1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



863 



combs or other wax ; pack down with a 

 stick, and stir it a little until you get in 

 as much as you can handle. Keep the wa- 

 ter and wax at the boiling--point; fold over 

 the corners of the cloth; put in the follower; 

 ,put on the cross-piece; hook the bent bolts 

 into the ears of the pot; turn down the nuts; 

 now turn down the screw as far as it will 

 g-o, then loosen and press again. Take the 

 whole thing by the screw-handle and pour 

 off as much clear wax as you can; remove 

 screw; take out the hoop; dump the slum- 

 gum, and proceed as before. This is a 

 press that cost me 43 cents. Mine is large 

 enough to press about 25 combs at once, and 

 will work nearly as fast as I can tell the 

 story, and will get about all the wax there 

 is in the blackest old combs I ever saw. 



The object of the strong draft to the 

 bleacher is that the smoke is taken away 

 and does not settle on the fruit and discolor 

 it. Why not the same with honey? 



Marion, N. Y., June 21. 



SHOOK SWARMS. 



Behave in all Respects Like a Natural One ; Never 

 Slialce all the Bees. 



BV L. M. GULDEN. 



Mr. Root: — In compliance with your re- 

 peated requests for experiences with the 

 "shook swarm" method of controlling in- 

 crease I will contribute my mite. Having 

 purchased an apiary of about twenty colo- 

 nies of bees to place in a region where bass- 

 wood abounded, at a distace of seven miles 

 from home, I began to consider the various 

 methods of controlling increase in outyards. 

 As there was no one at the outyard to look 

 after the swarms, if any should issue, and 

 as I wished to run entirely for comb honey, 

 I was at a loss to find any information at 

 all definite as to the management of in- 

 crease. The "shook swarm" method nat- 

 urally suggested itself; and as I have prac- 

 ticed it this season with this particular 

 yard it has worked to perfection. 



Before the swarming season I went to the 

 yard and clipped all the queens so that, in 

 case I mismanaged in any way, I Would 

 not lose a "prime" swarm (Doolittle). I 

 then went to the outyard about once a week 

 to see how they were getting on. As soon 

 as I expected swarming to begin I went 

 through all the hives and gave them a thor- 

 ough examination. I noted all the condi- 

 tions of each colony, and kept a record of 

 it. If any colony was preparing to swarm 

 I could tell almost to a day when they were 

 likely to issue. I did not divide the colony 

 as soon as it became populous, as was sug- 

 gested by some, but waited until it would 

 have swarmed naturally, or ver}' near that 

 time. I managed so that it was necessary 

 to visit the yard only twice a week. If a 

 colony showed no sign of swarming at one 

 examination I did not disturb them for a 

 week. At the end of that time I went over 

 the whole brood-chamber again. I much 



prefer the Hoffman frame with shortened 

 top-bars when so much manipulation of 

 brood-frames is necessary. 



When the proper time arrived, or what I 

 thought so, I gave the colony to be divided 

 a few puffs of smoke, if necessary, and set 

 it to one side of the old stand with the en- 

 trance turned at right angles to its first po- 

 sition. I then placed a hive with empty 

 frames or combs on the old stand, and, aft- 

 er having first found the old queen, I shook 

 the bees from the frames into the empty 

 hive, and let the queen go in with them. 

 This procedure works like a charm, as the 

 bees are in the same mood as when a swarm 

 issues naturally, and walk into the hive 

 just as if they were being hived from the 

 cluster where they would have settled. 

 They immediately went to work cleaning 

 house and furnishing it; and, so far as I 

 can see, did fully as well at gathering hon- 

 ey as any natui al sw»arm. The old colony 

 was either left in the position it was placed, 

 and moved to a new location at the end of a 

 week, or immediately placed on a new 

 stand. I much prefer putting them on a 

 new stand and giving them immediately a 

 ripe queen-cell or virgin queen; but when 

 this is impossible I cut out all the queen- 

 cells a day or two before the first queen 

 would issue, reserving the best one, and 

 then examining them again to find out if 

 the queen had emerged all right. 



Right here let me sound a note of warn- 

 ing to the advice of shaking all the bees 

 into the new hive when dividing. In my 

 divisions I took particular pains to deter- 

 mine the best amount of bees to leave in the 

 old hive, and I wish to say that considera- 

 ble harm may come from too close dividing. 

 I have carefully observed the condition of 

 brood and eggs in the old hive when divid- 

 ing, and again a few days afterward, and 

 find that, unless a considerable number are 

 left in the hive, large patches of young lar- 

 va; would die in the cells and turn black. 

 Some frames in which were eggs were also 

 found to be empty at a subsequent exami- 

 nation. Remember, this did not occur in 

 cold weather, but in the very hottest part of 

 the year. I have also observed that nature 

 is not always the most economical in her 

 ways, or at least does not appear to be so. 

 On examining colonies a few days a:tter 

 they had cast a swarm I found practically 

 they same conditions as I have described 

 when making too close a division in the ar- 

 tificial way. 



I will practice dividing on a greater scale 

 hereafter, as I am convinced that, when it 

 is properly done, just as good results may 

 be obtained as by the natural way, and oft- 

 en much inconvenience to the apiarist may 

 be circumvented. 



In practicing the "shook swarm" method 

 I lost only one swarm. I made the division 

 the same as with the other colonies, but 

 placed a comb of brood in the hive with the 

 swarm, having purposely taken one having- 

 a queen-cell on it by way of experiment. 

 When the young queen emerged she eloped 



