, 

 I wish to close the hive, but find that, if 

 the colony is at all populous, there are bees 

 in the way of putting the cover on, which 

 will be killed unless driven out of the waj'. 

 I now pick up my smoker for using, for the 

 first time, and gently blow smoke over the 

 top of the hive, only just enough to cause 

 the bees to run down out of the way, put on 

 the cover, and go to the next hive. The 

 bees have been working on all the time, just 

 the same as though their hive had not been 

 touched, even fiying from the combs as I 

 hold them in my hands, off to the fields, b}' 

 twos or tens, as thej' often do. The next 

 hive, I know, will not let me handle it as I 

 did this first, without resenting it; so in 

 this case, as I raise the cover I blow a lit- 

 tle smoke under it (say two or three pufts), 

 as soon as the cover is raised enough to 

 stick the nozzle of the smoker under it. 

 The cover is held thus for five to ten seconds, 

 as this confines the smoke over the bees to 



