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GLEANINGS IX BEE CULTURE. 



AiG. 1 



trip into some of the South American coun- 

 tries in the near future. 



DR. GANDV AND HIS ASSERTIONS. 



There have been some doubting Thomas- 

 es among' our subscribers regarding the 

 statements made b}' Dr. J. L. Gandy in our 

 last issue. I expected that; but having 

 heard from another party that there was an 

 extensive bee-keeper in the vicinity of Hum- 

 boldt, and having difficulty about getting 

 Dr. Gandy to write at all, I felt inclined to 

 publish the article. While I said I was 

 stumbled and stag-gered by some of his 

 statements, yet I thought if he had 25 acres 

 of catnip and as much of sweet clover with- 

 in range of each of. his apiaries, he might 

 be able to get the results he claimed. At 

 all events. I thought by publishing- the ar- 

 ticle we should soon know the facts. Sure 

 enough, another fellow-townsman of Dr. G. 

 writes under date of July 28th that he was 

 "completely upset" when he read what 

 his " celebrated townsm tn " had done as 

 related in last issue of Gleanings. If what 

 this correspondent says is true, some of the 

 statements made by our previous corre- 

 spondent and by Dr. Gandj' himself were 

 somewhat exaggerated, to saj' the least. 

 Perhaps I should have withheld the article 

 and made further investigation. It is not 

 denied, so far as I can see, that Dr. Gandj' 

 is wealthy, owning a great deal of land, 

 and that he keeps a good many bees; but 

 those big yields per colony, our correspon- 

 dent discredits as out of proportion for the 

 locality. I am writing Dr. Gandy and oth- 

 ers, and will report in our next. 



brushed or "shook" swarms. 



Brushed swarms have been tested by our 

 friend and neighbor, Mr. Vernon Burt, of 

 Mallet Creek, Ohio. He tried the plan on 

 a small scale last year and on a larg-er 

 scale this year, and both seasons the ex- 

 periment was attended with satisfactor}- re- 

 sults. According- to his experience, brush- 

 ed swarms, as described by Mr. Stachel- 

 hausen, not only gather more honey, but 

 will not cast a natural swarm subsequent- 

 ly. Indeed, the best colonies he had for 

 comb honey were the "shook" bees. In ;i 

 word, the modus operaridi is this: The par- 

 ent hive is removed from its stand. Another 

 hive with frames of starters, and the supers 

 of the parent colony, are put back on the 

 old stand. The combs are brushed or shak- 

 en in front of the entrance, causing the 

 j^oung bees as well as the i-ld ones to go 

 into the hive. The parent colony minus 

 every bee is then set off on another stand. 

 No harm results, saj^s Mr. B. , because tl.e 

 hatching bees in warm weather will take 

 care of the other bees. 



Our friend thinks the success of the plan 

 lies in the fact that the young bees as well 

 as the old ones go to make up the "swarm;" 

 and the reason why it is ahead of the nat- 

 ural swarm is because these young bees — 

 in fact, all the bees of the old colony — are 

 in a new hive on the old stand, ready for 



work. He also believes the brushing or 

 shaking, causing the bees to rush into the 

 entrance has the same effect in stimulating 

 their energy as when they come out natural- 

 ly and are hived. 



Another feature is that the "swarming" 

 can be timed to suit the convenience of the 

 apiarist. Natural swarms will come out. 

 on Sundays, and often when the apiarist is 

 away or when he has other important work. 



When Mr. Stachelhausen told me in per- 

 son regarding his experiments with brush- 

 ed or "shook" swarms, and how satisfac- 

 torily it worked, and when, later on, I met 

 Mr. Louis Scholl, and he likewise gave me 

 a favorable report of it, I was determined 

 in my own mind that I would give the mat- 

 ter a thorough test in our own yard the fol- 

 lowing summer; but I had entirely forgot- 

 ten it in the rush of our bee work until Mr. 

 Burt told of his success with the plan. 

 From what Mr. B. says of it (and he is a 

 bee-keeper whose opinion I value highly) 

 I am inclined to think the brushed or shook- 

 swarm method of producing comb honey 

 and controlling swarming is a real acqui- 

 sition. If we could, by so doing, control 95 

 or even 90 per cent of all our swarming, 

 and crowd a big powerful colony down into 

 a single story of a brood-nest — my! what 

 big crops of comb honey we could produce 

 in a season I and think how much this 

 would be worth at outyards where we can 

 not really afford to have an attendant! 



M. A. Gill, in the Reviezu, one who oper- 

 ates 512 colonies, has the following to say: 



I must confess that the longer I practice the shak- 

 ing-off plan, when colonies are going to swarm any 

 7vay. the better I like it. Much has been said aboui a 

 colony of bees being a unit, and that we can not sort 

 them with proper regard to age, but I find that is 

 more in theorj- than in practice. I find little if any 

 difference between natural or shaken swarms that 

 are now two weeks old, and it's certairily a great ad- 

 vantage in out-apiaries. Not over ten per cent of my 

 bees, that are in eight-frame hives, are going to offer 

 to swarm this season. 



THE DENVER CONVENTION. 



I WOULD call attention to the excellent 

 program (in another column) prepared 

 for the next session of the National Bee- 

 keepers' Association, Sept. 3 — 5, Wednes- 

 day, Thursday, Friday. Never before were 

 more elaborate preparations made for a big 

 convention than at this time. I happen to 

 know something about the hospitality of our 

 Western friends, and I think I am safe in 

 saj'ing they will outdo every other locality 

 or city that has hitherto entertained the 

 National. There will be a banquet, a trol- 

 ley ride, and. of course, a feast of good 

 things at the regular sessions of the con- 

 vention. Bee-keepers of the East should 

 make a special attempt to go to this great 

 meeting. There will be two Roots there — 

 Huber and I — and the editors of the Bet.'- 

 kecpers' Review and American Bee Journal 

 will be in attendance. Dr. Mason and Dr. 

 Miller will be there also. If 3'ou can't af- 

 ford to go so far for bees alone, don't forget 

 that some of the grandest mou7itai?t scenery 

 i7i the world is right in sight of Denver, and 



