250 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



319 



in front of the entrance, and let the bees run in. 

 There should be plenty of storing room provided, 

 as well as ample ventilation. This permits the 

 colony to satisfy its desire to swarm, and as a re- 

 sult the bees will go to work, after being return- 

 ed, with wonderful energy. The plan is not 

 new, but has worked well for me. I have not 

 had a colony offer to swarm when thus treated, 

 and yet it is probable that the plan might prove 

 an entire failure in some localities. The advan- 

 tages of the plan are that the colony is kept to- 

 gether; is storing surplus honey instead of build- 

 ing frames of comb; no extra hives, frames, 

 foundation, etc , needed to take care of the 

 swarms, and a great deal more honey per colony. 

 Do not allow more than mere starters in the box- 

 es, as we do not want the queen to do any laying 

 while the swarm occupies them. When the bees 

 draw the staiters out into comb, such combs 

 should be cut out. Grant Stanley. 



NisbPt, Pa. 



[The method described looks as if it would 

 work — Ed 1 



them in place so that the wind can not blow 

 them away. H. J. Blickensderfer. 



Shanesville, Ohio. 



ENTRANCE-PROTECrCR TO PREVENT ROBBING. 



Last summer I made some entrance-attach- 

 ments to prevent robbing, and so far they have 

 worked very well. When I find robbing going 

 on I try to find out which colony or colonies are 

 the robbjrs by the use of fiour. Toward even- 

 ing I shut the robbed colonies and also those that 

 did the robbing, in a cool cellar where it is dark. 

 I keep them there for two or three days and then 

 take them out and put these devices, as shown in 



the engranng, over the entrances. I arrange 

 these so that all openings into ihe hives are closed 

 except the space between the two halves of the at- 

 tachment. I leave them in this way for two or 

 three days; and when every thing is quiet again, 

 I gradually draw apart the two halves of the at- 

 tachment. In the case of the weak colonies that 

 were being robbed, I leave the opening narrow 

 until they are strong again. 



When I found that this device was working so 

 well I put them on all of my colonies in order to 

 pre\ent all robbing. During the summer and 

 fall I occasionally saw robber bees inside the 

 boards, but they were quickly chased out. j 



I also use these as protectors fmm the snow 

 «nd ice during winter. I use springs to keep 



IS THE PRICE OF HONEY TOO HIGH IN ARIZONA? 



On page 101 of the American Bee Journal a 

 subscriber from Arizona says that honey is sold 

 at too high a price, and he believes also that 

 many bee-keepers feed their colonies sugar, and 

 swindle the people with their sugar-fed honey. 

 Now, I live in Arizona, and I have never yet 

 been paid too much for my honey. I believe 

 that, as bee-keepers, we ought to try to keep the 

 price of honey up. 



In regard to sugar-fed honey, I will say that I 

 am quite sure this party must must have seen 

 some bee-keeper feeding sugar syrup for stimu- 

 lative purposes in the spring, and supposed that 

 he was feeding for honey. I do not take much 

 stock in this statement. The honey from cat- 

 claw in this State candies very quickly, and it is 

 possible that this is what gave the impression. 

 From actual experience in feeding sugar for the 

 purpose of getting the bees to make comb honey, 

 it has been found that $7.50 worth of sugar pro- 

 duced only $2 50 worth of honey. 



In this locality the bees fly nearly every day 

 in the year. For honey-plants we have catclaw, 

 paloverde, mesquite, alfilaria, and many other 

 plants, the names of which I do not know. 

 The spring honey-flow is water-white until July, 

 and then the honey is light amber. In the fall, 

 when we get fall rains, there is a small yellow 

 flower which is our largest yielder. It produces 

 dark amber honey of good flavor. This honey 

 was never known to candy. 



Tucson, Ariz. Gus Marvin. 



[We doubt if there is much sugar-fed honey 

 on the market. We know of parties who have 

 tried it, but have given it up because it did not 

 pay. If this is true there will not be much of 

 this kind of comb honey on the market — Ed.] 



AUTOMATIC UNCAPPING-MACHINES; WILL THEIR 

 USE SAVE LABOR.? 



Uncapping-machines, or decappers, if you 

 choose to call them so, seem to be trying to strug- 

 gle into recognition. But, as shown by the state- 

 ments in the editorials, machines for uncapping 

 are not new. Almost as far back as the practice 

 of extracting honey goes, it is found that the idea 

 of making a machine to uncap existed. 



Knowing the above facts the question natural- 

 ly arises, " Why has not a machine been invent- 

 ed.'" Surely the problem is not difficult. The 

 world had to wait until a man was produced who 

 had a mind great enough to invent a machine 

 that was capable of setting type; but the mere 

 problem of inventing a machine to slice the cap- 

 pings of a frame of honey is one that any ma- 

 chinist, who is worthy of the name, should be 

 able to make in a week or so 



The problem is not the difficulty in producing 

 the machine; but would such be of any practical 

 use to bee-keepers.? 



There are some kinds of work in this world 

 that time and experience have shown can be best 

 done by hand, such as husking corn in the field, 

 picking cotton, and milking cows. In Washing- 



