742 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15 



GETTING THE BEES BACK INTO THE HIVE AFTER 

 LIVE-BEE DEMONSTRATION. 



A CORRESPONDENT, in referring to the live-bee 

 demonstrations ttiat we have been giving at fairs 

 and elsewhere, wishes to know whether the bees 

 return to the hive readily, or do they cling to the 

 cage after being shaken off the combs.? Soon 

 after they have been dumped into the tin pan 

 many of them fly up and cling to the sides of the 

 cage. While these can be scooped off by the 

 handful, many stray bees will cling to the sides 

 of the cage. If it can be left to stand over night, 

 and the cover of the hive from which the bees 

 were taken be put on catacornered, most of the bees 

 will work their way back into the hive. It seems 

 almost impossible to brush them off the wire 

 cloth; and the more one brushes, the more they 

 cling until they become vicious. We have brush- 

 ed down what we could, and then picked up the 

 rest one by one. Or if we can not wait, smash 

 them and then collapse the cage, putting it into 

 its case. 



HELPING THE NATIONAL BEE-KEEPERS' ASSSOCIA- 

 TION TO ADVERTISE HONEY. 



It will be remembered that, some time ago, the 

 National Bee-keepers' Association received the 

 funds that belonged to the Honey-Producers' 

 League that was organized for the purpose of ad- 

 vertising honey and creating a market for it. A 

 good many at the time thought it was unneces- 

 sary to have two organizations. To make along 

 story short, the League finally voted to disband 

 and to put the funds (nearly $1500.00) into the 

 treasury of the National, but on condition that 

 such money should be used to spread information 

 concerning honey as a food — in short, to create a 

 better market for it. The National subsequent- 

 ly voted to accept the funds on the conditions 

 named. 



A short time ago, through its manager, Mr. 

 N. E. France, it offered prizes for articles on the 

 subject of honey as a food, and why it should be 

 eaten. Out of over thirty sent in, ten were se- 

 lected for publication. The National is now 

 sending out a large blanket sheet containing all 

 these honey articles. It is requested that the bee- 

 keeper who receives them shall take them to his 

 local papers and get one or more of them publish- 

 ed as a matter of news. It is suggested that one 

 article follow the other, thus keeping up a rapid 

 gun-fire on honeys — nothing like continuous ad- 

 vertising. 



If all the members will take hold of this prop- 

 erly, a great deal of valuable matter calculated to 

 help the honey business, and in particular the lo- 

 cal bee-keeper, will be spread broadcast, for these 

 articles are carefully and conservatively written. 



Mr. France announces that he has had several 

 thousand copies printed, which members and oth- 

 ers may obtain at the rate of $1.50 per 100; $2.00 

 for 250; $3.00 for 500. Many bee-keepers would 

 do well to buy a supply and scatter them among 

 their customers, especially grocers and others 

 who buy their honey. 



We wish to offer a suggestion to the League 

 committee having this in charge — that it endeavor 

 to get one or more of these articles into "boiler- 

 plate" — that is to say, get the firms that furnish 

 plate matter for small local country papers to ac- 

 cept one or more of these articles and put them 



into boiler-plate for distribution all over the 

 country. It is well worth trying for. 



We may say that they are an exceptional lot of 

 newsy and instructive articles prepared for popu- 

 lar reading, and it is highly important that they 

 receive as wide a circulation as possible. So let 

 every one, whether a member of the National or 

 not, help along in the good work. 



DIAGNOSING COLONIES BY THE BEE-FLIGHT AT 

 THE ENTRANCE. 



In our last issue, page 683, we spoke about 

 giving room to colonies that show unusual activi- 

 ty at the entrance during a heavy flow of honey 

 from fruit-blossoms. Since the flow began from 

 white clover we have been giving room to all col- 

 onies at the south yard that showed strong flight, 

 whether the colony where such activity was 

 shown, needed room or not. 



The flow has come on very strong. While it 

 is customary to give supers only to strong colo- 

 nies which, on examination of their combs, show 

 the need of it, in this case we considered it wiser 

 to give room according to the showing at the en- 

 trance, irrespective of the actual condition in the 

 hive, providing, of course, it has a good queen 

 and a large force of bees. Why do we take an 

 external diagnosis rather than internal.' Let us 

 suppose a couple of cases which are real: 



Here is a colony that has a moderate amount 

 of brood in the hive, and a large amount of hon- 

 ey left over; but the bees, although a good force 

 of them, are not flying much — but ivhy, we do 

 not know. 



Here is another one that has a large amount of 

 brood, with but very little honey in the hive; but 

 the bees are tumbling down at the entrance. 

 The honey-flow has just begun. It has used up 

 all of its available stores in brood-rearing, and 

 has been running "close to shore. " The unusual 

 activity at the entrance shows that these bees will 

 probably need room long before the other whose 

 hive is filled with stores and brood, but whose 

 bees are doing nothing. 



But there is another point about this external 

 diagnosis that should be considered. When the 

 flow is actually on, colonies needing room first 

 should have first attention, after which the lag- 

 gards may be given supers or combs. On the 

 other hand, the hive that is sending a lot of bees 

 out to the field should never at any moment be 

 cramped for room in which to store the nectar; 

 for if it starts to building cells, and the bee-keep- 

 er is careless enough to allow it to think of swarm- 

 ing, it may be almost impossible to break up the 

 mania; so it is best to keep clear ahead of such 

 bees. 



But there is still another point. Entrance di- 

 agnosis can be detected by one quick glance. The 

 hard workers and early fielders usually receive on 

 top of the cover a stone or stick, or some mark 

 to indicate which hive needs room first. After 

 all the hives in the apiary that show that they 

 will need room soon are so marked we give them 

 supers or combs. 



DIAGNOSING SAMPLES OF DISEASED BROOD. 



During the summer, nearly every mail brings 

 us several samples of dead brood to examine. In 

 many instances there are no symptoms of disease 



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