1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



821 



when they were carried back to their old 

 stand, the entrance narrowed down, the 

 bees stirred up well, and they successfully 

 stood off the robbers. And the robbers? 

 Well, I had my choice of brimstoning- the 

 lot or letting the hairless rascals go, and I 

 did let them go at dusk. The next day the 

 weather turned suddenly very hot, and the 

 bees had all the employment they needed in 

 collecting the nectar of the flowers, and the 

 robbing ceased. 



Once robbers get the mastery, the best 

 thing I find to do is to close the entrance 

 entirely and place the hive in a cool cellar 

 for three days, and then set them back in 

 the evening, giving them an entrance one 

 bee wide. But once robbers have had full 

 possession, give them the hive to clean out; 

 for if they are stopped they will attack the 

 adjoining hives and rob a number of them. 

 Robbing is the most provoking experience 

 in bee-keeping. You feel as though you 

 wanted to destroy the robbers by spraying 

 them with coal oil. E. H. Schaeffle. 



Murphys, Cal., July 12. 



THE HONEY MARKET IN GLEANINGS. 



1. Are prices on first page of Gleanings 

 supposed to be such as are paid by the dif- 

 ferent buyers to the producers, or are thej' 

 prices the buyers sell at? 



2. When is the best time to double up col- 

 onies — fall or spring? What is done with 

 brood in hive to be made vacant? Last, but 

 not least, how are combs to be kept secure 

 from the moth-worms in hives made vacant? 



Ogdensburg, N. Y. D. H. 



[1. Prices on the first page of Gleanings 

 are wholesale, or the price the commission 

 man is supposed to sell at, and from which 

 he deducts his five or ten per cent commis- 

 sion. The commission man is the so-called 

 "middle man, " or distributing agent. The 

 producer ships his product to him, and he 

 in turn sells it to the local grocers or local 

 trade, and thej^ sell it at retail. 



2. The best time to double up colonies is 

 in the fall. At that season of the year 

 there will be very little brood, and what 

 there is can be put in the hive containing 

 the bees united with some other. 



Combs can be kept secure from moth- 

 worms by leaving them in the empty hives 

 outdoors where they will freeze. If you were 

 located in the South you might have to put 

 them in a tight box, hive, or room. — Ed.] 



snuffing smoke down into the super 

 to get bees out. 

 Why, friend Root, you have missed the 

 points of mj"^ article on page 729 entirely, 

 for I had no thought of claiming Mr. Cogg- 

 shall's good method of driving bees down 

 out of the super, and I repeated the pro- 

 cess lest some one might have forgotten it. 

 Some prefer the smoke-box, but neither one 

 is mine. Here is the important point or 

 points that you have entirely overlooked: 

 Removing the combs from the super rapidly 

 while the bees are going down, in such a 



way as not to arouse their anger in the 

 least, and of closing up the hive while all 

 is peaceful inside and out; for the bees re- 

 maining on the combs outside, and which 

 brush off after the hive is closed, are as 

 peaceful and submissive as lambs. 



Surely you are mistaken when you say 

 that my method of getting bees out of supers 

 is just the same as that used successfully 

 by Mr. W. L. Coggshall. Here is the 

 great difference : Mr. Coggshall brushes 

 the bees off the combs back into the hive as 

 he lifts them out one by one, and of course 

 many bees are brushed off more than once, 

 which stirs up their rage to the highest 

 pitch. The dela}' caused b}' brushing al- 

 lows the bees to return to the super before 

 the hive is closed; and finding their home 

 violated, and meeting bruised and angry 

 bees, they rush to their defense. Can you 

 wonder, as you express it on page 380 of 

 the same ABC book, that the air may be 

 filled with mad stinging bees? 



S. T. Pettit. 



[If you could see Mr. Coggshall or his 

 men get the bees out of the extracting- 

 combs; be right with them in their j^ard, 

 and watch them as I did while they work, 

 I think you would conclude there was no 

 great difference between the plan you de- 

 scribe and the plan they use. I admit 

 there a slight difference, and it is this: 

 Coggshall generally shakes some of his 

 combs back into the super; but the bees 

 thus shaken do not, as you suppose, crawl 

 back on the other combs, to be again shak- 

 en, but stampede with the crowd on 

 through the lower set of combs, which are 

 not disturbed. You shake all of the combs, 

 except the last one, in front of the entrance. 



Mr. Coggshall follows no invariable rule, 

 as I discovered after having watched his 

 men. Sometimes the flopping of the cloth 

 in connection with the smoker would drive 

 nearly all the bees oft" the combs down into 

 the brood-nest nest below, leaving only a 

 very few on the frames. These are brush- 

 ed off outside of the hive. Then the two 

 plans are preciselj' alike. Blacks or hy- 

 brids will stampede downward — not in an- 

 ger but in confusion. Sometimes the bees 

 would not go down from the smoke; then it 

 became necessary to shake or brush each 

 individual comb. In this case the two 

 plans would dift'er ; but I do not believe 

 there would be more angry bees in one 

 case thiin in the other. But I distinctlj- re- 

 member seeing Coggshall's men drive the 

 bees out of some supers by flopping the 

 cloth and smoking, and not having to shake 

 a single comb, either in the super or in 

 front of the entrance. Taking it all in all, 

 I do not see that j^our plan differs greatly, 

 either in method or results, from that employ- 

 ed by Mr. Coggshall. — Ed.] 



SHORT BUT TO THE POINT. 



I have shook (shaken or shooken) about 

 SO swarms, and it was very satisfactorj' in- 

 deed. J. W. Ferree. 



Los Angeles, Cal. 



