1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1261 



further down the river, near an area of bass- 

 wood. Many bee-keepers of the North suppose 

 we have none of this; but Last Texas abounds 

 with basswood in some parts. Cotton is the 

 main source, as there are thousands of acres in 

 the large plantations. 



In the last-named yard, a lot of large hive- 

 bodies with full sheets of foundation in the 

 frames have been placed over the brood-chambers 

 with the shallow supers of honey above. These 

 are to entice the bees and queen away from the 

 lower body, and a new brood-nest will then soon 

 be started. After this is well along, about a 50- 

 per-cent increase can be made in a very little time. 

 A queen-excluder is slipped between the two 

 chambers and left for a few days, a la Alexan- 

 der, so no eggs or larvae may perish, when the 

 upper portion of the hive is set on a new bottom- 

 board on the old stand, and the lower one, with a 

 new cover, is moved to a new stand. The en- 

 trance of this old hive on the new stand is closed 

 with grass, moss, or green weeds, to hold the 

 bees a few days, when they mill remove it. A 

 queen or ripe cell is introduced before the cover 

 is put on. This has been the quickest and easi- 

 est way of rapidly increasing bees at long range, 

 and requires very little attention. When so 

 many apiaries are greatly scattered it is necessary 

 to resort to wholesale short-cut methods. I have 

 made new colonies in this way, both in the fall 

 after the honey-flow or in the spring before it. 

 Often I do not return for several months after 

 making the move. 



New Braunfels, Texas. 



THE VALUE OF A SWARM-CATCH- 

 ING CAGE IN A HONEY- YARD. 



BY E. R. ROOT. 



As it is getting toward the season of the year 

 when bee-keepers will seek to make certain ap- 

 pliances for next season's use, I take pleasure in 

 showing a useful device which almost any one 

 can make. It is neither more nor less than a 

 wire-cloth cage of sufficient size to slip over the 

 largest hive in the yard. Wire cloth or mos- 

 quito netting is nailed on to a light framework of 

 the construction shown. 



It sometimes happens that a colony is sudden- 

 ly attacked by robbers. A cage like this can be 

 set down over the hive, trap all the robbers, and 

 prevent any more from getting in at the entrance. 

 The inmates of the hive will, if outside, cluster 

 around the outside ot the cage. It may be left 

 over the colony until night, when the robbers 

 may be destroyed or taken to an outyard; for to 

 let these bees loose back into the same yard will 

 only invite trouble for the next day. 



But we have used the cage to very good ad- 

 vantage in catching swarms just coming out. 

 One or two of them are kept handy in the yard; 

 and if a swarm is seen coming out, one of these 

 cages is clapped immediately over the hive from 

 which it is coming. Even if some of the bees 

 have gone out they will soon come back and clus- 

 ter around outside while the rest of their com- 

 panions are clustered inside. 



In the photo here shown it will be observed that 



A USEFUL APPLIANCE FOR AN UP-TO-DATE BEE-YARD. 



