730 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 1 



[Why, friend Pettit, your method of get- 

 ting- bees out of supers is just the same as 

 that used successfully by Mr. W. L. Cogg- 

 shall, of West Groton, N. Y.. for many 

 years; but I first got track of it when I vis- 

 ited him in 1897; but it was not until March 

 of the following year that I described this 

 method of snuffing smoke down into the 

 hive by means of flipping and flopping of 

 quilts — see page 173 of this journal for 1898. 

 The fact was, I intended to describe this 

 exact method in our A B C of Bee Culture, 

 and now discover I left out the important 

 part of it— that of flipping or flopping a 

 cloth to drive the bees downward into the 

 box below or into the brood-nest. 



But the bee-escape can be employed to 

 good advantage, even during the height of 

 the honey-flow, and yet in noway interfere 

 with work in the supers. If there are two 

 or three supers on the hive already, and 

 the combs are sealed in the upper one, there 

 will be no interruption in the process of 

 ripening, for the bees will go down into the 

 super next below. Of course, if only one 

 super be put on the hive at a time, it might 

 cause a slight interruption, as you suggest; 

 but even then the interruption would be less 

 than when the smoke in connection with the 

 flopping of the cloth is used. 



There are methods that are barbarous 

 for getting bees out of the supers ; and 

 while the description I gave may possibly 

 seem barbarous, yet I never thought that I 

 was treating the bees cruelly when I prac- 

 ticed the plan, for I do not believe in tor- 

 turing the bees with smoke. Smoke prop- 

 erly used will drive; but improperly used 

 it will suffocate, and only cause the bees to 

 cling to the combs the tighter, and at times 

 to uncap sections that are perfect. 



I will not pretend to say whether Mr. 

 Coggshall was prior to you in this method 

 of getting bees out of supers or not; but he 

 had used it many years when he showed to 

 me the plan right in his own apiaries, in 

 1897. I suspect that bee-keepers have not 

 made enough use of it. When the bee-es- 

 cape can not be used, the plan can be adopt- 

 ed with very good results. — Ed.] 



BIG HUM BEE. 



BY ALBERT D. WARNER. 



Now, personally. Big Hum was the larg- 

 est bee in the grove. In flight he was pow- 

 erful, and in voice great. He was, like- 

 wise, superb in the estimation of the queens, 

 and loved their company. Big Hum medi- 

 tated on the diversified conditions of life, 

 and was particularly hostile to the bipeds 

 who so often pestered him and his compan- 

 ions. News of the writings of these high- 

 legged beasts, as he called them, came to 

 his ears; and so, procuring some of the 

 bee-papers, he perused the same. Big Hum 

 was much disgusted at what the bipeds 

 claimed to know concerning the ways of his 

 tribe; but what he knew they did not know, 

 and uttered the following line of hums, 



which, striking the drums of a passer-b\', 

 were productive of the following: 



" I am a big full-grown bee, and shouM, 

 under ordinary circumstances, know the 

 ways of bees and their modes of life; there- 

 fore be it known to man, the biped, and bee, 



1 henceforth say that, if I have the true 

 knowledge of bees and the secrets of their 

 living, then the contradictory, misleadintr, 

 unsatisfactory, pig-headed, boiled-brained, 

 fandangled set of supposed facts are not 

 according to the trutli, though, giving the 

 pesty and troublesome men their due, I 

 say they have conscientiously tried to get at 

 the facts; but through the temptations of 

 those who think they have no limit, and 

 those who acknowledge bounds, the faults 

 in their doctrine have come. If they are 

 right, then I'm a liar. I, Big Hum Bee, 

 am a liar, a clear-cut side-tracker. 



" Let me tell you, friend biped, who walk 

 near, you may think that those animals of 

 3'our kind know all that is known, but you 

 err. Ped No. 1 says a small hive of such 

 and such shape fits us best, while ped No. 



2 says one of another size and shape is 

 proper for the honey-bee. You fight, you 

 scramble, you tell friendly lies, and you 

 multiply many things from nothing. But 

 you know something concerning us, after 

 all, and you honestly try to know more; 

 but you have a long way to travel to learn 

 the full mystery of the hive. 



" You wag your tongue to a great degree 

 over the traits and want of traits of the 

 queen. She comes in for numerous hu- 

 manized statements, lies, and close-cut 

 truths. I, the pa of the honey-gatherers, do 

 not receive full notice of my value. Big 

 Hum Bees are not much studied in your 

 work and word. Nevertheless, it is he who 

 is of much more importance than you think. 

 It is true, he does not sting you, though he 

 would if he could. 



" Let me inform 3'ou that, for man}' eggs,, 

 for many bees, for much honey, and for lit- 

 tle swarming, you must have big hives. 

 Big houses, I say, hold many goods; and 

 those bipeds who expect to get a ton of 

 honey from a thimble will fail to realize on 

 the theory. Queens lay their eggs in cells. 

 Many cells are necessary for many bees. 

 The biped who expects to get 75,000 bees- 

 from 20,000 cells is miscalculating condi- 

 tions. Where there is no place for the rear- 

 ing of many bees, there will not be many 

 bees, regardless of the theoretical manufac- 

 tory notions of many bee-experts. The se- 

 cret, Mr. Biped, of much honey is — ■ many 

 bees. The condition for many bees is—cels. 

 The conditions necessary for many cells 

 are — large hives. Unless they are to be 

 glued on the outside, which would be vei*}'^ 

 doubtful doings, get the large hives. A 

 few years and the eight-frame common - 

 depth hive will be relegated to th& gone it 

 to the apiaries of biped owners whose b' s 

 are expected to appear spiritualistical'y, 

 and not from the common every-day method 

 of eggs and brood-chamber. Good b}', '^li'. 

 Biped. Shall I hum again? " 



